I'm prepping for my final Show from the RNC. Things are pretty quiet on radio row, just a handful of us left(a small handful, two shows besides me). I'll be busy trying to catch my flight, so this will be my last post, probably until Saturday morning. Thursday convention thoughts:

Clint Eastwood: an unforced error from a campaign that still needs to trust the ticket more. It's as though there are doubters even within the Romney camp that simply cannot resist the temptation to overthink this campaign. No lasting damage though; it'll get laughed off today and people will move on:

Marco Rubio: I had the text of his speech in front of me as he delivered; he went off script several times and did so seamlessly. I saw him on the Daily Show earlier this week and he handled Jon Stewart very well. Rubio is a gifted speaker, among his many other talents, and he will be a GOP star for years to come. It's hard not to believe that a White House run is in his future.

Mitt: I really only have one quibble with his speech; when he was listing off all the "evidence" that he doesn't hate women it felt dangerously close to "some of my best friends are women." That said I thought this speech accomplished what it was intended to: introduce the real Mitt Romney to America. He shared personal stories. He finally mentioned the words Bain Capital. But what I felt was the home run line was:

President Obama promised to begin to slow the rise of the oceans and heal the planet. MY promise...is to help you and your family.

I hated the notion that Romney had to be humanized. To some degree, I was mistaken about that. What he did do last night is talk to Americans one at a time. I felt that's what he needed to do and he did it. The next goal for Republicans is to be preapred for the Democratic Mediscare counter-attack. That starts next week at the DNC in Charlotte, NC. The left was blindsided by Paul Ryan's ability to defend his entitlement reform positions. Team Obama still believes that scaring seniors will work as well as it always have for them. Romney-Ryan came out with a flurry of punches to start the fight and won Round 1. But this is a 12 round fight. They need to keep punching.

Final thought: I believe this Convention was a winner because it exuded optimism. Next week's Democratic affair will feature victims. Republicans need to capture the upbeat mood of their convention and magnify the "malaise" mood the dems will likely wallow in next week.