A Twin Cities welcome
MINNEAPOLIS – Delegates from Oklahoma and the other states were officially welcomed to the Twin Cities last night at a reception at the Minneapolis Convention Center in downtown Minneapolis.
Oklahoma’s 81-member delegation, made up of 41 delegates, 38 alternates and several guests, is staying in Minneapolis while they are attending the Republican National Convention in nearby downtown St. Paul at the Xcel Energy Center.
Alternate delegate Jerry Buchanan from Tulsa said he spoke with several members of the delegation from Alaska, which is seated next to Oklahoma at the convention; they told him that they were not only excited to share their governor with the country, but are looking forward for the rest of the country to see how strong, decisive and what a true leader Sarah Palin is.
Many of the delegates went to the showing of former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich’s 2007 documentary, “Rediscovering God in America,” which explores religious faith’s role in American politics throughout the country’s history, at a nearby theater. Buchanan said he got the chance to meet Gingrich, who spoke fondly of his visits to Oklahoma.
- Michael McNutt, Capitol Bureau
GOP convention hanging in the air
ST PAUL, MINN., – Will these balloons drop on presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain?
That’s the big question here, as Republicans this afternoon will hold the first day of the Republican National Convention at the Xcel Energy Center.
Today’s program has been scaled back. President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney were the scheduled headliners, but both aren’t coming so they can better track Hurricane Gustav as it hits land along the Gulf Coast.
The GOP convention’s program was supposed to last seven hours, but now will run only from 3 to 5:30 p.m. Oklahoma time. The program will be limited to official opening business. In other words, no political speeches: That means U.S. Rep. Tom Cole, R-Moore, won’t speak tonight.
Convention organizers say it’s possible some of the speakers could be rescheduled, but if Gustav causes extensive damage in New Orleans or in other areas of the Gulf Coast, the convention could be further revised. It’s possible Tuesday night’s session could be devoted to raising money or seeking supplies and blood for the devastated areas.
And it’s possible McCain, a U.S. senator from Arizona, may feel compelled to go to the damaged areas instead of being here Thursday night to accept his party’s nomination as president to close out the convention.
In the meantime, the balloons remain fastened to the ceiling of the Xcel Energy Center.
- Michael McNutt, Capitol Bureau
Protesters in St. Paul
ST. PAUL, MINN. – A pending natural disaster may scrap the schedule of a major party’s political convention, but protest marches continue as scheduled.
An estimated 200 people – with some wearing orange coveralls to represent prisoners held in detention camps at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba – marched today in front of the Xcel Energy Center in downtown St. Paul. The U.S. considers the detainees enemy combatants in the global war on terrorirsm; the protestors ccomplained they are being held illegally.
Few GOP delegates were in the convention hall, no key Republican officials were anywhere near the place, and most media members were inside scrambling to get the latest on reports that some of the four-day convention which begins Monday would be suspended because Hurricane Gustav could cause widespread destruction along the Gulf Coast.
What the protestors did do was tie up traffic. My taxi driver, perplexed because we were sitting still in traffic for several minutes, told me it might be best for me to get out and jog the three or four blocks to the convention center.
While taxi drivers see traffic jams as a deterrent to income, many reporters consider them as harvesting a possible story.
So instead of cutting across a couple parking lots at the taxi driver’s suggestion as a quick detour, I plowed straight ahead and ran straight into the protest march.
It was an orderly affair. Members of St. Paul’s finest on bicycle patrol said they had no idea how many participated in the protest, which seemed to dissipate about five blocks from the convention center.
The Associated Press reports that police arrested nine people after they crossed a security fence into a restricted area near the Xcel Energy Center. The nine were arrested for trespassing, police said.
- Michael McNutt Capitol Bureau
Louisiana delegation committed to GOP convention
MINNEAPOLIS – Roger Villere Jr. is thinking about his wife and family he left behind in New Orleans, but the chairman of the Louisiana Republican Party says his national duty is to be here to nominate U.S. Sen. John McCain as president.“
“The whole thing is it’s so very important to what we’re doing,” said Villere, a New Orleans florist. “We’re going to nominate the next president and vice president of the United States. This is the process and there’s nothing in the rules to stop the process. We have to go through with it or there’s no mechanism to get our nominee, Sen. McCain, on the ballot.”
Hurricane Gustav is aiming for New Orleans, where Villere owns three florist shops and greenhouses. All were damaged three years ago from high winds of Hurricane Katrina when it struck the Crescent City.
Villere, of Metairie, La., in metropolitan New Orleans, said his wife, who helped oversee covering glass and putting delivery vans up on blocks Saturday to prepare for the storm, evacuated New Orleans today for northern Louisiana. A couple sons and his grandmother left Saturday to various locations in Arkansas and Tennessee. All of his 54 employees have evacuated. His stories shut down Saturday and will be closed through at least Wednesday. Because of the oncoming storm, only about 185 of Louisiana’s 240-member GOP delegation will make it here, Villere said. A couple delegates who arrived here went back as the storm intensified Saturday.Because of his smaller-than-expected delegation, Villere invited Oklahoma’s GOP delegation to join his group for food and fun at an establishment called GameWorks in downtown Minneapolis, near the Target Center.The Louisiana delegation had rented the second floor of the place, which featured video games, bowling and plenty of television sets tuned to baseball and college football games.
While the regular crowd hooted it up downstairs, a much quieter scene was upstairs. Dozens of Louisiana delegates were keeping track of Gustav through e-mails sent to their cell phones or by tracking the hurricane on the Internet with their cell phones.
Eventually, several TV sets were tuned to news stations so the group could keep up with the coverage.
Villere says he understands coverage of the hurricane will take away from the Republican National Convention, which is scheduled to start Monday in nearby St. Paul.
“It will show that the Republican Party is on top of it, we’re prepared,” Villere said. “We’re accepting it, we’re not whining about it.”
McCain’s campaign staff has been in touch with all the GOP state chairmen and the chairmen from the Gulf Coast about what the situation is with the hurricane, Villere said. McCain also is interested in organizing some type of humanitarian aid effort and to raise money to help communities that would be devastated by the hurricane, he said.
Some Gulf Coast Republican governors, such as the governors of Louisiana, Texas, Mississippi and Florida, are skipping the national convention to stay in their states as Gustav approaches, Villere said. And President Bush, who was expected to speak Monday night, now is considered unlikely to attend because of the hurricane.
-Michael McNutt, Capitol Bureau
