Republican Convention: Day 1

The agenda of the 2008 Republican convention was held hostage by the hurricane in the Gulf as the leaders here pivoted quickly from convention focus to a worry and relief focus.

The result was a downsized opening day as virtually all the scheduled speakers were dealing with hurricane Gustav. The lesson of political inaction has been learned in the aftermath of Katrina three years ago.

The only major speaker was First Lady Laura Bush. Absent was the President, the Vice-President and the nominee. Also not present was California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger but his reason was the continued failure of his state to approve a budget.

The Monday session of the convention would have canceled, but legally a meeting had to be held Monday to do some technical things required by law to get McCain’s name on the ballot in some states.

Here with the West Virginia delegation, our day started with a breakfast which featured several speakers. The most dramatic was John McCain’s brother who brought with him the navy flyer flight jacket his brother had on the aircraft carrier, Oriskany, in October, 1967. John did not see the jacket until he came back from POW camp four years later.

Also speaking was a fellow prisoner of war who was with McCain in Hanoi camp.

Vietnam, a war almost a half century ago, has dominated the recent elections. Four years ago at the Democratic convention in Boston I heard from John Kerry’s fellow soldiers whom he served with in Vietnam.

Also speaking this morning was Governor Blount of Missouri who said that 600 National Guardsmen from his state have already been deployed to Louisiana. He had earlier spoken to Governor Jindal.

At noon I went with some delegates to the Fine Arts Center to hear Republican strategist Mary Matlin at a luncheon which focused attention on women and heat attack awareness.

Of her husband, Democratic strategist James Carville, Matlin said “He’s never right, but he’s never dumb.” She deals with him by “not listening to him on the television.”

Having a woman on the ticket was “a testament to the country,” Matlin said and criticism of Paylin was “so lame, patronizing, elitist and sexist.”

After the luncheon, the delegates got an early look at the Xcel Center- a large arena that serves as during the season as a hockey rink. The arena is dominated by huge screen on the stage which shows a waving American flag.

Compared to the Pepsi Center at Denver, the arena has smaller space , but the seating goes high and steep allowing for a better viewing and more intimacy. However, it may still be site of gridlock when the sessions are not scaled down.

It is interesting after being at the scripted and intense Denver convention, to now watch a convention, as Mary Matlin said, “flip overnight.” For within a day the event went away from the standard convention format of political rhetoric and image.

Here in what was expected to be political central for a week, the topic was stayed focused on the weather. What happens next may well depend on extent of hurricane damage and relief efforts.

- Dr. Rupp is a professor of political science and history at West Virginia Wesleyan College