As I write this, the birds are chirping outside my window, the sun is breaking through the morning coastal fog, and the temperature is unremarkable. In other words, your traveling correspondent is back home, leaving behind record-breaking 90-plus-degree temperatures and humidity being so important the television weathermen actually report on it each night (cue Steve Martin from L.A. Story: "Our next weather report will be in four days"). Yes, it's good to be back in California, at least as far as the weather's concerned.

I have to say I shirked a lot of work during last week's Democratic National Convention, but this was due to (1) there not being enough hours in the day, and (2) trying to operate (as it was) on five-or-less hours of sleep each night. Also minor hassles like WiFi not being available when it would have helped the most. But enough self-recrimination. The good news is I took full notes of everything, so I've got at least a few more goodly-sized columns to write. Oh, and also some pictures -- that might just have to be a separate column on its own (perhaps tomorrow, we'll see).

Today I'd like to take a look at the four nights by focusing in only on the primetime hour that appeared on broadcast television. For all the other things that happened on the stage of the convention, you always had to wonder: "Is anyone else out there actually even seeing this stuff?" I mean, cable channels did cover the convention live and you could even just tap into the feed (without all the commentary, in other words), but I wonder how many voters devote that kind of time and attention to this stuff.

Instead, even committed voters, for the most part, will only tune in for one hour a night -- and that's a maximum, since a whole lot of others only bother with the final night's final hour. But, looking back over the articles I've filed, I've been giving the big hour each night short shrift. This is (again) due to being exhausted, since I'd sit down to type about a certain night and then by the time I got to the big hour in the chronology, my eyes were barely open -- so I just posted what I had. So today, to rectify this lack in my coverage, I'm just going to concentrate on the four big hours.

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What follows is a submission my lovely wife made to the Irish Times, for a blog they run which deals with ex-patriot (or "expat") themes for Irish people who have moved outside of the Republic of Ireland. Four years ago, they ran a report she wrote from the 2012 Democratic National Convention, but due to logistics we are able to run it here before they actually get it. Call it nepotism if you will, we're just glad to get it before it even goes to the presses.

The audience for such an article is a bit different than the articles we usually run here at ChrisWeigant.com, so please keep that in mind while reading it. Certain things need explanation which are taken for granted here, just to point out one aspect of this difference. In any case, we are proud to present the following article from "Mrs. Chris Weigant," as she is known here.

-- Chris Weigant

I am an Irish and American woman reporting from the 2016 Democratic Convention in Philadelphia. I say I am Irish and American because I am an Irish citizen who is now an American citizen too. I have noticed a theme in recent blogs posted to the Irish Times' Generation Emigration blog. Many fellow expats are wondering if they are still really Irish, given they have lived outside of Ireland for many years and in some cases longer than they lived in Ireland. I too have been thinking that I am losing my connection to my native land. The recent Irish elections that did not have a clear majority, and then the Brexit results, have opened up even more questions than the votes sought to resolve. I am now trying not to get too excited about the possibility of seeing a united Ireland in my lifetime.

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After watching Joe Biden's speech last night, one thing seems patently obvious. He should be launched into the highest rank of Hillary Clinton surrogates out on the campaign trail -- and as soon as possible. Furthermore, scheduling his appearances would be a piece of cake, because all Team Clinton would have to do would be to book Biden into every city and town where Donald Trump appears, a day or two afterwards.

Multiple people at the Democratic National Convention last night (after Biden spoke) told me one version or another of the following: "If Joe Biden were the Democratic nominee, he'd be beating Trump right now by 10 or 15 points." These weren't die-hard Biden fans, mind you, but instead journalists and delegates and other random people I spoke with. Biden's speech was that impressive.

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A quick program note is in order. I just got back from the end of Day Four of the Democratic National Convention. The media tent had no WiFi access at all tonight, so I wasn't able to follow the work schedule I'd set for myself. My personal take is that the routers in the tent must have frozen solid in a giant block of ice. While it's nice to have air conditioning when it is 95-plus degrees outside, they had it set permanently to "meat locker" levels. I mean, when it's 97 degrees out, you don't think to bring along a coat, do you? Anyway, I am now connected again, so I'll be posting a few things, but I'm also now behind on the play-by-play so much that it'll have to wait until tomorrow. I've got a few things to post now, though, so after I format them, there'll be that, at least. My apologies for the delay, but this time (at least) it was due to circumstances beyond my control. More in a moment or two....

-- Chris Weigant

Follow Chris on Twitter: @ChrisWeigant

Maybe I should have subtitled this "random notes from the whirlwind" -- this is going to be a collection of disjointed observations, at best, so I thought I'd just warn everyone up front not to expect a coherent narrative or anything. What follows are random notes from the Democratic National Convention that I haven't had the time to set down before now. The early portions of tonight's program in the arena are just an affirmation of Tim Kaine's nomination, so I'm going to skip trying to attend (or to even pay attention), as I did for the first day (Bernie supporters challenging rules) or the second day (roll call for presidential nomination). We are now halfway through the convention, after two days and nights. This year is more of a marathon event than the previous convention was in Charlotte, which only lasted three days. So here is everything I've noticed so far, in no particular order.

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**** Breaking News! ****

I am sitting in the media tent at the Wells Fargo Center, normally a pretty backwater sort of place at the Democratic National Convention. Things are generally pretty unexciting here, which is kind of the whole point. It's a place where media types can find a desk, a power supply, and some peace and quiet to write their stories up without the distractions of the convention itself, which is right next door.

However, a mild form of chaos has erupted. Almost immediately after Hillary Clinton was officially nominated by Bernie Sanders, at the end of the roll call of the Democratic delegates, hundreds of people streamed into the tent in a coordinated protest. From where I sit -- literally about fifteen feet from the action -- it seems like the aftermath of a major walkout of Bernie Sanders delegates from the floor of the convention.

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I conducted the following interview yesterday, before the convention actually started. Denise Merrill is a Connecticut delegate (although not, as she pointed out to me, a superdelegate) and serves Connecticut as their Secretary of State. A recent achievement was the state becoming the first to pass a campaign finance reform law which created a public financing system for elections -- all the other states with such laws created them through ballot initiatives or referenda.

I thought it would be interesting to hear the thoughts of a delegate to the Democratic National Convention who was fairly balanced about her position and could see the other side's point of view, rather than just focusing on those who are more (shall we say) impassioned.

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Day One of the Democratic National Convention is now over, and tonight seemed designed to allow Bernie Sanders supporters to vent their frustrations, given the lineup of speakers. All the most liberal and progressive speakers were lined up for the first night, which only served to concentrate the energy for Bernie Sanders. At first it was announced that Bernie would speak tonight, but not in primetime. Later this was changed to give Bernie the final speaking slot of the night (which was entirely the right move for the convention to make), but instead of getting into all of that I'm just going to jot down my initial reactions to the spectacle of the first night.

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Greetings from Philadelphia! I have just eaten a Geno's cheesesteak after a busy day getting ready for the Democratic National Convention to start, and I finally have some time to sit down and share a few preliminary thoughts.

First: there are disagreements between fellow party members, and then there are bitter knock-down drag-out family fights. Earlier today, I headed to the famous "cheesesteak corner" where two of the most famous of these establishments sit across the street from each other. As I pulled up, a magical parking space appeared in front of Geno's, so I took it as a sign from the culinary gods and pulled in and bought "two, Provolone, with." Later in the day, I saw Elizabeth Warren had tweeted a photo eating a cheesesteak across the street, at Pat's. Do I think any the less of her? No, and I hope she would return the favor. Minor differences of opinion matter little, in the long run. But the difference between Bernie supporters and those who favored Hillary Clinton go a lot deeper than which cholesterol-laden treat to enjoy. We're about to find out how deep those differences go, and whether they will be bridged this year. The Republicans struggled mightily to appear as united as possible last week, but in the end failed to do so. Will the Democrats also fail to convincingly sell the idea of party unity, even with Debbie Wasserman Schultz out as the party's head? That remains to be seen.

But before we get to all of that, a general observation is in order. Attending a national political convention and trying to report on what's going on is a little like being caught up in a whirlwind. "Now I know how Dorothy felt," in other words. The entire time, no matter what you're doing, what you're watching, or where you are; you always have a sneaking suspicion that you're missing the real story -- that something bigger or more exciting is going on where you aren't. If you're inside the convention hall, you wonder what's going on outside with the protesters. If you're outside on the streets, you're worried that big news is happening inside the arena. If you take time to type up an article, you could be missing all sorts of things. And that's even before you get to the evening parties, where (of course) you're worried that there's a better party with bigger names happening at the pub down the street.

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Program Notes: Before I begin, a few quick program notes are in order. I had promised a second installment of my "Friday Talking Points" retrospective today, but I didn't have time to put it together due to having to scurry around getting ready for our trip to Philadelphia. We've got the cat-sitter/house-sitter lined up, but there's always tons of last-minute stuff, so I just decided to bail on FTP and punt. So I'm re-running a column from only about a week ago, sorry for that (but you can see why it deserves more air time, today). Oh, I also have to admit, I have no idea what I'll be doing next Friday here at CW.com, either -- I can't even promise there will be a column at all.

This brings up a larger program note -- the schedule for next week will be absolutely fluid. Posts may appear at any time, in any order. Guest bloggers will be appearing. Multiple posts per day are possible. I may kick things off with a rare weekend post, on Sunday night. There will be no schedule at all -- it'll all be dependent on what is going on, when I have time to actually type and post, and what parties we'll be invited to (heh). But I'll try to post as frequently as circumstances allow.

Originally published on July 14, 2016

Will one of the most exciting primary election seasons ultimately end in sheer boredom? That was my immediate reaction today to hearing the news that Donald Trump is all but set on selecting Mike Pence as his running mate, and that Hillary Clinton's first choice might just be Tim Kaine. After I yawned widely, of course. Pence? Kaine? Really? These are the best two choices for vice president around? Wow.

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