The selection of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin by McCain as his running mate perked up Republicans, Windel said.
“They were energized by her speech,” he said. “It was the best vice presidential speech I have ever heard at a national convention.”
Oklahoma County Assessor Leonard Sullivan, an alternate delegate from Oklahoma City who has been involved in state and local politics for more than 20 years, said Palin was “the highlight of the whole thing.”

Asked what he considered the highlight of the convention, Tom Montgomery, a delegate from Muskogee, said, “The obvious, Sarah Palin.”

“She’s really a change. It was really unexpected,” he said. “I was thinking it was going to be another older white guy.”

Montgomery said Palin rallied Oklahoma’s delegates to get behind McCain.
“He had pretty much lost a lot of the conservatives in the party and he needed someone who would bring them back,” Montgomery said. “If you can energize 10 percent of your party, you can win elections.”

Brenda Jones, a delegate from Oklahoma City, said she has been getting messages from Democratic friends asking her to bring Palin items back from the convention.

She selected campaign buttons, which have a picture of Palin and read, “The hottest VP from the coolest state.”
State Rep. Sally Kern, a delegate from Oklahoma City, said she is leaving the convention with more hope and optimism because of Palin.

“She brought the conservative base back home,” Kern said.
“The most exciting thing was Sarah Palin’s speech,” said Steve Millspaugh, a delegate from Weatherford. “It transformed the convention.”

McCain, not the first choice of Oklahoma GOP conservatives, at least showed he was listening to their concerns when he selected Palin, who is more conservative than the Arizona senator, Millspaugh said.

“We are extremely happy that he knows that without conservatives he doesn’t have a chance and without him we don’t have a chance,” Millspaugh said. “We have to work together.”

- Michael McNutt, Capitol Bureau

ST. PAUL, MINN. – Oklahoma’s delegation to the Republican National Convention are going their separate ways today.

They posed for this group shot Wednesday evening, just hours before what many said was the biggest and most unifying moment of the convention – GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin’s speech.

It’s been an interesting week for the members of the Oklahoma group – 41 delegates, 38 alternates and several guests.

Excited that four Oklahomans would be speaking – one each night of the convention – had them excited.

Then Hurricane Gustav decided to get nasty and headed toward New Orleans. It turned out the Crescent City didn’t take a direct hit, but it caused damage in other parts of Louisiana and in Mississippi. So convention officials pretty much gutted Monday’s schedule, ridding the proceedings of political speeches and turning its television time into an appeal for relief aid.

Conventioneers were pretty much isolated from anti-war protests outside the Xcel Energy Center, but at least four Oklahomans stumbled upon Monday’s parade, and a couple actually saw a few people – apparently not associated with the protest march participants – tangle with police.

Most of the delegates spent a lot of extra time riding in buses. First, one bus driver drove the Oklahomans to the wrong Crowne Plaza Hotel for breakfast with the Louisiana delegation to hear former U.S. Rep. J.C. Watts of Oklahoma speak.

Later that night, some of the same Oklahomans on the bus ride back from the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul back to their hotel in Minneapolis were taken about four miles past the hotel.

Thursday was the last time Oklahomans would gather at the same time for breakfast. It was also a time to thank Bunny Chambers, Oklahoma’s committeewoman, and Lynn Windel, Oklahoma’s committeeman, on the Republican National Committee. Carolyn McCarty of Mutual and James Dunne of Oklahoma County start their new duties today on the national committee with – what else? – meetings.

- Michael McNutt, Capitol Bureau

MINNEAPOLIS – Republican presidential nominee U.S. Sen. John McCain will be more conversational with the American people tonight when he accepts his party’s nomination at nearby St. Paul, U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe said today.

McCain, from Arizona, will talk about keeping America safe and secure as well as his confidence that his running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, is experienced and able to serve.

“I look forward to this being probably the best speech he’s ever made,” said Inhofe, R-Tulsa.

McCain also will talk on the economy tonight, but security will be his main theme, Inhofe said after speaking to Oklahoma’s Republican delegation, which is staying in Minneapolis.

McCain is scheduled to speak about 9 tonight in the Xcel Energy Center.

Earlier, it was speculated McCain would not be here to give his acceptance speech. If Hurricane Gustav, which struck Louisiana on Monday and caused convention officials to shorten Monday’s opening session, it was possible McCain would have given a speech from a location near the hurricane damage.

That uncertainty was dashed Wednesday night when McCain came on the scene after Palin gave her acceptance speech.

Inhofe, who’s had differences over defense and social policies with McCain, said he now gets along with McCain.

“Sometimes we both agree that we’re both a little bullheaded,” Inhofe said. “Maybe that’s a characteristic that creates some problems some times, but it also creates a mutual respect and that clearly is there.”

Also speaking tonight will be U.S. Rep. Tom Cole, R-Moore, scheduled to speak about 5:20 p.m., and U.S. Rep. Mary Fallin, R-Oklahoma City, scheduled to speak about 7:30 p.m.

- Michael McNutt, Capitol Bureau

Appearance apparently means everything so when the Arizona senator gives his acceptance speech, organizers of the Republican National Convention crafted a look that will make McCain look – for lack of a better word – presidential.

The podium used for the first three nights of the convention was modified to enable McCain to deliver his acceptance speech from the center of the Xcel Energy Center. The new podium is a reflection of the town-hall style that has been a hallmark of McCain’s campaign. In the new forum, he will be surrounded by the delegates that nominated him the night before, according to convention organizers.

The new podium was constructed by removing the front corner sections of the existing platform and extending its midsection by 30 feet. The extension will be eight feet wide. Near the conclusion of tonight’s program, McCain will address the convention from a lectern positioned near the end of the newly constructed extension. To accommodate the modified platform, delegates from the state of Ohio will be re-seated on either side.

For the first three days of the convention, speakers and program participants appeared on a black hard laminate stage.

- Michael McNutt, Capitol Bureau

MINNEAPOLIS – Former U.S. Rep. J.C. Watts from Oklahoma says it’s too early to be thinking about the Oklahoma gubernatorial race.

Watts, a former Oklahoma congressman and former member of the Oklahoma Corporation Commission, said he has been busy trying to launch a television news network aimed at a black audience.

He said people have talked to him about running for governor in 2010.

“Even if I was, it would be way too early in my opinion,” said Watts, who has lobbying, consulting and public affairs businesses in Washintong. “I don’t need to be an elected official. I think I can serve in my business, in my church. I’m not so driven by the cheer of the crowd.”

Watts, who didn’t seek re-election to Congress in 2002 so he could spend more time with his family, said he is “not driven to run for anything.”

“I’ve got enough wisdom, however, to say – and I learned this in athletics, I didn’t learn this in politics – you never say never or you never say always,” Watts said in an interview after speaking today to the Oklahoma and Louisiana delegations attending the Republican National Convention in nearby St. Paul, Minn.

“I can tell you it’s not on my top five things to do before I die list, to run for public office again,” Watts said.

- Michael McNutt, Capitol Bureau

ST. PAUL, MINN. – Sarah Palin, the pick of Republican presumptive presidential nominee U.S. Sen. John McCain, will give the speech of her life tonight, many observers here say.

Palin, almost nearly in the middle of serving her first term as Alaska’s governor, will speak to delegates and others gathered at the Xcel Energy Center and millions across the country during the third session of the Republican National Convention.

Palin, 44, was at the Xcel Energy Center about 6:30 a.m. today, being given a walkthrough of the convention stage and practicing on the teleprompter.

Palin has been campaigning at various stops across the country since McCain introduced her as his running mate selection Friday on his 72^{nd birthday. Tonight will be the first time Palin, a mother of five, will speak to a national audience.}

^{And it’s the first time she will speak publicly since she announced Monday that her 17-year-old daughter is pregnant. Palin said her daughter plans to give birth to the baby and marry the baby’s father. CBS News reported this morning that the teen’s boyfriend has flown from Alaska to be with the Palin family here tonight.}

Political analysts pretty much agree this is Palin’s big moment to introduce herself to the nation’s voters. It’s expected tonight’s convention will attract GOP voters, but also draw curious Democratic and independent voters.

Oklahoma’s delegates, seated next to Alaska’s delegation on the floor of the convention, have given verbal support to Palin, who’s being described here as someone who can reform the wasteful spending ways of the federal government. As a mayor, she cut property taxes and she got ethics reforms measures passed while she was governor, supporters say.

- Michael McNutt, Capitol Bureau

MINNEAPOLIS – U.S. Rep. Tom Cole calls it the “best speech I never gave.”

Cole, R-Moore, had been scheduled to address the Republican National Convention’s opening session Monday night, but presumptive Republican presidential nominee U.S. Sen. John McCain asked that political speeches be omitted and to focus attention on Gulf Coast residents that were affected by Hurricane Gustav.

Cole, who joined President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney as those being bumped from Monday’s speaking list, said he didn’t mind not having the chance to address the delegates and much of the country.

Convention organizers today announced that several Republican figures would speak at tonight’s session, but that the political rhetoric would be toned down. Cole said he doesn’t know if he will be added as a speaker before the convention concludes Thursday night.

“I may have gotten lucky,: Cole said in an interview today after speaking to members of Oklahoma’s delegation to the Republican National Convention in nearby St. Paul, Minn. “If they decide to put me back on, that’s great. But I am so pleased that John McCain did the right thing. He literally gave up a political advantage.”

Cole also told the delegation that Republicans could have a “fabulous year in Oklahoma” in November’s elections. He said Republicans could increase their 57 to 44 majority they had the past two sessions in the state House of Representatives and could take control of the state Senate for the first time in Oklahoma’s 101-year-old history.

“You give (Senate Republican leader) Glenn Coffee the majority and they will make things happen for you,” Cole said. “If you control the Legislature, you run the state.”

A Republican-controlled Legislature will force Democratic Gov. Brad Henry to decide whether to work with GOP legislators on such Republican-favored issues as workers’ compensation and lawsuit reform or veto proposals to “and “be the last stand of the old Democratic guard.”

The delegation also heard from Ronald Kessler, chief Washington correspondent for Newsmax, a conservative Web site and magazine, and an author of several books, including ones on President Bush and another on first lady Laura Bush. His most recent book is “The Terrorist Watch.”

Kessler said the Bush administration deserves credit for there not being another terrorist attack in the U.S. since 9/11. He also said Democratic nominee U.S. Sen. Barack Obama lacks experience, saying Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, nabbed to be the Republican vice presidential nominee, has faced more executive challenges and has succeeded in getting property taxes cut when she was mayor and helping pass ethics reforms as governor.

“When it comes to changes, Sarah Palin has done it, and Barack Obama has mainly changed his mind,” Kessler said.

Calvey, a former Republican state House representative from Del City, said Monday he again could be activated to go to New Orleans for the second time in three years to help restore order after a hurricane struck the Crescent City area.

Calvey, a captain in the Oklahoma National Guard’s 45th Infantry Brigade and an attorney, went to New Orleans in 2003 to help with the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Assigned to the Army’s judge advocate general’s office, Calvey was among more than 2,000 Oklahomans who were deployed to New Orleans.

With Hurricane Gustav losing steam as it struck New Orleans, it appears Calvey, who returned to Oklahoma in January after a year of duty in Baghdad, won’t be activated and he and his wife, Toni, can continue to attend the convention as guests.

Calvey said New Orleans and the state of Louisiana as well as the federal government were much more prepared for Hurricane Gustav, compared with three years ago when chaos reigned. Nearly everyone was evacuated from the area well in advance of the approaching storm, negating the possibility of rooftop rescues that went on for days to get people out of swirling floodwaters.

“You’ve got a better governor now and the mayor, (Ray) Nagin, he was totally out of his league three years ago … but now just from seeing him on TV, he appears more competent, ” said Calvey, who met Nagin during his deployment to New Orleans. “I believe he seems to be learning some lessons. Clearly the federal response is much improved and the people of New Orleans did the smart thing and evacuated.”

The situation seems to be “much less dire” than it was three years ago, Calvey said.

- Michael McNutt, Capitol Bureau

ST PAUL, MINN. – So that was a sandbag that a law officer threw off the bus next to ours as we waited in line to get to the Republican National Convention.

A law officer climbed on the roof of the bus next to us Monday afternoon and threw off what looked like a sandbag, but none of the officers around would confirm it.

It was only after I left the Xcel Energy Center about 8 p.m. Monday that I heard from some police officers about the chaos that occurred outside while delegates inside were busy with opening the first day of the Republican National Convention.

A sheriff’s deputy from the Kankakee County Sheriff’s Department, in Illinois south of Chicago, told me that nearly 60 people had been arrested during what he described as a small riot a few blocks from the security perimeter around the convention center.

The deputy, one of more than 50 from his department – one of dozens of agencies brought in here to help with security – said some disorderly folks smashed windows and threw park benches in the downtown area. The activity was a contrast to a quiet, albeit smaller, anti-war, anti-Bush administration protest Sunday near the convention center.

Some people Monday also threw sandbag “bombs” from highway overpasses near the convention center on buses bringing delegates to the convention. One of those sandbags apparently landed on the bus next to ours, and that’s what the law officer had climbed on top of the bus to remove.

Our bus was checked by law officers. The luggage compartment was opened, and a bomb-sniffing dog was nearby. After being stopped for several minutes, our bus was cleared and we went on our way oblivious to any disorderly activities that had occurred or would soon erupt.

The riots occurred while a crowd of about 5,000 protesters marched peacefully outside the convention’s site, law officers and reporters said.

Published reports said protest organizers were hoping for 50,000 from nearly 100 groups across the country to show up for Monday’s march to protest the war in Iraq and the administration of President Bush, a Republican, for spending money on the war instead of on domestic needs. They marched from the state Capitol more than a mile away to the convention center.

Afterwards, a rally and music were held several blocks away from the convention center. Several unmarked vans of police officers and police on motorcycles and bicycles were seen rushing to the area about 8 p.m. CNN later reported about 300 people were seen conducting what appeared to be a sit-in at a parking lot, but no further confrontations or trouble apparently occurred.

- Michael McNutt, Capitol Bureau.

ST. PAUL, MINN. – Oklahoma’s Republican delegation, after going through a checkpoint with bomb-sniffing dogs and officers that searched vehicles, made it to today’s opening session of the Republican National Convention.

Most of the delegates rode in buses, but some took taxis.

Most of today’s session will deal with committee reports, dealing with the party’s platform - or its goals and beliefs, credentials -  to determine the qualification of delegates, and rules.

The session is expected to end about 5:30 today. The party’s presumed presidential nominee, John McCain, asked that today’s session be cut back from seven to 2 ½ hours because of the feared damage that would be inflicted on the Gulf Coast by Hurricane Gustav.

Our bus was stopped for several minutes about a block from the Xcel Energy Center in order for law enforcement officials to clear the vehicle.

Getting into the convention was orderly. Plenty of metal detectors were in place so that the average process to get in after emptying pockets and putting items through a metal detector took less than 10 minutes.

Delegates walking into the Xcel Energy Center were greeted by dozens of well-wishers from the Twin Cities, welcoming them to Minnesota. Oklahoma delegates felt at home with today’s weather, in the upper 80s, but cooler weather is expected tomorrow.

The Oklahoma delegation arrived early to the convention. Most members were in their seats on the red-carpeted floor by 2 p.m.

Tuesday’s schedule still appears to be up in the air. Some Oklahoma delegates heard there may be a blood drive after this evening’s session for Hurricane Gustav victims, but nothing’s been announced.

About two dozen Oklahoma delegates volunteered today to help St. Paul’s Salvation Army chapter by packing food items at its building a couple blocks away from the Xcel Energy Center after today’s session is over.

- Michael McNutt, Capitol Bureau