McCain worked to calm the crowd after protestors interupted Thursday night.

ST. PAUL, Minnesota (CNN) – In response to early rumors that demonstrators might try to interrupt Republican presidential nominee John McCain's acceptance speech Thursday night, a number of delegations agreed to chant "U.S.A." in order to quell the sound of protesters.

"There's word of a possible demonstration coming. If it does, the chant is 'USA, USA'," a floor whip was overheard telling members in the New York delegation.

Similar whispers were heard from the Alaska delegation clear across to the Louisiana delegation on the other side of the hall only moments before McCain began speaking.

On at least three occasions during the early part of his speech, members of the audience began chanting "U.S.A." in response to protesters, who were then escorted out of the hall.

In one such case, McCain weighed in telling the crowd not to be distracted “by the static…Americans want us to stop yelling at each other.”

ST. PAUL, Minnesota (CNN) — John McCain and former Pennsylvania Governor and Homeland Security Chief Tom Ridge, who just spoke, share the Vietnam experience. It is an article of faith that if McCain could have picked a vice presidential candidate inside his comfort zone, Ridge would have been on the list (along with Lieberman and Lindsey Graham). We heard a good line from Ridge: the election is not about who will answer the 3 a.m. call, but who has answered the call all his life…

A cautionary note for McCain: Hillary Clinton played the experience card too.

Bill Clinton will speak at the Democratic convention later this month.

(CNN) — Multiple sources tell CNN that former President Bill Clinton will have a speaking role at the Democratic Convention, scheduled to take place in Denver later this month.

The sources say he will speak Wednesday night, the night of the vice presidential nominee’s speech. Barack Obama will officially become the presidential nominee the next night.

Candy Crowley also reports Obama and Bill Clinton spoke today.

News of the former president's role leaked out as reports of tension between the Clinton and Obama camps over fundraising and convention planning issues, and the release of a YouTube clip showing Clinton telling supporters they should develop some sort of “strategy” to make sure their positions were represented at the Denver convention.

Obama said Thursday that the controversy over whether the New York senator's delegates would be able to vote for her at the Democratic convention was a media creation.

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(CNN) Barack Obama had an “ops-intel” briefing from the Pentagon scheduled last week but it was canceled because of Tim Russert’s death.

A source from the Obama campaign tells CNN's Candy Crowley that the operations and intelligence briefing with the Joint Chiefs of Staff's office, first reported by Politico, was to bring the Illinois senator up to date on the situation on Afghanistan and Iraq.

The source adds that Obama had a similar meeting “a couple of months ago.”

Obama told reporters last Monday that he hopes to visit Iraq and Afghanistan before the election. McCain regularly reminds voters that it’s been almost 900 days since Obama last visited Iraq, and the Republican National Committee helps out with a running clock on its Web site.

The campaign and Pentagon are working on rescheduling the meeting.