10:47–I have the pictures in my possession, and will post them later tonight or tomorrow morning. The Xcel is mostly empty now. Most are eagerly awaiting tomorrow and the arrival of McCain.
9:51–I am off the floor for now, and can reflect on the prominent speakers of the night. The two most well received speakers of the night were obviously President George Bush and First Lady Laura Bush. This was thanks in large part to the enormous delegation from Texas. Norm Coleman and Michelle Bachman were also local favorites. Fred Thompson conveyed very passionate (for Fred Thompson) support for Sen. John McCain. Overall a very successful, but not overdone, night for the Republican platform. Still, it is going to be very difficult to upstage Sen. Barack Obama’s convention.
9:49–Pictures will come as soon as I manage to get the proper connections and hardware in place. This should be at any moment.
9:46–The protesters are back at it. No story quite yet but the photographers tipped us off to a group collecting to the north of the Xcel. We were also advised not to leave the convention yet, because the situation was not under control. On a lighter note, I bro-hugged Sway from MTV, got a polite “Hello” from Cindy McCain and managed to rub shoulders with Wolf Blitzer, a majority of the Fox News team, Minnesota Vikings owner Ziggy Wilf and Vikings defensive lineman Jared Allen. It was quite the night on the convention floor.
9:36–It has been a crazy night so far. One of the tasks tonight was to collect unusual, colorful and otherwise unique delegates from the convention floor for a simple interview. One question was asked: “What qualities do you want in a leader?” While a very simple question, the answers were almost as unique as the collection of delegates we managed to coerce, beg, push, pull and bribe to the AP workspace. Overall we did well, scouring the delegate floor during the night’s activities for interesting personalities or appearances.
4:29–I will be on the floor tonight pulling delegates to have their photos taken by the AP photographers. More information will come as I receive it. Posts may be more spread out tonight depending on how busy I am.
10:37–The absence of anyone in the AP workspace has allowed us to watch whatever we want on the huge HD TVs that surround the workspace. This means for the last two hours all I have heard is Obama’s droning voice about ‘change’ and Palin’s pregnant daughter. I guess the fact a hurricane just struck the gulf coast is a non-issue now.
8:37–I took a lap around the Xcel with my hastily and possibly subversively acquired credential. Not much was going on. At all. Biggest priorities for me at the moment is to find a camera to better explain some unusual happenings and track down John Oliver of the Daily Show. I think my life could be considered a success if I accomplished either one tonight.
6:50–A colleague here just received a text from a buddy of his that is currently at Harriet Island in St. Paul. What started as a music festival has evidently turned into a bit of a protest. His friend can see snipers on the rooftops and more police are arriving by the minute.
5:56–The convention is starting to slow down, and the news has shifted to Sarah Palin’s daughter and Gustav.
5:34–Update on the gas masks: We have a cabinet full of them, and for a very good reason. I mentioned earlier that the protesters were out in force this morning and afternoon. I also mentioned how they were ‘crushed.’ They were crushed with tear gas–and AP photographers had to be in the middle of it to capture the moment. In the moment = gas masks.
5:04–Laura Bush and Cindy McCain just finished up the final portion of the convention today, mostly driving home the need for help in the gulf states.
4:44–There is a floor pass available to us. I will do my best to get out on the floor to provide an up-close look at what is going on inside, although after today’s events it sounds like the Xcel will clear out quick.
4:05–Today the protesters were out in force. While I still have no clue what they are protesting, I’m glad to see democracy in action. Here’s to hoping I don’t get a Molotov thrown at me. According to a few of my colleagues, the protesters main accomplishment today was flipping over a garbage can on the street. They were then crushed by riot police.
