In his column today, Dick Morris brings up a good point:

For the first time in memory, the two parties are holding their conventions right after one another. Within 72 hours of Obama's acceptance speech on the night of Aug. 28, in front of 75,000 adoring fans outdoors in Invesco Field at Mile High, the Republican Convention's opening gavel will come crashing down. How will it work? What will be the impact of these nearly simultaneous events? Nobody really knows, but the answer is critical. Usually, the post-convention polling sets a pattern that lasts at least until the candidates debate.

How this relates to the VP search is that beginning at the moment Obama announces his running mate the public is in for a crazy ride that will last until McCain accepts the nomination on Sept. 4. As Morris writes, because this has never happened before, no one quite knows what to expect. Morris speculates that it could mean a dead-even race following the GOP convention, which is unusual.

At one level, this diminishes the impact of the VP announcements, since both will be submerged beneath so many other events. At another level, it raises the importance of whom the candidates choose, since the campaigns will be struggling for any edge they can get.

So, buckle up, things are about to get moving.