Last night, in between watching the Olympics, I caught large parts of former Virginia governor Mark Warner speaking in New Hampshire. (There is only one reason someone with presidential aspirations goes to New Hampshire at this time of year.)

Anyway, I'd never really heard him speak before, and I was moderately impressed. First of all, he told his personal story with a great deal of self-deprication that kept the audience in stitches. He indicated that he was the first from Harvard to graduate without a job offer at either clerkship he had worked at during the summer; so he decided to go into business, invested $5,000 in an energy firm and promptly watch it go down the tubes. He then got into real estate, which went under in six months. Then, in 1982, someone suggested he should get into selling phones for people's cars. He thought it sounded like a good idea, and he and another fellow founded a company. His law school friends told him, "Warner, get a real job."

Those people are still practicing law and he's long been out of that cellular phone company he founded called Nextel. (I hadn't known that until last night.)

Anyway, he could use some polish but he might ultimately be the real deal. I know a lot of folks have been comparing him to Clinton; I'm not sure whether that's accurate, but it's worth keeping an eye on him.

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A few short-takes on the opening ceremonies:

This is very Ugly American of me, I admit. But I always wonder why Team USA walks into the Olympic ceremonies wearing hats made by Roots, which is a company as Canadian as you can get. Aren't there ANY good apparelmakers in the US?...

The opening ceremonies seemed pretty good to me (although I admit to watching the first half last night, falling asleep around ten and then waking up and catching the rest this morning on NBC's primetime replay.) The only terrifying moment was when Yoko Ono emerged to read a poem about peace. I'm sure that, worldwide, everyone was afraid she might sing...

Luciano Pavarotti singing "Nessun Dorma?" Classic, truly classic...

The lighting of the Olympic torch is always an emotional moment, but I still haven't seen one that can hold a candle (ha!...pun intended...) to Atlanta 1996, when Mohammed Ali emerged from behind a pillar to take and light the torch. (I was barely awake for that one, too...I remember falling asleep and waking up...)

Another opening ceremony moment born out of Atlanta was this. My Aunt Jody, whom I've written about before, would later describe watching the opening ceremonies with my Uncle Tom. Now, Tom is a person very committed to ideas like the beauty of sport and competition, and was literally a split second away from the Olympics in track and field in 1972. Jody was big into design/fashion/visual.

"So there we were, watching the opening ceremonies," Jody said. "Tom was sitting there, tears streaming down his face because of the beauty of all these athletes from all over the world coming together to compete, and I was sitting there, tears streaming down my face, because everyone was color-coordinated."

She was one helluva lady.