• Miller Time: Topic No. 1 Thursday for bloggers covering the Republican National Convention was the no-holds-barred, John Kerry-bashing keynote address by Sen. Zell Miller, D-Ga., on Wednesday night, a.k.a. the "spitball speech" ("This is the man who wants to be the Commander in Chief of our U.S. Armed Forces? U.S. forces armed with what? Spitballs?").

Some thought Miller's speech would backfire on the Bush campaign for being to "angry" and "mean." Others thought they heard the final nail being driven in the Kerry campaign's coffin.

"Miller's attack was probably the most hard-hitting I've heard at a convention - certainly the most hard-hitting since Hubert Humphrey laid into Barry Goldwater in 1964," wrote Maryland lawyer Paul Mirengoff on PowerLine (www.powerlineblog.com).

Then there was Miller's post-speech confrontation during his interview with Chris Matthews of MSNBC's Hardball. Matthews tried to get the senator to say he meant literally what he said in the "spitball" comment and other rhetorical flights of fancy, but Miller taught Matthews a thing or two about playing "hardball" with acid retorts like, "Well, are you going to shut up after you ask me?"

David Adesnik of OxBlog (www.oxblog.blogspot.com) wrote, "Now, there's no question that Miller got in some good shots and that Matthews came off as a blowhard. (Surprise!) On the other hand, Miller was about as reasonable as Yosemite Sam and Matthews was gallant enough to extend his hand in friendship at the end of the interview."

• Entrance strategy: As the hour neared Thursday night for President Bush's acceptance speech, it seemed nearly everyone with a convention pass was trying to finagle a way to get as close to Bush as possible on the Madison Square Garden floor. Here's a description on SlantPoint www.slantpoint.com: "The hottest topic of conversation in the Garden tonight is not what surprises Bush will say in his speech tonight. It is how to get onto the floor. My inquiries were usually met with something along the lines of, "Sorry, you are the 5,000th person to ask that." Suddenly, the masses spy an empty chair in the first row. "Any idea how much you could make on EBay for that?"

• Our friend at the 'Beeb': Among the international bloggers stationed in New York is BBC News Online's Kevin Anderson (news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3611120.stm). But aside from panning the Bush twins' performance Tuesday night, he devoted his week's blog entries pretty much to writing about protesters outside and inside the hall. Hey Kev, the convention? His bemused take on those wacky Yanks: "When I introduced myself to a California delegate this morning and told him I was with the BBC, he asked, 'Do you have any other, redeeming qualities?'" Good question.

If you spot any convention-related blogs we should check out, particularly by bloggers with ties to Greater Cincinnati, let us know. Send your suggestions to Ray Cooklis at rcooklis@enquirer.com.