RNC - Day One

I have arrived in the fair city of Minneapolis. I love it here. I think I always have. I lived here when I was a kid, ok, a baby, but I always claim the great state of Minnesota as my home. My parents went to college here and myself and three of my siblings started out in the land of 10,000 lakes. Although I have traded lakes for mountains, (and right now I miss those mountains...it's one of the ways I navigate in Colorado!) I have always wanted to return to Minnesota for longer than a week at a time. So here, I am, taking in the sights and sounds of the RNC in the Twin Cities.



It all started with the flight that almost didn't happen...



I was one of the last people to make it on the plane, which is funny only in that I was standing in line at Caribou Coffee (yes, DIA has NO STARBUCKS!) when my friend Jeremy sent me a text message:



Jeremy: WHERE ARE YOU!? Did you make the flight?

Me: Yeah, dude, I did. I am getting coffee.

Jeremy: Well that's nice. The doors to the aircraft are closing in 15 minutes.

Me: "Aircraft"?

Jeremy: HURRY UP!



I made it on the plane. We actually arrived in Minneapolis early, which has happened to me...NEVER! The weather here is beautiful. The air is humid and weighty, without being uncomfortable or in any way ugly. When you land in MSP, you see gorgeous green trees and lots of blue lakes. It's makes you want to be outside and explore the city. However, as soon as I got off the plane, I headed straight for the hotel...where I waited for three hours to check in.



I did get my credentials today, which was around the time we started hearing that things might be amiss with the RNC Convention plans. By noon we knew that President Bush and Vice President Cheney would not be addressing the delegates on Monday night. Within two hours, we had a new schedule for Monday.



The RNC has to convene tomorrow, no matter what. In order for the Republican party to nominate a candidate for president, the delegates have to vote. In order to vote, the convention body must be called to order...you get the picture. In order to not look like a bunch of rowdy party animals while New Orleans is under siege and under water again, the RNC has decided to take a low key approach to this year's convention.



So we will meet for two and a half hours tomorrow and will continue to play the rest of the week by ear. I've heard people ask, why can't we just reschedule the convention until next week, or try to complete all the party's business in one day. The logistics of such an undertaking are unrealistic and we will move forward.



Tonight we attended the welcome party for all the delegates. It was fun but after about an hour of olive trays and free Merlot I was ready to head back to the hotel. I am now in the hotel bar, surrounded by Oklahomans and Coloradans who drink more and yell louder than I do.

One last note: I know there are people who believe that Senator McCain and the RNC's decision to scale back to bare bones tomorrow was a political move. I hope it wasn't. But only time will tell. I know that I would feel really weird about throwing a huge party - balloon drop and all - while there are people being drown out of their homes just down the Mississippi River. All politics is local. What we do now will shape the tone of the RNC coverage for the rest of the week. So I think we learn to take the high road. We learn to put others first and remember that we are always our brother's keeper.

See you tomorrow.