I find it very difficult to believe that John McCain would want to make my dreams come true by picking Joe Lieberman as his Vice Presidential running mate. But this article in the Politico and this column by Robert Novak seem like warning flares that tells some GOPers are worried he might.

Late Update: TPM Reader YF adds this …

Hilarious. Just now on PBS David Brooks told us that the OBVIOUS answer to the Dems successful mantra of McCain = Bush is for McCain to choose as his VP, get this, Joe Lieberman. This seems to me a clasic example of beltway insiderdom. David, who thinks the McCain currently running is the same guy he knew in 2000, thinks it would be great if he partnered with the Lieberman he knew in 2000. THAT would have been a game changer but David seems genuinely oblivious to the fact that Lieberman is now seen as George Bush without the intellectual complexity.

Personally I hope he DOES choose Lieberman. If they win they’ll start bombing Iran in February but at least ONE person can tell John if they are bombing Sunni or Shia.

Best moment tonight was Biden’s “keep your enemies closer” embrace in which he proclaimed McCain his true friend- “a lot of people say this, i mean it”- and then proceeded to refer to him as “John” multiple times as he tore him limb from limb. Gorgeous political jujitsu. Just what the doctor ordered, and has the benefit of being true.

Late Update: Here’s what YF was referring to (scroll down to “Pressure on McCain”).

Hillary’s, Bill’s and Biden’s speeches were great, each in their own way. Democrats had the night they’d been waiting for tonight. But you probably didn’t see John Kerry’s speech because most of the networks cut away to feature their yakkers. As I said earlier, in its own way, I think it was the best speech of the convention, certainly the best speech I’ve ever seen John Kerry give. If you haven’t seen it, do yourself a favor, set aside 13:13 and watch …

Obama’s good luck streak continues: The weather forecast calls for a mild temperature and no rain during his big outdoor speech tonight. That and other political news in today’s Election Central Morning Roundup.

TPM Reader GR reports in from the field …

Just a small FYI about Kerry’s speech. Kerry is running for re-election here in Mass. A couple of weeks ago he swung by my little town of North Adams and gave what was an odd stump speech. It wasn’t about him or his primary/general election opponent. His speech, given while standing on a chair in a local restaurant, was very similar to what he gave last night at the DNC. It was almost exclusively about Obama and how odious John McCain’s Bush-esque transformation has become. Only few moments were spent on the subject of increasing the the Democratic majorities in congress, and zero time was given to the subject of John Kerry.

I got the sense that 2008 public Kerry is very different than the man I had voted for in 2004. He was full of determined righteousness and he wasn’t going to take it any more. Sigh. If only….

Guess we shouldn’t be so surprised that John McCain got hot under the collar with Time reporters when they pressed him to define honor in a political context.

TPM Reader RT has an idea …

They will get him hot under the collar precisely because they are his friends, because they are not getting over the top or into the gutter, because they know full well what they are talking about when they talk about his transformation. And because he knows they’re right in everything they’re saying about him.

Interesting addendum to the Kerry speech story. I hear on good authority that he wrote the whole thing himself.

Why is TPM paying all that money for our TPM group health plan? It turns out everyone in America has insurance automatically, according to John McCain health care policy advisor. All you have to do is show up at the local emergency room for your coverage …

From the Dallas Morning News …

But the numbers are misleading, said John Goodman, president of the National Center for Policy Analysis, a right-leaning Dallas-based think tank. Mr. Goodman, who helped craft Sen. John McCain’s health care policy, said anyone with access to an emergency room effectively has insurance, albeit the government acts as the payer of last resort. (Hospital emergency rooms by law cannot turn away a patient in need of immediate care.)

“So I have a solution. And it will cost not one thin dime,” Mr. Goodman said. “The next president of the United States should sign an executive order requiring the Census Bureau to cease and desist from describing any American – even illegal aliens – as uninsured. Instead, the bureau should categorize people according to the likely source of payment should they need care.

“So, there you have it. Voila! Problem solved.”

MSNBC just noted that with Gustav likely to hit the Gulf Coast next week this could be a “split-screen convention” for the Republicans.

A Gulf Coast hurricane disrupting the GOP’s messaging during convention week — three years after Katrina hit (the anniversary is tomorrow) — the irony would be enough to make my head explode.