A round-up of this morning's must-read stories, coming to you live from the Cherry Creek Hotel in sunny Denver, Colo.

TROPIC BLUNDER
(Jason Horowitz, New York Observer)
The thing about the conventions is that so many reporters come to them. The result is that it’s rare for anyone to write anything important. “I don’t like events where there are a gazillion reporters,” Mr. Nagourney said. “If you come here and David Axelrod came walking down the aisle over there, there’d be 500 people around him, and you’d be getting the most boilerplate quotes. So what’s the point?” What is the point? “I feel like this is the dumb state of reporting in a presidential campaign,” said Michael Scherer, a writer for Time magazine. “Everyone is spending time and millions of dollars to break something six hours before it’s announced." Adjustments have to be made. Greta Van Susteren, the Fox News anchor, spent Aug. 25 blogging—“I like the blogging!” she said—and produced 10 blog posts, including an online poll: “What do you think Michelle Obama thinks about Hillary Clinton?” “There is no intrigue [at the convention],” she said. “But the networks can’t not be here, which is a problem. Not a terrific amount of news is going to happen. We have to be here in case something does happen. It’s the same reason we send reporters down to Crawford to sit there during the president’s vacation. In case something does happen.”

FOR VETERAN SPEAKER, THE CHALLENGE OF A LIFETIME
(Eli Saslow, Washington Post)
On the 45th anniversary of the Rev. Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech, Obama will become the first African American to accept a major party's nomination for president when he addresses the crowd Thursday night. His campaign has gambled on the historic moment by creating a stage that will magnify his performance. Succeed here, in front of the largest Democratic National Convention crowd in nearly 50 years, and Obama's speech will be remembered as one of the most powerful moments in modern politics, a perfect launch into the final stage of the general election. Fail, and Obama risks fueling Republicans' criticism that he is an aloof celebrity, fond of speaking to big crowds but incapable of forming genuine connections. Obama wrote the speech last week in his customary manner, crafting a first draft by hand on yellow legal paper. He studied past convention speeches and found inspiration in remarks by Bill Clinton, Ronald Reagan and John F. Kennedy, advisers said. Then he sequestered himself in a Chicago hotel room, preferring it to the chaos of his house or campaign headquarters.

BIGGEST STEP YET FOR A LIFELONG STRIVER
(Jodi Kantor, New York Times)
In the way Mr. Obama has trained himself for competition, he can sometimes seem as much athlete as politician. Even before he entered public life, he began honing not only his political skills, but also his mental and emotional ones. He developed a self-discipline so complete, friends and aides say, that he has established dominion over not only what he does but also how he feels. He does not easily exult, despair or anger: to do so would be an indulgence, a distraction from his goals. Instead, they say, he separates himself from the moment and assesses. “He doesn’t inhale,” said David Axelrod, his chief strategist. But with Barack Hussein Obama officially becoming the Democratic presidential nominee on Wednesday night, some of the same qualities that have brought him just one election away from the White House — his virtuosity, his seriousness, his ability to inspire, his seeming immunity from the strains that afflict others — may be among his biggest obstacles to getting there.

DEMS NERVOUS OVER INVESCO RISKS
(Charles Mahtesian, Politico)
Senior Democratic officials are expressing serious concerns about the political risks posed by Barack Obama’s acceptance speech at Invesco Field at Mile High Stadium Thursday evening. From the elaborate stagecraft to the teeming crowd of 80,000 cheering partisans, the vagaries of the weather to the unpredictable audience reaction, the optics surrounding the stadium event have heightened worries that the Obama campaign is engaging in a high-risk endeavor in an uncontrollable environment. A common concern: that the stadium appearance plays against Obama’s convention goal of lowering his star wattage and connecting with average Americans and that it gives Republicans a chance to drive home their message that the Democratic nominee is a narcissistic celebrity candidate. 

DEMOCRATS WORK TO MINIMIZE STADIUM SETTING'S RISKS
(Jim Rutenberg and Jeff Zeleny, New York Times)
With daunting challenges of logistics, style and substance, the plan was hatched before the Republicans began a concerted drive to paint Mr. Obama as a media sensation lacking the résumé to be president. Now Obama aides are feeling all the more pressure to bring a lofty candidacy to ground level, showing that Mr. Obama grasps the concerns of everyday Americans. On Wednesday, workers were still making changes to Invesco Field, home to the Denver Broncos, so it would feel more intimate, less like the boisterous rallies that served Mr. Obama so well early in the primaries, but also created the celebrity image that dogs him.

MCCAIN SELECTS HIS VP
(Mike Allen and Jonathan Martin, Politico)
John McCain has chosen his running mate and the person will be notified on Thursday, a senior campaign official said. A friend said McCain had pretty much settled on his selection early this week, and it crystallized in the past few days. Campaign manager Rick Davis flew to McCain's cabin in Sedona, Ariz., a few days ago to confer, and another meeting about the choice was held with top aides Wednesday. The news leaked on the third night of the Democratic National Convention, detracting attention from speeches by former President Bill Clinton and the Democratic ticket mate, Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware. McCain's selection process has been conducted mostly in secret, but officials said he was considering one or more candidates who support abortion rights. The disclosure set off a fracas on the right wing, with talk-show host Rush Limbaugh saying such a selection would destroy the party. McCain is planning to roll out his vice presidential nominee in three battleground states this weekend, with large-scale rallies planned for Ohio, Pennsylvania and Missouri, according to aides and advisers.

AVOIDING A LONG, DISAPPOINTING FALL
(John Judis, New Republic)
What Obama has to do above all is find a way to focus on the economy--which is voters' main concern--and to do so in a way that reflects his best abilities and deepest beliefs, and that is cognizant of the obstacles he faces as an African American candidate. To begin with, that means Obama cannot run as a Huey Long-style red meat populist. That's not who he is, anyway. And in making promises, he has to be careful to avoid endorsing programs that could be interpreted as irresponsible acts of tax-and-spend liberalism. He can propose a detailed plan for national health insurance once he is elected. For the moment, he should avoid anything that appears to require new taxes, or that appears to send a lot of money to inner-cities. Of course, Obama has to propose programs and attack McCain's outrageous tax-or-spending proposals, but he needs to do it using a simple economic theme that highlights what he wants to do and draws a contrast with McCain. If you look back at Bill Clinton's campaigns in 1992 and 1996, they were based on very simple themes. In 1992, "putting people first" highlighted Clinton's middle class tax cut and drew a contrast with the "patrician" Bush. In 1996, "building a bridge to the 21st century" highlighted Clinton's economic successes and drew a contrast between the youthful Clinton and the aging Bob Dole.

THE MASTER HAS ARRIVED
(Peggy Noonan, Wall Street Journal)
Crazy Bill, the red-faced Rageaholic, was somewhere else. This was Deft Political Pro Bill doing what no one had been able to do up to this point at the convention, and that is make the case for Barack Obama. He lambasted the foe, asserted Obama's growth on the trail, argued that he was the right man for the job and did that as a man who once held that job and is remembered, at least in terms of domestic policy and at least by half the country, as having done it pretty darn well. He gave his full imprimatur to a crowd that believes he has an imprimatur to give. As Clinton spoke a friend IM'd, "What is this, the Clinton convention?" The fact is, until both Clintons spoke, it was. Now oddly enough it isn't. Now eyes turn, and finally, to Obama. This was one of the great tee-ups.

THAT'S THE TICKET
(John Dickerson, Slate)
After Clinton, there wasn't much oxygen in the room for Joe Biden. But he didn't need to deliver the most beautiful speech. That's not his job. His job is to use his quirky approachability to introduce Obama to voters who have been skeptical about him. A guy named Barack needs a guy named Joe as his running mate. (In political-speak, they call this being the validator.) Biden's best pitch came not on the issue of foreign affairs, Biden's strong suit. It came shortly after he began, when he offered a little collage of kitchen-table conversations about families facing hard times. "Should Mom move in with us now that Dad is gone? Fifty dollars, $60, $70 to fill up the gas tank? How in God's name, with winter coming, how are we going to heat the home?" Working-class and Catholic voters may identify with a guy who drops the expressions of their faith or tells gritty stories about how Catherine Eugenia Finnegan Biden taught him how to defend himself. (In case you didn't notice, she's Irish.) If they identify with Biden, they might listen to him—and that's the first step in overcoming their doubts about the man at the top of the ticket. 

SPEECH!
(John McWhorter, New Republic)
This campaign season has lent us more than one occasion to consider the difference between style and substance in speeches, with first Hillary Clinton and recently John McCain reminding voters that Barack Obama's rousing oratorical style cannot be equated with leadership ability. The point in itself is valid, and will be worth considering as we watch not only Obama but the other speakers at the Democratic and Republican conventions. Typical of such events in our times, the speeches will be heavier on sentiment than information, feel rather than content. Given the standard assumption that our political culture would be better off if everyone would just "stick to the issues," the heavy performative streak in modern political speechmaking could be seen as counterintuitive. Wouldn't we expect the average person, when behind the podium, to simply talk? Why do so many find it natural to slide into a dramatic speaking style alien to their everyday selves when speaking to audiences--and why do they say so little when they do?

THE SPEECHES THEY WRITE OFTEN GO UNSPOKEN
(Raymond Hernandez and Jeremy W. Peters, New York Times)
It seemed like a typical Democratic line, one that would play well with the partisan crowd that has packed the Pepsi Center this week. “Above all,” it said, “we can’t have a Statue of Liberty welcoming immigrants to our country as we build a wall on the Southern border. Instead, let us build bridges of friendship and cooperation with our Southern neighbors.” But when Representative José E. Serrano of the Bronx submitted his three-minute speech as required to the high command of Senator Barack Obama’s campaign, the remark was excised. In fact, there was no mention of immigration policy, an issue of great importance to Mr. Serrano and his constituents in New York. That was not all that was missing; the speech he delivered here on Monday bore little resemblance to the one he had written. The deletions appeared to reflect political sensitivities of a campaign seeking to attract moderate voters in the general election. Mr. Serrano’s experience is one that many convention speakers have had this week, and some are grumbling about it. While all presidential nominees try to put their own stamp on the convention, Democrats say Mr. Obama’s vetting team has been especially aggressive.

OBAMA PLANS TO USE YOUNG VOTERS TO ATTRACT (MORE) YOUNG VOTERS
(Sara Murray, Wall Street Journal)
Barack Obama's chances of winning the presidency could rest on the votes of 20-to-30-year-olds -- and, to an unprecedented degree, he is letting his young supporters decide how to win those votes. The youth vote is the only spot on the age spectrum where the Democrat has a clear advantage over presumptive Republican nominee John McCain. In the latest Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll, completed last week, Sen. Obama leads 55% to 37% among likely voters ages 18 to 34. Sen. McCain leads or the candidates are in a statistical dead heat in every other age group. Sen. Obama has already managed to generate heightened interest among young voters: Youth turnout in the Democratic primaries and caucuses rose to 17% compared with 9% in 2000, according to the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement. For the Obama campaign, the emerging strategy to get young voters to turn out in November is to let young supporters in cities and on college campuses decide what works best in their own communities, and give them the budget they need to execute those strategies.

OBAMA TEAM WORKS WITH HILL DEMOCRATS
(Jonathan Weisman, Washington Post)
Eager to avoid the missteps that plagued the first months of the Clinton administration, aides to Barack Obama have begun working in concert with top Democrats in Congress to craft a preliminary legislative agenda that would guide the senator from Illinois should he capture the White House in November. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has assigned her committee chairmen to begin with low-hanging fruit to build confidence and provide a new, young president quick legislative victories, then pivot to more challenging issues, from ending U.S. military involvement in Iraq to broadening health-care coverage. House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles B. Rangel (D-N.Y.) said his policy staffs and Obama's have been working together for more than a month.