To "30 Rock" — and Chicago

A dispatch from the road to Chicago — after a pit stop at MSNBC, plus observations and analysis from day 1 of the DNC

After some delays, we bring you Anand’s dispatch en route to Chicago (with a pit stop at MSNBC), some reflections on Biden’s keynote, and other highlights from what we’re reading about last night’s primetime slate.

4:30 a.m. — I wake up painfully early today, because democracy. There was a whole lot of morning ahead: a television hit on “Morning Joe” and then a flight to Chicago, where, of course, the Democratic Party is convening.

5 a.m. — A car ride through a beautifully, eerily empty New York City to 30 Rock, where I was on from the top of the show, at 6 a.m.

I was there to talk about this essay from yesterday, about the new political style ascendant in the era of Kamala Harris. What I usually do is type out (or copy/paste) some highlights from the piece I’m talking about, to have on the table in front of me. Even the solidly middle-aged need our teleprompters. As you can see below, my phone is not yet sold on the concept of Mobisuasion! (Check out the political group Way to Win’s fascinating research on that idea here.)

5:30 a.m. — Get mic’d up quickly by MSNBC’s C.J., who will always cheer you up, get some coffee down the hatch, and then some more.

6 a.m. — Now I’m set with Mika and Willie — and, seconds before air time, as usual, Joe. He loves a good last-minute entrance.

We talk on air about the first night of the convention last night and about President Biden’s wistful capstone of a speech. When the control room cuts to video clips from last night, we talk among ourselves around the table, out of viewers’ earshot. Sometimes the conversations you can’t hear are the ones I wish you could.