After Jesse Jackson Jr.’s perfectly acceptable first speech of the evening, we got the Teddy Kennedy Death Watch portion of the evening. There was a soft focus film of his life and a speech from Caroline. Lots of shots of Maria Shriver looking teary in the audience. Teddy gave a good speech about health care and assured everyone that he’s not dead yet.

The Democrats have to make a strong case for health care reform and education policy in this convention. They have to stress the economy over and over. This is what Americans care about. After the debacle in Iraq, Americans are not going to go near war for a long, long time. Rightly or wrongly, they will allow Russia to invade Georgia and ethnic cleansing to continue in Darfur. They aren’t interested in a president who is wolfish or aggressive. They want a president who knows how many houses he has.

One of the best thing about the Kennedy legacy, something that Caroline brought up, is the notion of national service. If Obama can tap into that message, I think people will eat that up.

In a few minutes, Michelle is going to talk. Yes, yes, she’s a great dresser and I’m looking forward to see what she’s wearing just like everyone else. But let’s talk about something else right now. Michelle is a strong woman. She’s smart and speaks her mind. She’s a big woman who carries herself with grace and doesn’t hide behind her husband. There’s been a lot of talk in this election about how average America deals with strong women. Hillary, another smart and opinionated woman, turns off many people. She annoyed people from the very beginning of the Clinton dynasty. But Michelle doesn’t generate the same distaste. Is Michelle better at handling the press than Hillary or have people chilled out?

Michelle did her thing very well. Family. Family. Family. Education. Humble beginnings. Regular folks. Brady Bunch. Ice cream. Family. She did what she needed to do. She established connections with regular America to show that she’s isn’t some characture on a New Yorker cover. She focused on themes that the McCain camp isn’t going to be able to touch. The Obama family doesn’t have first wife baggage or hidden millions.

Nobody has mentioned Bush or the Iraq war tonight.  Really interesting.

Back tomorrow.