CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- On the door of my home office hangs a collection of press passes I have amassed since I attended the Democratic National Convention in Atlanta in 1988. When I return home at the end of this week, bruised, blistered and tottering from lack of sleep, I shall hang my new trophies with their brethren and pause to think of how lucky I am.I can say that I was there. I was there for Bill Clinton's long-winded keynote in 1988. (OK, I was in a media lounge, but I was there.) I got tears in my eyes as Ronald Reagan delivered what I think he knew would be his last convention...

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