Spirits seemed high this afternoon, when John McCain arrived at the convention floor to check the setup of the stage for his big speech tonight.

The stage was arranged slightly differently than for Sarah Palin’s speech on Wednesday evening, with a back podium connected by a roughly 15-foot catwalk to a front stand.

McCain was accompanied by his wife, Cindy, daughters Meghan and Bridget, several staffers and a handful of supporters.

While campaign manager Rick Davis and top aides Mark Salter, Charlie Black and Mark McKinnon checked the teleprompters, the height of the podiums, and chatted with convention officials, McCain joked with two close friends from the Senate, Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.). At one point, the Arizona senator, feigning exhaustion, pretended to faint on the podium. His Senate colleagues, who stood closely behind him, cracked up.

Hordes of media recorded every move around the stage. NBC correspondent Andrea Mitchell shouted questions up at the senator, asking him for his reaction to Sarah Palin’s speech last night and his feelings on his own address. He did not respond.

As McCain made his way down the catwalk, he stopped to joke with his 96-year-old mother, Roberta McCain.

“They told me you were up late again,” said McCain. The elder McCain just laughed.

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