Ben Tribbett, Democratic activist, Sen. Hillary Clinton fan and proprietor of Not Larry Sabato, put on a tie and walked the folks from CSPAN around the blogger tent in Denver in one of his spare moments off the convention floor.

Critics can say a lot of things about the campaign of Republican presidential contender Sen. John McCain, but "they lack a sense of humor" isn't one of them.

Democratic nominee Sen. Barack Obama will be accepting his party's nod with a speech at what used to be Mile High Stadium, on a set that is said to resemble everything from the White House Rose Garden to an ancient Greek temple.

Team McCain took the "temple" theme and ran with it, alerting the media as to the proper attire for the event.

Find the memo here. I won't ruin it for you, but suffice it to say that here in the Cheap Seats, we think fondly of any campaign document that invokes "Animal House."

Well, apparently there was a carbon monoxide leak in Cheap Seats One. I'm sure it's only a coincidence that I was in the muffler shop on Saturday morning when Sen. Barack Obama announced his choice of Sen. Joe Biden for his running mate.

Since then, the inbox here at Cheap Seats HQ has been packed with political ads, some for broadcast, some from YouTube. Here's some of today's bumper crop:

The Bristol night race and politics ... two of my favorite things in one place.

Team McCain is taking their Virginia operation on the road across the Tennessee state line on Friday and Saturday to one of my favorite haunts, Bristol Motor Speedway, in an effort to register Virginia voters who have snagged the hardest ticket in all of motor sports.

A bit of race day advice for Team McCain from a long-time Bristol fan:

• That sign at the gate that says coolers have to be a certain size or smaller or you don't get in? They mean that.
• If you've got the manpower, leave someone who doesn't like racing behind in Johnson City (I'd suggest hanging at Fun Expedition or Poor Richard's, depending on your level of family friendliness) to listen to the races on the radio, then swoop in and pick up your team at a designated spot along U.S. 11-E in front of the race track's north entrance.
• If you don't have the manpower, don't pay more than $20 for a place to park. Instead, park along U.S. 11-E south of the track, then cough up the $5 a head for the "shuttle," some guy with a 1978 Ford F-150 running up and down the highway. It's a ride you won't soon forget.
• Nothing spruces up the campaign HQ like a couple of dozen used Goodyear racing Eagles... they're available after the race for a song. These have almost been a coffee table at Cheap Seats HQ more than once...

It's been a while since Cheap Seats One made the road trip to BMS for a race weekend, so here's a reminder of our last trip:

The entry sign at Speedway in Lights 2007, as seen from Cheap Seats One.

Driving the high banks, with commentary from the entire family.

That's pretty much what we've been doing here in the Cheap Seats as the August political death march grinds on slowly through the sultry Virginia summer.

Waiting.

Summer is usually a dead season politically, but with all the speculation about Gov. Tim Kaine possibly being Barack Obama's running mate, we've been waiting for the text message (how could a political junkie not sign up?) telling us who the number two man or woman will be.

The chattering class, especially the Virginia branch, has been speculating at high speed on the issue, with reporters staking out Sen. Joe Bide, D-Del., Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sibelius and other contenders looking for any sign that might tip Obama's hand.

Given the usual summer political doldrums, it's not surprising. Capitol Square is all but shuttered until January, and Washington is pretty much on hold until Congress comes back in September. Should Obama pick Kaine, things would get very interesting again in short order.

So will Obama pick Kaine? Here in the newsroom, there's a difference of opinion. From the Cheap Seats, it looks like Kaine is Obama's guy for lots of reasons... the two-day Virginia swing, the personal loyalty angle, Kaine's legacy problems after the transportation special session, etc.

On the other side we have the editors, who think I've got a carbon monoxide leak aboard Cheap Seats One. Both of my politics-watching superiors think Kaine's short tenure is just too much of a barrier to overcome for Obama to pick him.    

Personally, I've never seen much evidence that ticket balancing works, and I think Obama probably recognizes that. But I also thought Jerry Kilgore would cruise in 2005, too.

The waiting game continues.

There's nothing quite like the dog days of summer in the Shenandoah Valley. Days of stifling heat punctuated by cooling thunderstorms, summer cicadas rattling the trees with their song and politicians working to win election to higher office.

That last one is a bit of a new development. Normally it's safe to abandon the Cheap Seats for a few days this time of year for relaxation and grilling chicken-on-a-stick. But things are different this year.

The past few days of the campaign have been remarkable, not only for the amount of energy expended during a time period when most people couldn't care less about politics, but also for the weapon of choice of both campaigns: energy.

Both sides smell blood in the water on the issue (i.e. have done polling). Republican candidate John McCain continues to hammer on Democratic candidate Barack Obama with the "Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less" mantra he launched earlier in the summer.

And it appears to be working to some degree -- Obama and other Democrats are now talking about a "grand bargain" or other deal that would allow offshore drilling in exchange for higher mileage standards on cars and trucks and renewable energy incentives.

Meanwhile, the Democratic National Committee has fired off no less than nine press releases and e-mails attempting to tie McCain to Vice President Cheney and "Big Oil" -- serious red meat for the Democratic base. Obama has echoed the call to some degree, accusing McCain of being in the pocket of oil companies.

While we're not privy to campaign polling here in the Cheap Seats, it looks fairly obvious that campaign polls show people 1) are in favor of drilling through baby seals (if necessary) to bring down the price of gas, and 2)  hold oil companies in slightly lower esteem than the devil himself and Congress put together.

Throw in the veepstakes with Rep. Eric Cantor, R-7th, and Democratic Gov. Tim Kaine both in the running, and August looks like it'll be a hot one in Virginia. But the presidential race isn't the only contest that's pre-heated this year.

The campaign of 10th District Democratic nominee Judy Feder from doing everything the can to derail incumbent Republican Rep. Frank Wolf. Feder's team paid close attention to Wolf's votes on the floor in the days leading up to the August recess and hammered on each one without fail.

While that's not unusual for a congressional campaign, it is odd for late July.

Wolf's team has apparently decided that they're not going to take the attacks lying down like they did in 2006, and they've answered each and every one in kind.

Keep the Bermuda shorts and umbrella drinks handy. It's going to get a lotter hotter in Virginia before Election Day.