He had the crowd before he even got to the speech.

Ed-die. Ed-die.

He charmed with a clever zinger:

"It's clear the only thing green in John McCain's energy plans are the billions of dollars he's promising in more tax cuts to oil companies. And the only thing that he'll recycle is the same failed George Bush approach to energy policy."

Then he went deep into details. Deep. When he talked about clean-coal gasification and geothermal plants I swear I heard crickets in my yard.

Gov. Rendell took his eight minutes of face time on the big stage Tuesday evening and used it to deliver a hoarse, emphatic case for Barack Obama's energy plan. He did not spare anyone the fine print.

He painted the Bush administration as bedfellows of big gas and oil. And he showed who is paying for that private party:

Four years ago a gallon of gas cost $1.50, he said. Now it's closer to $4.

Back then it cost about $900 to heat a home for the winter. This year plan on $2,500.

"Meanwhile Exxon [had] the largest quarterly profit in the history of the world."

Pause for lusty boos.

"That's not just an outrage. That's obscene."

He played the loyal soldier, having earlier in the day tagged Obama as the Adlai Stevenson of our times. "He's not exactly the easiest guy in the world to identify with," Rendell had told the Washington Post. He'd come to praise Obama, calling him "handsome," "incredibly bright," "incredibly well-spoken" and "incredibly successful."

But then the comparison to an earlier liberal statesman from Illinois, whose challenge of Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1952 and 1956 was the quiet rage of the intellectual set.

"You ask him a question, and he gives you a six-minute answer," Rendell said. "And the six-minute answer is smart as all get out. It's intellectual. It's well-framed. It takes care of all the contingencies. But it's a lousy soundbite."

Monday night

I just sat on the couch listening to Michelle Obama, taking no notes, just taking her in.

So there are no pithy bits to share here, just a sense that I saw a far different woman than I'd been reading about on, say, Michelle Malkin's blog after Michelle Obama's comments last winter in which she conceded a lack of pride in America. Monday night, M.O. delivered.

Of course, it was scripted, but it was really superbly scripted, and if she wrote it herself, she should consider running for election after him. Strike that.

The money part came at the end, when she talked about dreaming, not doubting. Hoping, not fearing. This was strong stuff, and it seemed tailored to reach a universe of skeptics - women, veterans, the hard-at-work, and anyone who claims to be for family values.

What it means? Prospective first ladies don't win elections. But they can hurt. This one certainly didn't hurt tonight. She aced the test.

Monday morning

On the women's side, the talk was of what they saw in the day's news, how Barack Obama had not even vetted Hillary Clinton's viability as vice president.

"She would have picked him as vice president," our female friend told my wife, who nodded in disappointed assent. We men shook our heads and muttered.

My wife said she understood that polls that show 30 percent of Hillary supporters said they will not vote for Obama.

This is what I think. When her time comes at the podium Tuesday night, Hillary has to say something plain and simple:

It is unconscionable for my supporters to vote for John McCain.