Thirty five influential webloggers were officially credentialed by the Democratic National Convention, including Dave Winer, Jay Rosen, Christian Crumlish (also blogging here), David Weinberger, Atrios, and Jeralyn Merritt. Here's some highlights from inside and outside the convention:

The Gore Speech: Jerome Armstrong of MyDD.com posted the text of Al Gore's speech before he gave it. This was important not because it was such a great speech, but because it lifted back the curtain on yet one more aspect of the political journalistic process. Journalists have always had advance texts of major speeches handed to them, and if you watch closely at some presidential addresses, you'll see members of Congress flipping through the written text as it's being given. Now, thanks to a blogger, the public is in on the real deal.
Who says Rebublican webloggers don't have a sense of humor?: A number of webloggers made fun of John Kerry's recent trip to Kennedy Space Center - probably the most creative use of photo editing software goes to Blogs for BushShove it?: Conservative webloggers were also abuzz about Teresa Heinz Kerry's recent "Shove It" comment made to a reporter at an event yesterday, but it hasn't picked up a critical mass, as only 307 posts were made about it today, out of over 275,000 weblog posts total for the day - over 10,000 per hour.
The "new new" convention: Jay Rosen, NYU journalism prof, again proved why he has such a following online: Rosen digs deeply into the odd journalistic trope of constantly referring to conventions past, arguing that the only way most reporters can make meaning of an event that has been emptied of most of its spontaneity by scripting and pre-determined outsomes is by relating it to the olden days when conventions really made news. But then he helps explain why it was that for so many journalists the "blogging phenomenon" was a story in itself to cover. The superficial answer, he says, is that this is only of the only "new" things happening here, at least worth a "nice sidebar." But then Rosen adds: But I think there's a different and deeper answer. Over their heads the arrow points forward. "Blogging represents--at least for purposes of the convention--what things are becoming. "The conventions have become..." is a tired story line. And that is one reason we bloggers ate breakfast today under the curious gaze of the press."
Henry Waxman and Howard DeanTwo politicians who went out of their way to pass a message to the Convention Credentialed webloggers are Congressman Henry Waxman and Governor Howard Dean, who both invited webloggers to special morning breakfasts this morning. Matt Stoller has a good report on Waxman's views, and Howard Dean arrived to talk about the effect of weblogs on his campaign. Pandragon reports.
Cameraphone CoverageLeave it to 6 smart USC students and their professor to take a technology to a new level. They're walking the convention floor with cameraphones, taking instant snapshots along with commentary and posting the information live, at the instant it happens. The Wireless Election Connection Moblog (a moblog is short for "mobile weblog") looks to be one of the surprise hits of the weblog coverage here at the convention.
A libertarian weighs in: Libertarian blogger Matt Welch, who writes for Reason magazine, gives an thought-provoking round-up on the first night. He writes "The biggest applause lines tonight came when Jimmy Carter and Al Gore slowed down their delivery, ratcheted up the southern growl, and condemned the Bush Administration’s war in Iraq."