The Note: Drama Club

August 15, 2008 -- We wouldn't have known what to do without you, really. You were with us from Iowa and New Hampshire to Pennsylvania and Indiana, at two dozen debates and inside umpteen FEC reports, through superdelegates and a supersized nomination season.

We suppose you were coming to Denver anyway, your ticket reserved by history, purchased by the media, and punched by a former president.

Now you're coming to your biggest stage yet. Welcome, Clinton-Obama Drama -- enjoy your stay.

Maybe it was better for the Obama campaign to invite you inside, since you would have made an ugly scene outside. Surely Sen. Barack Obama can afford to be gracious, even to you, since he'll leave Denver with the only prize that counts.

But the decision to include Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton in a roll-call vote at the Democratic National Convention ensures that the nominee's showcase event will be about something more than the nominee himself: A number approaching half of the delegates in the hall could cast a ballot for a candidate who is not Obama.

(And, before we continue: Did Obama get what he wanted by having his first joint appearance with Sen. John McCain focus on the topic of religion?)

(Did Republicans get the pictures they were waiting for when Obama finally took his shirt off to go bodysurfing in Hawaii Thursday?)

Three of the four convention nights could very well be dominated by Clinton storylines (arrival, then back-to-back speech nights, and the Wednesday roll call itself), with so much of the fun stuff -- not to mention the party's lingering divisions -- playing out in the open.

Savvy and gracious gesture that soothes tensions and unites the party while giving Clinton's supporters something productive to cheer about? Or unnecessary and dangerous capitulation that only underscores questions about whether Obama is ready to lead? (If he can't control his own convention . . . )

*As in so much in this race, might this be for two people named Clinton to determine?)

"With Mrs. Clinton scheduled to deliver a prime-time speech in Denver, a state-by-state roll call vote increases her time in the convention spotlight," Jeff Zeleny writes in The New York Times. "The former rivals never spoke directly about the matter, but advisers said Mr. Obama encouraged Mrs. Clinton to agree to place her name into nomination as a nod to the historic nature of her candidacy."

Or maybe it wasn't all Obama's call: "Democratic sources said Clinton, who has been grappling with the best way to get her supporters on board, has been mindful of being seen as a poor loser like Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., in 1980," ABC's Kate Snow, Jake Tapper, and Jennifer Parker report. "Finally this week, Clinton officials said they wanted Clinton's name to be in nomination. Obama personally had let his staff know that was fine with him, Democratic sources said."

What will the show look like (and how will it be described to viewers back home)?

"After having her name entered into nomination, Clinton could then ask her delegates to support Obama, bypassing the long process of reading names aloud," Anne Kornblut reports in The Washington Post. "But several advisers said they think there will be some kind of roll call, which could begin as early as Tuesday night of the convention. As a superdelegate, Clinton is expected to vote for Obama."

"The tentative plan is for the states to announce the number of delegates for Clinton and Obama, then for Clinton to turn her delegates over to Obama and cast her own superdelegate vote for him," Foon Rhee and Lisa Wangsness report in The Boston Globe. (Don't forget: Bill Clinton is a superdelegate, too.)

Washingtonpost.com's Chris Cillizza calls the accommodation a "savvy bit of political strategy." "In politics, it's always better to appear magnanimous than small; petty disputes between candidates tend to turn off voters -- especially at the presidential level where voters expect the most of candidates," he writes. "If the convention organizers can limit any public signs of disunity to a handful of disgruntled activists, it's likely that the average viewer won't even pick up on the protests."

It won't be enough for everyone, of course. "Nevertheless, pro-Clinton groups unaffiliated with the Clinton campaign like People United Means Action and Colorado Women Count/Women Vote have said they will host parades and hand out fliers and promotional videos at the convention arguing that Sen. Clinton is the stronger candidate to defeat Sen. McCain," Amy Chozick writes in The Wall Street Journal.

Who got more of what he or she wanted in this deal?

Headline in the New York Post: "Hillary Pushes Way Onto Stage."

"Russia rolls over Georgia, Hillary Clinton does the same to Barack Obama. Now we know who's boss," Michael Goodwin writes in his New York Daily News column. "Obama blinked and stands guilty of appeasing Clinton by agreeing to a roll call vote for her nomination. . . . It was supposed to be his party. Now it's theirs. His and hers."

Now comes time to talk religion: For the first time since winning their respective primaries, Obama and McCain are set to share a stage Saturday at Pastor Rick Warren's Saddleback megachurch in Orange County, Calif., with back-to-back sessions with the host.

"We're going to look at leadership, specifically their character, their competence, their experience," Warren tells ABC's Jake Tapper. "Many evangelicals think neither of these guys are . . . I think both John McCain and Barack Obama and their relationship to Jesus Christ is their relationship. But I'm going to give them a chance to explain themselves."

McCain talks faith in a fascinating interview with the Chicago Tribune's Jill Zuckman -- and describes the little-known "church riot" he helped lead against his captors in Vietnam.

"It is a story unknown by a public still getting to know McCain and searching for shared values with the candidates," Zuckman writes. "In an extended interview, McCain talked about how his faith was tested during his years as a prisoner of war from 1967 to 1973, said God must have had a plan for him to have kept him alive, and reminisced about his appointment as informal chaplain to his cellmates."

Said McCain: "There were many times I didn't pray for another day and I didn't pray for another hour -- I prayed for another minute to keep going. . . . There's no doubt that my faith was strengthened and reinforced and tested, because sometimes you have a tendency to say, 'Why am I here?' "

And he suggests he was spared for a greater purpose: :I can't help but feel like that to some extent, and I'm not a fatalist," said McCain. "I think it's remarkable that I've been able to survive so much and to have the opportunity to do the right thing. I do think we make our own choices, but certainly I think I was meant to serve a cause greater than my self-interest."