11.   Jackson Lee disputed Republican claims that their session Monday night, filled with a parade of minority speakers, was an improvement on their past conventions.

12.   Past conventions exploited that climactic event with wide-angle shots of cheering throngs and cascades of balloons drifting down form the ceiling.

13.   Sometimes the drama of past conventions has lain in credentials disputes.

14.   Spokeswoman Karen Hughes and other advisers say Bush hopes to strike a more high-minded tone than in conventions past.

15.   Story will also look at celebrated floor fights in past Republican conventions, and how they influenced the outcome of the November election.

16.   Still, the most memorable moments in past conventions often have been the poison barbs.

17.   Television ratings have fallen for each of the past three conventions.

18.   That is why a lingering image from a past GOP convention, for me, comes from aboard a bus of all-white conventioneers returning to their hotel.

19.   The City of Brotherly Love is showing much more affection to visiting journalists than some past GOP conventions.

20.   The gathering will be haunted by the liberal impulse of stormy conventions past.