RNC compared to DNC:

• Smaller: The hall is smaller, the stage is smaller, the crush not as intense.

• Madness Among Normalcy: In Boston you could have missed the fact that a convention was in town. Not here. Cops. Everywhere. From the top of the 7th Ave. stairs at Penn Station I counted 63 police officers within eyeshot. But as I walked to the 50s and back on 7th avenue, New York continues on unabated. While the terrace at Penn Station was nearly empty, the sidewalks remain crowded with the local citizenry, and life goes on as normal. Easier than normal to get a cab, though, and the cross-town traffic is nothing like usual. New York’s attitude toward the convention is like that of an uncle to an unruly nephew … he might be annoying, but you can temper your displeasure with the knowledge that he’s not staying with you forever (and that his behavior isn’t your responsibility).

• More Flirtation: Boston had plenty of young, attractive people, but my gut reaction here is that at least 20 percent of those in the hall here are trying to get laid. Target number 1: female GOP congressional staffers. Target number 2: GOP communications staff. Complicating twist: they are hot.

• More At Ease: Not more formal … and not more relaxed … more at ease. The crowd, small as it is, is less hectic, but not less intense. Boston felt like college enrollment: lots of lines, nobody really sure where they were going, plenty of questionable bureaucracy. New York? In New York I get off the train, call our press contact, say “I’m here,” and she’s kind enough to run down, meet me outside, and hand all my credentials to me at once. In Boston, we had to start each day with a $25 cab ride across downtown to the press office to get our single credential for that day. You need something here, someone takes care of it. You need something in Boston, you walk through the bowels of the Fleet to find it. Not that the IT folks at the DNC weren’t helpful … they were … but this is a less strained, more relaxed staff environment.

• Further From The Action: Blogger’s Roost was in the hall itself, although at the top of the hall. Blogger’s Corner (that’s the official name … signs all over that say so) is part of “Radio Row,” the staging area for all the radio shows broadcasting from MSG. We have a 27-inch TV on which to watch the action (unless we make our way to the upper deck, which I’ll likely do, blogging from my Treo).

• More Comfortable: Being away from the action brings with it padded chairs, air conditioning, Sean Hannity (who is doing his show some 15 feet from here), and a bar, MSG’s Play By Play, which is, too, just 15 feet away. All in all, it’s not a bad trade.

• Media-Trained Bloggers: Media gadflies, we are. And everyone’s already figured out how to give a good interview, just like Boston.

On the whole, the DNC felt like college enrollment crossed with a rock concert. The RNC feels like the Young Republicans crossed with a large professional association convention … maybe the American Management Association, or a real estate convention … money, with just touch of “what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas” (but with the world’s best delivery Chinese food just down the street).

I’m going to walk the hall and get a better feel for the vibe …