Republican National Convention vs Democratic National Convention

The media narrative going into the DNC was one of suspense and speculation as to whether the democrats could achieve "unity," what Hillary Clinton would do, What Bill Clinton would say, whether Joe Biden would say something stupid, and whether the party would successfully take on McCain. Whether Obama would deliver a thunderous acceptance speech I think was assumed by all (had he flopped it big time, the media narrative would've changed dramatically, and I think 38 million people would be dissappointed, and that is something that would've been pretty disastrous for democrats and for his campaign.)
The Democratic convention was seen by many is a rousing success, Hillary and Bill said all the right things and Joe Biden didn't gaffe it up, Obama gave a very well-received speech and raised the bar dramatically for John McCain who's public speaking has been panned even by many within his party.
Now the media narrative going into the RNC has put a party that already has to roll the boulder up hill this year, in an even worse spot. Although the Republican Party has performed very well and has shown poise and judgment scaling down their first day in the face of Hurricane Gustav and the swirling media frenzy around Sarah Palin's personal life and her family, McCain may have a mighty headwind to achieve what needs to be achieved by Thursday if he wants to win.
The democrats had a lot of energy, excitement, high ratings and positive media coverage during their convention and so far most of the senior media personaliries and journalists will probably not focus on the RNC until tomorrow as the hurricane recedes and the nation heaves a collective sigh of relief.
This gives them just two days to define Obama on their own terms while defending McCain and Palin, lay out their agenda and get the public interested in them again, proving a "generic democrat" is not what the country needs this year, even though this is what the public has said they want in countless polls over the summer.
The Republicans are also going to be facing a problem when it comes to the excitement and diversity of their speakers and party leaders. The party's young stars and popular statesman like Gov. Schwarzennegger and Gov. Jindal will not be attending the convention, nor will a number of it's leading senators and congressmen, that are currently facing hard campaigns.
Obama has received what could be considered a 3-6 point convention "bounce" in most of the latest polling and if McCain and the Republicans fail to limit that, or at least bring Obama's numbers down to where they were two weeks ago, he may have a problem on his hands.