By MARSHA MERCER, Scripps Howard News Service

Remember the Democratic National Convention? The Clintons and the Obamas, Invesco Field, the fireworks?No, I thought not. It's so last month. So B.S.P. -- Before Sarah Palin. Before Hurricane Gustav and his pals. Before the GOP rediscovered how satisfying it is to bash the news media, liberals and East Coast elites.And that's a problem for the Democrats.

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Among Republicans here for their national convention, the initial surprise -- if not shock -- of John McCain's choice of Sarah Palin as his running mate quickly morphed into near elation.Many of the delegates are social conservatives who had worried that McCain might pick a supporter of abortion rights or gun control or other moderate positions.

DENVER -- The Democratic National Convention you see on TV is not the same convention as experienced in the Pepsi Center.You see delegates cheering, dancing, waving signs. You don't see the army of men and women in lime-green vests patrolling the aisles, distributing American flags and signs, and instructing delegates in their "spontaneous" demonstrations.

DENVER -- Hoping to win back the White House in November, Democrats in August are, in Barack Obama's phrase, turning the page. You can hear it from national convention delegates like Bernice G. Scott of Hopkins, S.C., a Hillary Clinton delegate who has moved on to Obama. She has no sympathy for die-hard Clinton supporters.