McCain set to speak Sept. 3, 2008 St. Paul, Minn. — Just a few hours
until Senator John McCain delivers the speech of his life to delegates
at the Xcel Energy Center. Sarah Palin’s performance last night
has to take some of the pressure off him tonight.
You may have missed: Mark Salter, McCain’s co-author and
longtime speech writer and alter ego, was in the stands just off stage
right as Palin began speaking. Wearing dark aviator glasses, he was
stroking his goatee and smacking his lips somewhat anxiously. He has
spent a few months working on McCain’s speech tonight..As the
crowd stood for the four-minute ovation that greeted he, Palin walked
around the stage waving and then made a very McCainian wink to the
crowd…If you weren’t watching the TelePrompter or reading
a hard copy of the speech, you wouldn’t have noticed that
Palin’s line about the difference between hockey moms and pit
bulls (hockey moms wear lipstick) was an ad-lib.
Not you Megyn”: Bashing the “liberal” media was a
popular theme for GOP speakers here. The delegates took their cue from
Gov. Sarah Palin last night. “If you’re not a member in good
standing of the Washington elite, then some in the media consider a
candidate unqualified for that reason alone,” she said.
Delegates near press row then stood and pointed accusatory fingers at
the area — where CBS’s Bob Scheiffer, NBC’s Gwen Ifill
and several others were sitting. Until one of them noticed Megyn
Kelly, a blonde anchor with Fox News. “Not you Megyn! Not
you!” some delegates shouted.
Do any states begin with Z? : While the roll call vote was unfolding
last night, the group around Secretary of State Jan Brewer was playing
geography, trying to figure out how many states were left to say
“pass” before Brewer could put McCain over the top with
Arizona’s votes. Deb Gullett, Shiree Verdone and Katherine
Pullen were in the clutch around Brewer, backed up by he son, Michael
Brewer. Chandler Mayor Boyd Dunn, who is working at the convention as
a volunteer, was giving us a head’s up on which state would be
the first to pass.
Seen: Country singer Trace Adkins standing near the new, pageant-style
stage before McCain did his walk-through. Adkins will be singing the
National Anthem tonight.
Following his flock: The McCain’s pastor, Dan Yeary of North
Phoenix Baptist Church, is scheduled to give the benediction at the
close of tonight’s program. For the running tally of the
McCains’ Arizona friends and allies who were on stage at this
convention: Father Edward Reese, president of Brophy Prep; Tommy
Espinoza, head of La Raza Development; Wes Gullett and his daughter
Nicole Gullett Petersen; and Lisa Graham Keegan, John McCain’s
education adviser; and Sen. Jon Kyl.
Palin Watch Sept. 3, 2008 Palin Watch: Just a few hours before Sarah
Palin takes the stage for the biggest speech of her political life,
there’s a new twist: She will be accepting a vice presidential
nomination she hasn’t formally received. Delegates won’t hold the roll
call vote on her nomination until Thursday.
Post-Palin: After Palin speaks, Arizona Sen. Jon Kyl will formally put
Sen. John McCain’s name into nomination with a speech praising his
longtime colleague. Secretary of State Jan Brewer, the leader of the
Arizona delegation, should cast the delegate votes that put McCain
over the top and give him the nomination. That should start about 8
p.m. Arizona time. We’ve been speculating how long the roll call will
go. I like this scenario: Alabama awards its delegates to McCain, then
Alaska (Palin’s home state), the Arizona, with Brewer moving for a
vote by acclimation. I have no idea if the rules allow that.
Pre-Palin buzz: “I hope they don’t give her a typical Washington
speech,” said congressman Jeff Flake. “‘The American people and this
and that.’ I hope she just tells her story.”
I pledge allegiance to the cheese: Sunita Krishna has made a lot of
new friends since she sang the pledge of allegiance at the convention.
Krishna is a 27-year-old University of Arizona law graduate and
alternate delegate from Tucson who led the pledge on the convention’s
opening night.
She says her facebook page has neen filled with new friends requests
— many from people she doesn’t know. But the strangest part of her
convention experience — what she was thinking about while she sang
the pledge and saw the Wisconsin delegation.
“I did look out and see the cheesehats. I remember that sticking out
in mind,” she said. “That will stay with me for a while.”
Fresh with her new law degree, Sunita will be starting work soon at a
Phoenix law firm.
GOP tones down ‘party’ Sept. 1, 2008 Brooklyn Center, Minn. — It’s
the only event in town right now.
Cindy McCain and her children are expected to speak here in just a few
minutes to the Louisiana delegation at their hotel here.
With Hurricane Gustav forcing Republicans to strip down and tone down
their big party, this gathering is a magnet for the media.
Later today, she and First Lady Laura Bush will speak to the assembled
delegates at the Xcel Center, on the first abbreviated day of the
Republican National Convention. Bush and McCain, their husbands far
away, are expected to talk about ways to help victims of Hurriicane
Gustav.
Chris Ingram, a spolesman for the Louisiana delegation, said many of
the delegates knew about the looming hurricane before they left. “I
evacuated my family on Friday,” he said.
Several other delegates boarded a plane chartered by the McCain
campaign to fly back to Louisiana and then return here with their
children.
Rest of today: War protesters converge on Xcel Center about 11 am.
Abbreviated floor session from about 3 to 5:30 pm.
President Bush was supposed to be here. Vice President Cheney was also
supposed to speak. Those plans have been scrubbed. Cindy McCain and
the McCain children were to have arrived in town a few hours ago. The
campaign just announced she will not attend a luncheon Monday with
First Lady Laura Bush. It’s now unclear when — or if –
Cindy McCain will arrive.
Mrs. Bush, however, is in St. Paul. She was spotted doing a mike check
Sunday evening at the Xcel Energy Center, home to the Republican
National Convention. No plans have been announced yet for Mrs. Bush.
But she conceivably could be the kind of compassionate voice
Republicans need to open their suddenly abbreviated convention Monday
afternoon.
Sen. John McCain has decreed that the convention turn its focus from
politics to the people of the Gulf Coast, caught in the sights of
Hurricane Gustav. He spent much of the day in Mississippi as he
monitors storm developments there. Meantime, his convention is in
limbo.
Monday’s two-hour session, shortened from about seven hours,
will take care of official convention business – the
parliamentary and legal details that conventions must attend to. There
will be no speeches, no Obama-bashing. If the convention does resume
Tuesday with close to a full schedule, the rhetoric will likely be
drained from the speeches.
Instead, the McCain campaign says the focus will be on the people of
the Gulf, with possible fund-raisers or donations to help a stricken
region. The Arizona delegation’s subdued kick-off gathering
Sunday afternoon ended with a plea from Secretary of State Jan Brewer,
the head of the delegation, to drop donations in a basket on the way
out.
Meg Whitman, the former CEO of eBay and one of several high-profile
speakers at the event, said afterward that she had toned down her
remarks to the crowd in deference to McCain’s wishes. “As
much as this event is all about John, John is also about other
people,” she said.
No matter what happens, this convention must formally nominate a
president and vice president, under federal law. More important,
McCain needs that much to happen to receive federal matching funds for
the fall campaign. He could accept the nomination in person or via
satellite, from, say, the Gulf Coast.
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