The Bigger Party (9/4)

I am currently sifting through hundreds of pictures for the best collection and will post them as soon as they are all organized. Some might be on their own page, others will have captions and their own post.

Sen. McCain’s speech was the event of the year for this party, and that was obvious. The fire marshall had to start kicking people out and close the floor as there were too many people on the Xcel floor. I happened to be included in that bunch because I was clinging to the very outside of the floor. Fortunately, I did get some video of his entrance, and I will post that soon as well.

I will update the this post with my notes shortly, putting an end to my work as an Associated Press intern at the Republican National Convention.

The Party (9/3)

Today has to be a summary rather than a hour by hour update, mostly because of how busy everything got in the Xcel. Big time speakers took down the house, with serious cheers coming for Rudy Giuliani and Sarah Palin. While I was not able to be on the floor as much tonight, and no where near it for any of the major speeches, the atmosphere in the Xcel was nothing short of electric for these two Republicans. Each jab Palin took at Sen. Barack Obama got more cheers and excitement from the crowd than the last; Giuliani rocked the house with his views on national security and the threat of terrorism.

An interesting article from the UK Telegraph profiles Palin’s rise to the national spotlight. Europeans seem to have a bit of a Carla Bruni complex with Gov. Palin.

The Boston Herald profiled Rudy Giuliani’s support for the Republican VP choice in his emotional speech delievered before Gov. Palin took the stage.

While most of the action was occurring on the delegate floor, ‘radio row’ was probably a close second. This is the area where radio stations from all over the world set up. It is located in the main RiverCenter lobby. I had a John Voight sighting, and supposedly Robert Downy Jr. was here as well; though, nobody seemed to know where he was. 

As a formality, each state got to cast their votes (after a lengthly explination on why their state was the best in the Union) for McCain, this lasting later into the night than ANY AP reporter wanted. The mood in the AP workspace was electric after the Giuliani and Palin speeches; then the time of day set in. Most of these reporters, especially photographers, have been working very taxing hours. This is only getting worse leading into Thursday.

McCain is expected to speak tonight; the content of his speech is probably very much like that of previous speakers. The Republican party has used the convention to go on the offensive on behalf of Palin, who has remained very quiet this last week despite the crushing media attention about her pregnant daughter.

I will add to this as I continue to read through my notes. I will also start linking up major news stories–it will be interesting to analyze just how well Palin came across in the eyes of the media.

The pictures will come once they are sorted and aggregated, possibly on their own page all together. Sorry for the delay, but a few should turn out pretty well even if they were shot from the hip.

Time for the Floor (9/2)

12:00–Home here I come. 

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.