By Steve Clemons

I’ve always been intrigued with political franchises. I used to study the crime bosses of Chicago and the political/criminal bosses of Japan.

I’ve had a couple of weeks now of travel and have enjoyed most of it — to Denver for the DNC, Boston for APSA, and Minneapolis/St. Paul for the RNC.

Thanks to TWN reader “ces” who professes not to be a photo shop expert, but he has fixed the two typos in posters being waved around at the Republican National Convention the last two nights. TWN reader Julianne sent the original two pics in this morning.

Reader of The Washington Note — Julianne — also caught this pic while watching the Republican National Convention last night. This follows her other “get” of Keeping Ameirca Strong. Do you think that these are really accidents — or was this done on purpose? (. . .

(link to AP photo) At the Democratic National Convention, I was on the floor at the Pepsi Center when Massachusetts Senator John Kerry was giving his speech.

I’m an imperfect typist, to play on Senator McCain’s self-description as an “imperfect servant” of the American people. I make mistakes in spelling and grammar on an embarrassingly frequent basis, but have some great eagle eye readers who are good at alerts.

John McCain said tonight: “America doesn’t hide from history. America makes its history.” This perhaps is the truest statement in McCain’s genteel, polite, and fairly unambitious speech tonight. America has in its past focused on major problems and figured out strategies to overcome them.

Here is an interview I did with Financial Times Washington Bureau Chief and political columnist Edward Luce about both the Republican and Democratic conventions and how foreign policy and other issues played. More later.

Dividing a presidential convention between two cities — Minneapolis and Saint Paul — that are a half hour cab ride apart is a very good way to deflate enthusiasm and raw political energy, but tonight. . .finally. . .

Politico‘s Ben Smith has posted a hot mic clip of Peggy Noonan and Mike Murphy trashing the McCain selection of Sarah Palin. I’ve been having chats with quite a few hard core Republicans about this and that, including the Sarah Palin choice.