The vibe of this convention has been weird. There has been a constant sense of something impending, some doom about to be delivered. What everyone is hungry for, hopeful for, will be so grateful for, is: a sparkling opening at 8 p.m. that will chase the clouds away. A great Christie speech, a line, a joke that lets the crowd let out its pent-up roar. An Ann Romney speech that leaves delegates saying, at 1 in the morning in the bar of the Hyatt, “We did the right thing. We picked the right one.”
We are in Florida, we are near the cape, Neil Armstrong left us this week, and TV has been full of old videotape of rockets lifting. Now more than ever delegates are saying, “Light this candle. Come on and light this thing.”