In Gustav's Long Shadow, Delegates Party With a Purpose

MINNEAPOLIS -- Cancel the parties? Send all those Town Cars and Escalades back to the garage? Not gonna happen.

With just hours before Gustav hit, convention party organizers scrambled Sunday night to transform their events into Gulf Coast fundraisers -- or at least scrambled to find some hats to pass around.

Virginia's GOP delegates filled a cardboard box with $1 and $5 bills for a Presbyterian church in Baton Rouge, per the hand-scrawled note in marker on the side of the box. Otherwise, their "Arcade Night" (Wii golf, bowling, air hockey) at a Radisson hotel went off as originally planned. "The parties have a way of going on because the down payments have been made and the food has been ordered," said Rep. Tom Davis. About 100 local pols nibbled on mini corn dogs, nachos and -- whoa, is that Pat Boone?

The singer, 74, came to the convention to lobby for a senior-rights group called 60 Plus and to support the conservative platform. Looked spiffy in his white golf shirt, linen pants and, yes, trademark white bucks. "I have a deal with a shoe company," he told us. He wears a pair for two or three weeks, then "I sign them and give them to charity." A pair just went for $1,000 on Saturday night. Might he shuck them off right there for a spur-of-the-moment auction? Didn't happen.

The coolest kids hung out at the Impact Film Festival's kickoff at the Fine Line Music Cafe. "What list are you on?" asked the doorman, slicing Impact, MySpace and Rock the Vote guests into neat lines. The VIP balcony offered fancy drinks, live music and red "McCain is on my Top 8" T-shirts (as in "Top 8" MySpace friends). Galen Reser, a Pepsi lobbyist, scored a last-minute invite.

"At conventions, it's like an underground economy with tickets," he explained. "A friend of a friend, then you're on the list. I didn't know I was coming here three hours ago." We found NBC's Norah O'Donnell in deep tete-a-tete with Stuart Townsend ( Charlize Theron 's cute-enough-to-be-with-her boyfriend), who screened his "Battle in Seattle" doc in Denver, then came here for some GOP equal time.

No time to linger. A screaming swarm surrounded the Target Center. McCain's not in town yet, who could it be? Ah, the "American Idol" Live Tour. OMG! "Jason! Jason!" screamed one preteen, waving a poster of Jason Castro. Biggest and loudest crowd of the night.

Across the street, Sammy Hagar rocked the Southern delegation nightclub party. The charity component: an auction for a signed guitar, which fetched a few thousand dollars. The former Van Halen singer (sunglasses, sweaty T-shirt, plaid shorts, sandals) was in high spirits, performing for an equally pumped audience of delegates, staffers and sponsors. One fan passed a bottle of tequila to the stage; Hager grinned, took a swig, kept the bottle and gave the crowd permission to party on.

"Sorry about the hurricane," he said reassuringly. "We're Americans. We know how to handle this stuff."

Soul-Stirring Unions

John McCain 's description of Sarah Palin on "Fox News Sunday" as "a partner and a soul mate" got all the commentators chortling (so New Age!). But it's not unusual for politicians -- especially conservatives, it seems -- to get a little spiritual when talking about their ideological BFFs.

"We're soul mates,

you know."