The Democratic National Convention has truly been a blowout affair, building each day to an even-more-impressive frenzy, sparked by speaker after enthusiastic speaker, each seeming to bring the levels of excitement inside the arena to new heights. Last night was a continuation of this building sense of joy. A third Democratic president, Bill Clinton, appeared (following Joe Biden on the first night and Barack Obama on the second) -- but (rather astonishingly) he was actually not the biggest star of the evening.

If you didn't catch any of it last night, my advice would be to make sure you watch two key speeches -- Tim Walz accepting the nomination for vice president, and Oprah Winfrey being Oprah Winfrey. To me, at least, these were the highest of the high points of the evening.

As many have already commented, this is shaping up to be "the vibe election." Pundits can complain about the candidates (on both sides) not focusing on policy, but this largely misses the point. People are being drawn to politics because of how it makes them feel, not their candidate's stance on the economy. And the difference between the two parties on the vibe front couldn't be starker.

Democrats, all week long, have been having fun. This ineffable quality was missing when Joe Biden ran in 2020, and was somewhat present (although different) when Hillary Clinton made her run in 2016. But neither Biden nor Clinton sparked the kind of joyful positive energy that is currently on display every night in Chicago. Kamala Harris and Tim Walz have managed to put an entirely new face on their party, and their "happy warrior" vibe certainly seems to be winning over a whole lot of hearts and minds.

Meanwhile, the vibe from Donald Trump hasn't changed a bit. It's still just as dark and gloomy and vindictive as ever. So the real question in this election is whether joy can beat darkness. Being somewhat of an eternal optimist, I am personally hoping it can.

Last night's theme was officially: "A fight for our freedoms," and it highlighted an incredible sea-change in how Democrats talk about things and campaign. They have recaptured the term "freedom" from the Republicans, since it is now the Republicans who want the government to have a say in all kinds of aspects of people's lives. This has allowed Democrats to stand strongly for the concept of freedom, which was on display last night in many ways, from pre-produced videos to statements from the stage. Dana Nessel, the attorney general of Michigan, stole another theme from Republicans with her words to the Supreme Court: "You can pry this wedding band from my cold, dead, gay hand." Tim Walz, of course, has the best line on the subject: "Mind your own damn business!" That's a campaign slogan for the ages if there ever was one.

The subject matter shifted throughout the night, starting fairly early on with an emphasis on the southern border. Democrats had been seen as vulnerable on the issue, but speaker after speaker leaned in to the actual truth of the matter -- a bipartisan bill was negotiated in the Senate with some of the most conservative Republicans, but then Trump intentionally tanked the effort because he wanted to campaign on it rather than solve the problem. It remains to be seen how effective this effort will be, but it is a valid point to make.

After a short detour into talking about January 6th, for no particular reason we then got Stevie Wonder, who said a few words and then performed "Higher Ground." That's a hard act to follow, but Keenan Thompson did his best. Thompson continued a bit that several speakers have already used, with a giant prop. Each speaker shows the crowd a huge book with "Project 2025" on the cover, and then itemizes all the horrific things the Republicans have in store if Trump wins. This is an effective tool, since all each speaker has to do is quote from the book (complete with page reference) to show America how extreme the other side has truly gotten.

Mindy Kaling was the official celebrity host of the evening, and she told a heartwarming story about cooking with Kamala Harris. The first speaker of the 9:00 hour (Eastern) was House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries. Jeffries is an effective orator, and he got the crowd going several times during his appearance. His funniest line was: "Donald Trump is like an old boyfriend who you broke up with... who just won't go away." For good measure, he then quoted Taylor Swift.

Now, forgive us, but we have to take a little detour here. There is a rumor making the rounds that Taylor Swift might just appear on stage tonight. I have no idea whether this is just wishful thinking or not, but I did take the time to look up her tour schedule to find out that she just finished (on Tuesday) the European leg of her "Eras" megatour. Meaning she's got no concert dates until October. Meaning she would indeed be free to show up tonight. But whether this happens or not, if Taylor Swift does actually endorse Kamala Harris at any point, it would mean adding an absolute army of younger voters to the electoral mix. So whether it happens tonight or at any time leading up to Election Day, it would certainly be a huge boost for the Harris/Walz ticket.

But back to Chicago. Bill Clinton took the stage (rather early, I thought) and gave a heartfelt address. As he pointed out, he just turned 78 years old, so his speaking style has gotten a little slower and a little less energetic, but it was still fun to watch. Before the advent of Barack Obama, Clinton was the best orator the Democratic Party had seen in a long while, which people tend to forget (Bill Clinton was kind of sidelined for a while during the "MeToo" era, for obvious reasons).

Clinton got off a few funny lines. He pointed out that Kamala had worked at McDonald's as a young woman, getting a laugh by predicting: "She will break my record as the president who spent the most time at McDonald's."

He also ripped into Donald Trump in various ways, pointing out that Trump is all about "me, myself, and I." Later he invited people not to "count the lies" when Trump speaks, but instead "count the I's." Clinton spoke for all of us when he stated that even though Barack Obama had called Clinton the "Explainer-in-Chief," that he was completely bewildered by Trump's continued reference to "the late, great Hannibal Lecter" -- "I've thought about it and thought about it and I don't know what to say!"

Clinton did show his Explainer-in-Chief chops, by trotting out one astonishing statistic. Since the end of the Cold War, 51 million new jobs have been created in America, Clinton informed us. And -- he swore he checked and checked, but it was true! -- the score stands at: "Democratic presidents, 50 million jobs; Republican presidents 1 million." So much for the whole "Republicans are better on the economy" nonsense, eh?

Clinton ended with a great new label that hopefully will start to get used a lot: "We need Kamala Harris, the president of joy, to lead us!" As a nice touch, he was played off the stage to his old campaign song: "Don't Stop (Thinkin' About Tomorrow)."

Bill Clinton, like a lot of the speakers at the Democratic National Convention, is also a hard act to follow, but former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi did a pretty bang-up job of it. She started with a shoutout to her roots ("Hello Maryland!") and got the crowd to roar several times. Again with a nod to Baltimore, she quoted from the National Anthem after ripping into Trump for the events of January 6th. On the morning of January 7th, Pelosi stated: "We gave proof through the night that our flag was still there."

The energy level ebbed a little, after Pelosi was done, although I did enjoy the video of clips of Kamala Harris questioning people like Bill Barr and Jeff Sessions in Senate committee hearings. A lot of people have forgotten how effective a prosecutor she can be, but I for one have not -- I truly look forward to the presidential candidate debate between her and Trump, because I fully expect her to absolutely take Trump apart.

After a string of short speeches, Amanda Gorman took the stage and read a poem. There is no one alive who has a better speaking style and rhythm, and her poetry is always incredibly inspirational. But she was merely an appetizer for another speaker with her own distinctive style.

As a surprise guest, Oprah Winfrey then took the stage. She fired the crowd up beyond what anyone else had done that night, in classic Oprah style. She's no stranger to inspirational messages either, as she quoted John Lewis: "No matter what ship our ancestors arrived on, we are all in the same boat now." She defined what it means to be an American in a neighborly way -- if you saw someone's house on fire, you wouldn't stop to consider whether the people inside shared your political viewpoint or not, you'd try to save them. And if a childless cat lady lived there: "We try to get that cat out too!"

The crowd loved it. Oprah touched on many Democratic issues, but the most poignant was her telling the story of the "New Orleans Four" -- four 6-year-old Black girls who desegregated a school, where all the White parents pulled their kids out (leaving an empty building) and where the windows of the classroom the four girls sat in had to be covered up "to protect their six-year-old bodies from snipers." She then tied this in to Kamala Harris, nine years later, integrating the schools of Berkeley, California.

Oprah knows how to expertly play a crowd, and she was absolutely on fire last night. She grounded the end of her speech in basic decency: "Values and character matter most of all, in leadership and in life," and: "Decency and respect are on the ballot in 2024," and: "Let us choose optimism over cynicism because that's the best."

She built it all up to the point where she deployed her patented "Oprah voice," finishing with: "Let us choose JO-OOO-OOOO-YYY!... Let us choose KAMALA HAA-AAA-AAA-RRRRIS!"

The place exploded in emotional excitement. I've long said it -- Oprah Winfrey could have been president any time she chose, over the last few decades. The Oval Office could have been hers in a heartbeat. She proved this once again, last night.

Oprah, of course, is an impossible act to follow, and Maryland Governor Wes Moore was kind of a step down (although he did do a good job of working the crowd, to be fair). Then we got Pete Buttigieg and Amy Klobuchar doing their best to keep the excitement going.

Finally (finally!) we got to the main event. A former student of Tim Walz began the introduction, and invited his state-champion high school football team out onto stage with him (which was an excellent touch). Then we got an introductory video, and finally "Coach Walz" appeared on stage.

I call him that not so much for the football players who helped introduce him, but because what we then got was essentially a halftime locker-room pep talk. He even went into the details of the defense he ran to win that championship, for good measure.

Walz is, at heart, a decent guy. He just radiates decency. He is the quintessential Midwestern Dad, Coach, and Teacher -- all rolled into one. "Never underestimate a public school teacher" was exactly the sort of thing you'd expect Walz to say, and he did not disappoint. He spoke of his record as governor, when he brought free breakfasts and lunches to all of Minnesota's schoolchildren. "While other states were banning books from their schools," Walz said, "we were banishing hunger from ours."

And of course, he deployed the best campaign slogan of the entire election, his signature: "We've got a golden rule: Mind your own damn business!"

His theme throughout the entire speech was "Freedom," and what it means to Democrats as opposed to how Republicans use the term. But it was the part at the end that truly tore the roof off the place. As I said, we all got Coach's pep talk: "It's the fourth quarter. We're down a field goal. But we're on offense and we've got the ball. We're driving down the field. And, boy, do we have the right team!" He followed this up with a rousing: "There'll be time to sleep when you're dead -- we're going to leave it all on the field!" He finished with a flourish: "When we fight?" The crowd roared back: "WE WIN!!!"

In a particularly fitting coda, he was played off the stage by Neil Young's "Rockin' In The Free World."

To use a rather hopeful sports metaphor myself: "Game over, man! I mean, like, game over!"

-- Chris Weigant

Follow Chris on Twitter: @ChrisWeigant