The New York Times today has some cool graphics (below) about the words that dominated the Democratic and Republican conventions—and "health" cropped up more in Denver than in Minnesota. Uttering a word a lot of course is no guarantee that a party will aim higher, better or more successfully, but it's still a signal of what candidates are thinking, or at least what they think voters want them to be thinking. The Times gave us two measurements. First, how often a word appeared per 25,000 words in convention speeches. Second, how often the four key speakers used certain words.

By the first measure, health was No. 5 for the Democrats (after Change, McCain, Bush, Jobs, before Economy and Iraq.) It was tied for eighth for the Republicans—(after God, Taxes, Business, Change—those two were tied—Obama, Energy, Iraq, and tied with Economy.) Health was, however, ahead of Hockey Mom.

The second measure tracked how often four speakers on each side used the words "health care." It was 23 for the Democrats—Obama and Bill Clinton seven times each, Hillary Clinton five, and Joe Biden four. It was four for the Republicans, and all four mentions came from McCain. The other speakers were Lieberman, Giuliani and Palin (hockey mom, three; health, zero).

The AP also checked out how some Republican retiree delegates regarded the health system—and got some predictable responses about how government should stay out of health care, except maybe for the neediest. Even if the retirees got their own health care through Medicare, Medicaid, or the VA, all of which are government health care programs. (This article was about Republicans, but trust us, we've heard Democrats say similar things). John Ortega, 67, of Bettendorf, Iowa, who retired in 2006 as an information technology specialist for an insurance company, was very skeptical about a government role in containing health care costs. "I think small or regular business can handle that better than the government can," he said. How does Ortega get his own health care—a public sector triple play, Medicare, Medicaid and the VA. So whoever wins in November better be prepared to say a lot more about health than about hockey, and to say it very, very clearly.