The #Olympics are closing BUT the #POLITICAL GAMES are NEXT..

For the past almost three weeks, I and the world have been entrenched in the London Games of the XXX Olympiad! Unfortunately they are closing as all good things must come to an end but don't fret the fun, excitement and thrills are just beginning as we now step out of the Sports arena and into the political one!

First up in this competition for the White House are the Republicans, August 27-30! This time there convention will be from Tampa, Florida. Now say FLORIDA in a political way brings smiles to the GOP but anger to the Democrats. "HANGING CHADS" ring a bell.

Anyway, I always watch BOTH conventions. I can remember as a kid getting out of the backyard pool, setting up the portable black and white TV on the back porch,, my Dad throwing hot dogs and burgers on the grill as my whole family sat and watched the "SUMMER POLITICAL GAMES!"

Over the years coverage has changed. It used to be there was only Network TV which began with an NBC affiliate W2XBS in New York City of the 1940 Republican National Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and soon the other two of the Big Three Networks soon followed. A national political convention has to accomplish certain things,adopting a party platform (a set of principles) and formally nominating candidates for president and vice president. The rest of the usual convention stagecraft — acceptance speeches, keynote addresses, and even the traditional roll call vote — are optional bits of political theater. Conventions have become tightly scripted made-for-TV spectacles.

Now the networks used to have hours of coverage each night, but now only provide at most an hour a night, usually covering the "BIG" speeches and nominating process handing the rest over to the 24/7 news channels of MSNBC, CNN and FOXNEWS.

Highlights of this years GOP convention speakers so far:

• South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, the first female governor of South Carolina and the youngest sitting governor in the United States;

• Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, the 44th governor of Arkansas and 2008 presidential candidate is a NY Times best-selling author, radio and television show host;

• Ohio Governor John Kasich, former House Budget Committee chairman;

• New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez, the first female Hispanic governor in the U.S. and the first female governor of New Mexico;

• Arizona Senator John McCain, the party’s 2008 nominee, now serving his fifth term in the U.S. Senate;

• Former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, America’s 66^th secretary of state and the first African-American female to hold the position; and

• Florida Governor Rick Scott, from the convention host state.
• Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, 43^rd governor of Florida and current chairman of the Foundation for Florida’s Future;

• Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin, the first woman to serve as both Oklahoma lieutenant governor and governor, and the first woman elected to Congress from Oklahoma since the 1920s;

• U.S. Senator Rand Paul, junior senator from Kentucky and founder of the U.S. Senate Tea Party Caucus; and

• Former U.S. Senator Rick Santorum, 2012 presidential primary candidate, and U.S. Senator (1995-2007) and U.S. Representative (1991-1995) from Pennsylvania.

The "Key Note Speaker" is still yet to be announced. Rumors say that gov Chris Christie of NJ just might be the one! We also don't yet know who Mitt Romneys running mate will be.

Next up will be the Democrats in Charlotte, NC September 3-6th. They get to go last because they have the incumbent Barack Obama.

The NFL was supposed to open there season on Thursday, September 6 with the Dallas Cowboys vs the New York Giants at the Giants New Jersey home in the meadowlands, but the league moved the game to Wednesday September 5 so to not impede the Presidents exception speech at the convention.

Highlights of this years DEMOCRATIC convention speakers so far:

• We know who they keynote speaker is already, Julian Castro, San Antonio mayor. The first Latino ever tapped for the high-profile primetime address, 37-year-old Castro is the youngest mayor of a top-50 American city. Serving a second term after a 2011 reelection with 82.9 percent of the vote, the Stanford and Harvard Law graduate’s biography lists a number of accolades that make it clear he’s an up-and-comer. The son of a single mother, Castro and his twin brother, Joaquin, who also has a stellar résumé and is running for Congress in Texas, strike the same chords that Barack Obama did when he was selected to keynote the Democratic convention in 2004—that America is a land of opportunity where merit and hard work are rewarded.

•  Former President Jimmy Carter will speak Sept. 4 in prime time via video, as he will not attend the convention in Charlotte. 

•  Elizabeth Warren Elizabeth Warren is a Democratic candidate in one of the most closely watched political contests in the 2012 election. She is challenging Republican U.S. Sen. Scott Brown for the traditionally Democratic Massachusetts seat formerly held by the late Ted Kennedy. 

•  Former President Bill Clinton has been given a speaking role at the Democratic National Convention despite his occasionally contentious relationship with Obama in 2008, when the soon-to-be president was a U.S. senator battling former First Lady and U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton for the Democratic Party's nomination.

•  First Lady Michelle Obama will speak on the opening night of the Democratic National Convention. She also spoke at the party's 2008 convention, appealing to Democrats who supported Hillary Clinton in the party primary to line up behind Obama in the general election.

•  Elizabeth Warren, a U.S. Senate candidate from Massachusetts who is especially popular with the party's left flank, delivers an address on Wednesday night, just before Clinton.

• Vice President Joe Biden will deliver his acceptance speech on Thursday at Charlotte's 74,000-seat National Football League stadium, before Obama takes the podium.

I don't know about you, but these "Political Games" are just as exciting as the Olympics!