Filler: Michelle Obama carries the night, Democrats more exuberant than RNC

The first lady ends with a maddened crowd calling her name, and she has clearly been a hit. Other than that, Duval Patrick did well, as did Castro. Everyone else was fairly flat, but there were no epic fails. Oh except for KUMAR. He rocked.

The place was packed, the mood good, and as befits Democrats, every thing was more exuberant than the conservatives in Tampa. Of course, that's what conservative implies.

I give the democrats a B+ tonight, and I'm interested to see what tomorrow night will bring. We'll get it going once again, at 7:00 p.m.

She starts again, talking about how much she loves her husband. And why.

It's quite a list. Even says he never lets himself get distracted, "by the chatter and the noise."

Again, I don't sense that's true. Of anyone. If he was never distracted by the chatter and the noise, we'd have single payer health care and Guantanamo would be closed.

She's giving a litany of success, but it's likely going to make people wonder why the country doesn't feel more successful. And selling the idea that Obama is impervious to politics and polls, that's simply untrue.

There has been a lot of talk about the importance of fathers tonight.

"For my dad, that's what it meant to be a man." Great line, and she makes a great point.

This is a well-written speech, and the audience is responding to it beyond the visceral. I hear people near me saying, "That's so true," or "What a good point," and there's a lot of head nodding.

The First Lady is touching something here.

Talking about regrets in leaving Chicago and simple life.

But there is a universal aspect to her talk, exhausted parents, romance lost to responsibility, and early it he relationship.

Michelle looks great, composed, super dress,and she's confident in this role.

The crowd is entirely silent, in between rounds of applause.

She wrote Michelle a Christmas card and now she's introducing her, I think. Why didn't I write Michelle a letter ????

I could have gotten a better seat. Hard-wired Internet, maybe some kind of snack.

And here's Michelle. Immediately the crowd is on its feet as the band plays "Signed, sealed, delivered."

Neither of their parents went to college, so both siblings are wildly successful, considering.

And the dad had multiple sclerosis. I never knew that.

The crowd is trying to pay attention, but they really want Michelle herself, not the video.

There was very rarely excitement like this at the RNC. Every single seat seems to be full, every eye intent in the stage, waiting for the lights to come up.

Time for a video about Michelle Obama and the crowd erupts at the sound of her recorded voice.

Crowd absolutely loves the cute children of Castro.

That was a brutal gaffe Romney made, several months back. He really does have a problem with the conception of poverty and lower-middle class situations, and the Dems will exploit it. Particularly when they can call on people like the Castro twins to speak.

A new call and response, "Mitt Romeny says no," that Castro breaks up with a Romneycare bait and switch. Very nicely done.

Can't say "Texas" without engendering a speech stopping cheer from its delegation.

Now he's making the argument that the only difference between the kids he knew in high school and the ones he knew at Stanford is opportunity, not talent or drive.

That's not really true, but it sounds good.

Julian Castro, 37, is the first Hispanic keynote speaker at a Democratic National Convention. He is serving his second term as the mayor of San Antonio.

He attended Stanford University and Harvard Law, as did his identical twin brother, Texas Legislature member Joaquin Castro. He has stated, and it’s kind of unusual, that both he and his brother benefited from affirmative action, having SAT scores lower than the average admittees of Stanford. He has said they did well with the opportunity, and he believes affirmative action has tremendous value to advance students like he and

Castro has a big smile, and seemingly, a lot of confidence. He's launching into the traditional family of modest means story now, but for him it is clearly very apt.

Convention crowds love moms, grandmoms, small children. Better the families than the politicians themselves.

Joaquin Castro, 37, is a member of the Texas Legislature and the identical twin brother of San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro, set to give the keynote address to.

Joaquin is running for Congress, and attended Stanford University and Harvard Law School. He and his brother are both considered rising stars in the party, and the best chances for gaining power for Democrats in ever-more Hispanic but largely Republican Texas.

He should have finished with the call and response.

But now he's got them going with a call and response on the slogan "Forward, not back."

But first, Martin O'Malley.

Martin O’Malley, 49, has served as governor of Maryland since 2007. He was previously the mayor of Baltimore.

He has famously referred to illegal immigrants as “new Americans” (I like the phrase, myself) and endured a bruising battle with the Catholic Church over his support of gay marriage.

Says the state was lagging in job creation and infrastructure by the time Romney left. He says that  Romney cared more about having the job than doing it.

He says Democrats must grow a backbone and stand for what they believe in, to much approval.

Bin Laden shout out number two. Patrick is getting fired up with a recitation of Obama's successes and virtues.

He says Obama has done what he's done with nothing but obstruction by Republicans, which is true. But how is he going to get past that obstruction over the next four years?

Can Obama actually LEAD this nation?

Deval Patrick, 56, is the governor of Massachusetts. Raised poor on the South Side of Chicago, he garnered a scholarship to Harvard, and eventually attended Harvard Law School.

He worked in the Clinton administration, and while governor, has made implementation and maintenance of predecessor Mitt Romney’s health care plan a main priority. He is the state’s first black governor, and is the second black governor elected in the nation’s history.

Ledbetter, 74, was the plaintiff in the lawsuit against Goodyear Tire Company that led to the the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act.

She sued Goodyear after she retired in 1998, claiming she was paid significantly less than her male counterparts. Se lost her suit because she did not meet statute of limitation requirements in filing it. Congress then loosened those requirements via the law that bears her name. She is now an advocate for women’s rights.

People are sort of taking the opportunity to stretch, get a bite or hit the restrooms.

And the eventually give way to another video, which the crowd is not enjoying as much as they did earlier in the night.

Maya Soetoro-Ng, 42, is the half-sister of President Barack Obama. They are both the children of Ann Dunham, but have different fathers, and spent several years growing upo together.

She received a Ph.D. degree in international comparative education from the University of Hawaii, and has worked as a teacher and professor.

Craig Robinson, 50, is the men’s head basketball coach at the Oregon State University and the brother of First Lady Michelle Obama.

He famously had to play basketball with President Barack Obama, to judge his character, before Robinson would let her get serious about dating him. Robinson previously coached at Brown University, and has not really been involved in his brother-in-laws political career much thus far.

KUMAR!!!!

Pretends to accept nomination for VP, great laughs. And an invisible man in the chair reference, for Clint Eastwood.

Penn is giving a fun, funny speech, and it's actually a nice break from the policy talk.

And a spotlight is suddenly shining in my eye and blinding me. That's the kind of stuff that keeps happening when you're trying to live blog a convention.

KUMAR wants us to use #sexyface on twitter to describe his speech, and I say why not.

He is best know for his role as “Kumar Patel” in the “Harold and Kumar” movies. He has twice worked in the White House Office of Public Engagement, both times leaving for acting roles.

He starts off with a few jokes, including a jab at Clint Eastwood's invisible chair routine from the Republican National Convention.

He says Obama was the lone voice ibis inner circle saying go all in to save the auto industry.

There's no way to tell how that went down, but it did go very well for the car companies, and the unions. It did not go well at all for anyone General Motors owed money. Many books will be written in the future trying to sort out what actually happened, who got healthy, who got hurt and whether it was fair.

He's also the first one who worked closely with Obama on a granular level.

Emanuel is not a inspiring speaker, but his words are pretty good he talks about Obama reading 10 letters for citizens every day, and how he uses them to govern.

Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, 52, was formerly the White House Chief of Staff for President Barack Obama and, before that, a congressman representing Illinois.

Emanuel, an observant Jew, is known for his fiery temper and foul language. He has two equally successful brothers: his older brother, Ezekiel is a doctor, and bioethicist at the National Institutes of Health. His younger sibling, Ari, is a Hollywood talent agent on whom the Entourage character “Ari” is based. Emanuel also trains for and competes in triathlons.

And now Kathleen Sebelius approaches the podium.

Kathleen Sebelius, 64, is U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services. She was the first female governor of Kansas, serving from 2003 to 2009.

Staunchly pro-choice and reliably liberal, she is best known as the person who is trying to implement the tremendously balky Obamacare package, and has frequently been demonized by the Republicans for it.

Says If Mitt were Santa, he'd fire the reindeer and outsource the elves, to great effect.

Says If Mitt's heart were in the US, his money would be too.

And on to the tax returns, which are never ever going to stop being an issue.

Ted Strickland, 71, was governor of Ohio, and before that a member of Congress. He was defeated by current Ohio Gov. John Kasich in 2010.

Crowd erupts when other talks about the day the Supreme Court upheld Obamacare. Their other baby is crying, the younger child. It's very cute and they have the crowd in the palm of their hand.

I agree with him, and he's making a good argument for liberal on social issues, and conservative on fiscal ones. It's an easy case to make of course, since it's right.

Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee, 59, is a former Republican turned Democrat, and, in fact, served in the U.S. Senate as a Republican.

He is the Republican answer to Alabama’s Artur Davis, who served in the House as a Democrat and endorsed President Barack Obama before becoming a Republican and lighting up the Republivan National Convention with a fiery speech last week.

She was an assault helicopter pilot and an officer, mobilized with the National Guard, flying combat missions in Iraq.

She makes the first bin Laden mention of the night, to big applause.

Duckworth, 44, is the director of the Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs. An Iraq War veteran (helicopter pilot), she lost both of her legs and partial use of her right arm to a war wound. She is currently seeking a House seat representing Illinois. She also sought a seat in 2006, barely losing the election.

On a separate note, this arena is almost full with 90 minutes to go before the main speakers. It is far more abuzz than the RNC was at this time of night, but that doesn't say too much about the election, because the Dems are always more out front with their excitement.

Nancy Keenan, 60, is president of the reproductive/abortion rights organization National Abortion Rights Action League - Pro-Choice America (NARAL).  She lost a 2000 election bid for the House of Representatives representing Montana. She has announced she will step down from her current position at the end of the year.

She has lobbied for continued legal abortion but has also stressed the importance of doing everything possible to prevent unintended pregnancies, and thus the need for abortion.

It's about supporting abortion. Interesting that the Dems are going to be so loud about an issue that barely came up with Republicans in Tampa.

And he's touting Obama's support for same-sex marriage, to pretty good cheers.

But when he gets into the history of the executive branch of government, oy vey.

Jared Polis, 37, is a member of the House of Representatives serving Colorado. He is one of the only openly gay members of Congress, and the first openly gay member of Congress to be a parent. He and his partner have one son.

This group wants Michelle Obama, and the it's going to be restless until she appears, I think.

R.T. Rybak, 56, has served as the Mayor of Minneapolis, Minn., since 2001. He ran for governor in 2010, but failed to secure his party’s nomination for the race.

Before becoming mayor, he worked as a journalist, political strategist, and city planner.

Around me, people are talking about the comparative merits of the view from our section, and generally chatting away.

Robert Wexler, served Florida as a member of the House of Representatives from 1997 until 2010. He is most famous for, along with Dennis Kucinich, supporting the impeachment of President George W. Bush and members of the Bush administration.

He is now the president of the Washington-based S. Daniel Abraham Center for Middle East Peace.

He is telling stories about Teddy and recounting the man's favorite causes, the ones where he succeeded and the ones where he failed.

And he's got a bit of a Kennedy self-sacrifice rhythm going with his speech.

Joe Kennedy III, 31, is the son of former Massachusetts Congressman Joe Kennedy II, the grandson of former Attorney General Robert Kennedy. He is also the grandnephew of President John F. Kennedy.

He worked, until recently, as an attorney in the Middlesex County District Attorney’s office, in Massachusetts. He resigned this year to seek election to the House seat currently held by retiring Rep Barney Frank. He attended Stanford University and Harvard Law.

He's very nitty gritty, talking about oil policy and fuel standards. It's got the crowd a bit restless, but it is important stuff. Just not sexy stuff. He's a 12-th generation Mexican-which is neatyou don't hear people say that much, but it's often true out west.

Ken Salazar, 57, is the U.S. Secretary of the Interior. He previously served as a U.S. senator representing Colorado.

Salazar is generally not beloved by environmentalists, and is considered by the liberal wing of the Democratic Party to have overly close ties to the oil and gas industries and be too supportive of their demands, and not supportive enough of moves intended to reign in drilling and limit greenhouse gas emissions.

But Salazar has also caught heat from the right for toughening rules on oil leases for offshore drilling and slowing down drilling in Alaska.

Jimmy Carter, 87, was the 39th President of the United States and before that served as governor of Georgia, his native state. Carter’s one-term administration (1977-1981) was besieged by difficult occurrences, including the 444-day Iranian hostage crisis, the energy crisis, the Three Mile Island nuclear incident, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and the 1980 U.S. boycott of the Summer Olympics.

He suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of Ronald Reagan in 1980, and left office a deeply unpopular ex-president. Today, though, he is revered by many for his work with Habitat For Humanity, his efforts to advance world peace and his general decency. Carter, who attended the U.S. Naval Academy and served as a naval officer for 10 years before entering politics, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002.

And they're off with the theme, "Sisters are Doing it for Themselves."

And some issues perceived as women's that aren't really, like taking care of parents and health care in general, Medicare and aging.

And they seem naturally more emotive that he Republican crowd was in Tampa. They are cheering and clapping, even for the less-than-fiery Reid.

Reid is slamming Mitt Romney, suggesting, as some of the early speakers did, that Romney is a shadow man who wants to hide from his record as the governor of Massachusetts.

But, he says, we do know who President Barack Obama is, because he does not hide.

Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid, 72, of Nevada, has served in the Senate since 1987. He is Mormon, and holds the highest federal elective office any member of The Church of Latter Days Saints has achieved. Reid has often dealt with controversy, based both on his conduct and his comments, and the shutdown of Yucca Mountain as a future nuclear waste repository by President Barack Obama, a $13 billion project in Nevada he (and many of his voters) opposed, is considered by many (me included) to have been an obvious move to help him defeat opponent Sharon Angle, which would make his the most expensive seat in Senate history, by a factor of at least 100.

The Democratic National Convention is kicking off with top speakers tonight to include First Lady Michelle Obama and San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro, the first Hispanic keynoter at the DNC.