It must suck to follow the Beijing Olympics, as the Democratic National Convention has been forced to do this week. Sure, the closing ceremonies of the former were garish and bizarre (what was Jimmy Page doing there? and didn’t that mountain of people look like Breughel’s Tower of Babel, while reminding you there might be too many Chinese people in the world?) but the highlights were spontaneous and exhilarating — the opposite of any scripted political convention.

Remember when the networks used to cover these things gavel-to-gavel? Of course there were occasional surprises then (the Republicans in ’64, the Dems in ’68) but they were for the most part like covering a huge noisy Shriners’ convention, complete with the silly hats and banners. Now the nets tune in at ten, while the cable news channels (not to mention political web sites and myriad bloggers) flail about in search of some drama.

For the last few days everyone was working the Clinton angle: would Hillary deliver her masses for Obama? Would Bill ever get over himself? And even after HRC pulled out all the stops last night (if she had given a speech half as good during the primaries she might have won the nomination) kvetchers are still worrying if it was enough. Watch Bill swing for similar heights this evening; he’s not going to let his old lady best him at the inspiration game, let alone this whippersnapper from Illinois.

For a more interesting rivalry, tune into MSNBC during the evening. While CNN has The Best Political Team on Television cluttering the actual floor of the convention in Denver, MSNBC has been broadcasting from what looks like the parking lot outside. There you can see bloviator Chris Matthews, who is sort of the setting sun of the third-rung cable net, getting prickly with ascending star Keith Olbermann. Matthews, who is said to be contemplating a run for office himself, likes to hear himself talk as much as any man on television and insists on a certain political impartiality while Olbermann is more blatantly Bush-bashing (and Obama-supporting) and prefers a more snarky, rat-a-tat style. The Hardball host sounds like he’s fighting a cold, coughing and wheezing while he tries to make a point, while Olbermann is all but rolling his eyes. It’s the closest thing to real friction you may find for the next few nights, unless you switch the channel to watch the Yankees struggle for survival and try to beat Boston…