With a Nod to the Gulf Coast, Republicans Get to Work

ST. PAUL, Minn., Sept. 1 -- In compliance with The Rules of the Republican Party adopted by the 2004 Republican National Convention on August 30, 2004, in New York, New York, the Republican National Committee hereby directs that a national convention of delegated representatives of the Republican Party be convened in Minneapolis-Saint Paul, Minnesota, no earlier than 9:00 a.m. and no later than 7:00 p.m., Central Daylight Savings Time, on Monday, September 1, 2008, and to continue thereafter from day to day for so long as may be necessary, for the purpose of nominating candidates for President and Vice President, to be voted for at the presidential election on Tuesday, November 4, 2008, and for transaction of such other business as may properly come before it. -- Call for the 2008 Republican National Convention, Republican National Committee, Nov. 9, 2007

The rules are the rules, and the show must go on.

The stripped-bare Republican National Convention opened on Labor Day without pomp or soaring rhetoric, without any hardball politics, without anything really cool at all. Hurricane Gustav, even in its weakened state, stole the GOP's pageantry. What remained? A business meeting.

RNC Chairman Mike Duncan called the convention to order at 3:30 p.m. Eastern time (well, more like 3:40 p.m.), and delegates got to work. They nominated and elected as their temporary convention chairman the senator from Kentucky, Mitch McConnell. Resolutions were offered and committees appointed: the Committee on Credentials, the Committee on Rules and Order of Business, the Committee on Permanent Organization and the panel popularly known as the Platform Committee. The convention temporarily adjourned, and the committees all went off and met -- one of them at a place inside the arena called the Elephant Club.

If this wasn't exactly enthralling stuff, Duncan reminded the assembled that "we're Republicans, but more important, proud Americans." He urged everyone at the Xcel Energy Center -- and watching on TV at home -- to pull out their cellphones and text a $5 contribution to the American Red Cross's hurricane relief efforts. Thurl Bailey, the former pro basketball player from Prince George's County, offered in his invocation a prayer for the thousands in harm's way along the Gulf Coast: "Father, please protect them and provide wisdom to our leaders."

This blend of officialdom and somber tones felt kind of strange to some, a weird state of suspension that Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah described as "kind of treading water." How appropriate.

"I thought it would be, you come here and you get pumped up and all excited and the energy would be focused on John McCain and Sarah Palin," said Greg Wooldridge, a former naval aviator and chairman of Oregon Veterans for McCain.

Instead of getting pumped up and all excited, Monday became "a day to figure out things and get your bearings," as Virginia delegate Randy Marcus put it. "Every few hours, it feels like we're getting different orders about the schedule."

What wasn't on the schedule was the bulk of Monday evening's planned speaker lineup: President Bush (in Texas for hurricane fallout duty), Vice President Cheney (preparing to visit Georgia, the nation), California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.).

Perhaps what Gustav has demonstrated is that the real work of a convention can be done in truncated fashion. Could there be in the future of political conventions a schedule that looks like this: a half-day for business and two days for the rollout of the ticket and the party's message?

The McCain camp for months has been obsessed with Barack Obama's celebrity status, and has fashioned a campaign aimed at raising doubts about him. Now that McCain has a prime-time showcase to define himself, it seems that nature has intruded. Is that good news or bad news for Republicans and their soon-to-be nominee?

"I can't weigh out the political impact," said Sen. Norm Coleman of Minnesota, "but it's clear that John McCain is doing the right thing." But now that we're on the subject, Coleman wanted to make sure it is known that Minnesota is the perfect place to focus on service -- it being, he said, the per capita leader in volunteerism. "You can just see this convention being lifted by the spirit of Minnesota."