A Chequer-Board of Nights and Days

The last place Kathy Archuleta could have ever imagined she'd spend the first night of the Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colorado, was at a happy hour sponsored by the Republican Party.

 But the 54-year-old Democrat joined several other Hillary Clinton supporters, along with volunteers and officials from John McCain's campaign, at a Happy Hour for Hillary.

The event, sponsored by the Republican National Committee and approved by the McCain campaign, was a chance for McCain and Clinton supporters to come together for one cause: their opposition to Barack Obama's candidacy.

"Four years ago, if you said we'd be at a Hillary happy hour at the DNC, I would have called you crazy. But today is a great opportunity for people who ... agree that Sen. Barack Obama doesn't have the experience to be president of the United States," said McCain campaign regional communications director Tom Kise.

Events like these are not big deals in and of themselves. But they give comfort to those Democrats who believe that Barack Obama is not prepared to be President of the United States. The more such people realize that there are others out there who think the way they do, the more willing they will be to express their concerns--both by voicing them and by voting on the basis of those concerns.

And that can only benefit John McCain. I know that the Obama campaign won't like that reality. But they are going to have to live with it.