Zachary Earl Smith

After our exciting morning we went back to the hotel room where we finally got some broadband internet and were able to work. We had a snack for lunch and got ready to head over to the convention. The convention site located in Saint Paul at the Xcel Energy Center was very impressive. The bus ride was short and security was fairly tight, but done so well we weren’t really aware of it, although from watching television after, we could see just what a large presence there actually was.

Once inside we proceeded to the alternate delegate section, which is off the floor in the stadium style seating area (actually a better view than the delegates have). Our area is very close to our floor location on a few rows up from the floor itself. We got a chance to see Mitt Romney up close and personal while we were waiting as he walked by our section. I would have to say the highlight of the evening was when Laura Bush came out to speak, the crowd went wild and really showed their love and respect for our First Lady.

It turns out that this morning we witnessed a little bit of a news event: while Karl Rove was speaking he made some comments about Senator Joe Biden. Rove did not know we had press traveling as part of our group, and by late morning his comments were on the web via politikerme.com. The story was picked up by the AP and turned into quite the little story on the national news scene, was even mentioned while we watched TV this evening. Too bad so much of a fuss was made over it. I think it says a lot though about the personality of the Democratic nominee, and I felt the comments were quite accurate but it was cool to have been witnesses of the event.

Had dinner at an all you can eat sushi bar, and proceeded to gorge myself but was unable to convert Jim or Alex into becoming sushi fans. They were good sports though and toughed it out. Went back to the hotel to rest, although later I went for a short walk and witnessed a man get arrested for harassing people eating at a sidewalk restaurant. We are hoping that since the Hurricane wasn’t as bad as predicted (PTL), that tomorrow we’ll be able to get back to normal.

Will post again after Tuesday morning briefing.

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