Hey, folks. Remember Congressman Jim Leach, former Republican Representative of Iowa? This was the gentleman who was a thorn in the side of our industry for many years and was the FoB (“Friend of Bill”…..Frist, that is) who was tied into the passage of the Port Security bill.  We all know that story.  Leach subsequently lost his election last November, an outcome for which the Poker Players Alliance has publicly taken credit.

Anyway, oddly enough, Leach turned out to be a surprise token Republican speaker at the Democratic National Convention in Denver on its first night.  For a policy junkie like me, the content of his speech was interesting and served as a historic treatise on the finer points of our country’s two party system.  Unfortunately, the delivery was professorial (not in a good way) and pedantic.  I found myself wondering if Howard Dean (Democratic Party Chairman) knew what he was doing when he put this guy up there and how long they were going to let him drone on until the hook emerged from stage right.

But, as one would expect in the circumstances, he was there to endorse Obama who he said would be a “transcendent” candidate good for all Americans.

It was an interesting tidbit in a night of truly moving speeches by both Senator Ted Kennedy (who looked remarkably healthy in spite of being mid-treatment for a malignant brain tumor) and the poised Michelle Obama who did a plausible job of showing that she and her husband are just "folks."

Stay tuned for more observations.