Caffeine and long nights have become a staple for broadcast technicians and their bosses even before the opening gavel on Monday.

When the opening gavel sounds at the convention center, Logan will have its own welcoming event.

Although he still tired easily, he had obviously recovered his zest for living and banged the opening gavel with a firm hand.

But traffic was disrupted on one of the main routes to the convention arena as the opening gavel was summoning the Republican delegates.

Along with Mr. Gingrich, the House freshmen have been turned into media stars since the opening gavel on Jan. 4.

Sotheby's had more than 70,000 bids in hand when the opening gavel sounded.

Mr. O'Connor said Democrats were optimistic that the labor troubles would be resolved before the opening gavel on July 26.

Even at 75 miles per hour, I could count on driving at least 12 hours, making it just in time for the opening gavel at 1 p.m. Was it worth it?

CNN said on Monday that its coverage of the Democratic convention would start a week before the opening gavel.

The record will reflect that as the opening gavel fell, none of the judges and none of the lawyers said anything about a milestone or a historic moment.