Final RNC post

My apologies this took so long, but between convention, traveling and work, most of my time was gone.

Anyway, Governor Sarah Palin's speech was impressive. Most people believe she went far beyond expectations. I was sitting in the arena watching her and the prompter. On several occasions, she went "off-prompter" to make a point. Her lip-stick hockey mom joke was not on the prompter, but I understand she's told that joke several times before. I'm sure GOP strategists held their breath every time she didn't go by script. At one point when she was blaming the media, the entire floor turned around, booed and pointed at their least favorite national media outlet. MSNBC seemed to get most of the fingers. All in all, she did more than she was expected.

The next day, Senator McCain gave his address. The whole point of the convention was building up his character. There were several videos and speakers talking about what a great war hero he was. His speech addressed that as well. I was sitting on the floor with the NC delegation during his speech. A NC delegate was almost tossed because of his home made sign. It read "Beware terrorists of Sarah Palin (just ask Obama)." It wasn't the mention McCain's people wanted all over national television. Eventually, the delegate gave up the sign. McCain did what he needed to do during the speech. I've heard several of his speeches, and this was about on par.

The interesting part was how excited the NC delegates were to get back home to work on the McCain-Palin campaign. Let's see if this momentum carries through the election.

Day three....biggest day of convention

By far, this is turning out to be the most important day of the RNC. We are minutes away from hearing the speech of Vice-Presidential candidate Sarah Palin. The entire world is watching the speech of this relative unknown. This could be the turning point of the entire presidential election right here. Many people have told me they are going to watch and listen. There vote could depend on how well she delivers this speech and the message she sends. We'll take a closer look at her speech tomorrow.

The NC delegation ended up spending the day relaxing at a County Club on a lake about a half hour away from Saint Paul. The scrapped the putting together of care packages because there was so much confusion.

Another interesting side note. I'm sitting here watching the RNC speeches and it astounds me how many journalists are dissing the Republican party. I don't care if you're conservative or liberal, but you better not let your opinion known. I'm sitting here listening to an entire delegation of journalists from one news station just downplay these speeches. Remarkable!

We should know by tomorrow the future direction of this election based on Palin's speech. We'll see.....

RNC-Day 2

Finally, had a break for two hours today. Adam Butler (photographer) and I decided we had to go check out Mall of America. Wow...that's big. I guess these folks need somewhere to go when it's so cold 6 months of the year. You betcha!

The real show finally started today. The RNC is bringing out the big guns. Former President Bush, President Bush, Sen. Lieberman. They are now just trying to showcase McCain's service and character.

Chaos pretty much reigns here. I was set up to interview SC Senator DeMint. He was a no-show. The scheduler emailed me 7 minutes before I was to meet him saying he wouldn't be available. I don't have a blackberry, so big help.

War heroes. That's the theme of the night. So far, they showed three movies. All featured Republicans doing heroic things in battle. Definite theme.

While the DNC last week was a rock show, the RNC is definitely lacking. The big entertainers out here were Jon Voight and Lynn Swann. Not the same A-listers as the DNC. Also, the production value of the video clips is no where near the DNC.

A moving moment during the beginning of the session. They listed all of the Republicans who died in the past four years. The second biggest round of applause went to the late Senator Jesse Helms from North Carolina. A polarizing figure for sure, but a man who dedicated his life for service. The biggest applause went to the late white house press secretary Tony Snow.

First Lady Laura Bush must be the most popular person left in the Republican party. She always receives the biggest round of applause and you can feel an excitement in the air when she is around. One journalist told me she's like the First Mom. "You really can't get mad at her."

More to come.

RNC convention begins?

Hello from the Twin Cities. It's day two of the convention. Adam Butler and I are here attempting to cover this convention, but it's a minute-by-minute change of plans event.

When we arrived Sunday, the NC delegation was very excited to be here. As the plane landed, we heard applause from about 10 people. We asked them if they thought Hurricane Gustav would force changes with the convention, and they said no. Little did they know.

We quickly ended up at the XCel Energy Center where we found out months of planning and script writing for the convention were being thrown out the door. As Sen. McCain put it, "it's time to take off our Republican hats and put on our American hats." The RNC tried to make the best of a bad situation.

Moving forward with the convention would have looked bad, especially on the three year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina where many felt the President didn't respond well to disaster recovery. However, following the rock concert that was the DNC last week, McCain needed to get his name and message out to the public.

Monday turned out to be relatively calm business day. The delegates did all of the "business" of the convention. Basically, unanimously passing the platform that was written over the past few months. Sen. Burr of North Carolina was the vice-chair of the committee that helped to write the platform. After that, the convention was adjourned until further notice.

Tuesday morning, confusion reigned. The NC delegation was told to go to the convention center to help put together care packages for hurricane relief. When they (and we) got there, we were told it's not until tomorrow. That just goes to show how they're putting together this convention by the seat of their pants. We were then told the evening session would go off as planned with Sen. Lieberman, Sen Thompson, President Bush (via satellite) all telling us about Sen. McCain's service to his country. Basically, the RNC couldn't let another night of prime time television go by without taking center stage. Unfortunately, another hurricane is looming off the coast of the Carolinas and could be headed our direction later this week. Honestly, this is the "perfect storm" again McCain and the Republican party.

The delegates seem to be enjoying themselves here. Last night at a local watering hole, about 6 delegates were chatting (and drinking). A female officer of the Minneapolis PD came over and started talking about all the abuse she is getting from protesters. How they are throwing excrement and other vile material at her (she used stronger words). How, rules against assaulting police officers were relaxed this week to allow freedom of speech. On top of it all, her boss hasn't signed off on 130 hours of overtime she's earned because the $60 million dollars the city was given to pay her salary is all gone. Still, she said it's her job to protect the public. One delegate paid her bar tab. It was a nice gesture.

We're off to Mall of America (told we had to go). Looking forward to speeches this evening. Please email me or reply with comments. shawn.flynn@news14.com