ST. PAUL — The mornings ticked along with the clocks here this week. Rigid but constantly changing schedules. Options along the way, but don’t miss the bus. They depart at such-and-such. After breakfast, a political speech and some fun facts that bash Obama and embolden McCain, delegates get their pick for the relaxed mid-day: Go to the Mall of America and shop the mall of all malls, roll to Minneapolis’ CivicFest and buy some political memories or stroll through an Air Force One replica. Delegates even have a chance to play a round of golf on the lush fairways on a fine summer day in Minnesota. It’s pretty much all paid for. And paid for by corporations and politicians who use the opportunity to mention an issue or two that would benefit them — or, in a couple hurricane-related cases, the American Red Cross. Read More »
ST. PAUL — Knee high in red, white and blue balloons, Kenya Cox is one of the few Kansans who weren’t entirely electric about Sen. John McCain’s speech. She said she still has questions about how McCain will make all the talk into reality. After nearly a week of convention speeches and red state whooping, she said she needs to see the fine print.
“There’s been a lot of tall talk,” the alternate delegate from Wichita said. “I’m not interested in talking. I’m interested in walking.” And she said Kansans in the district she’s running in in Wichita know the nation needs more than speeches. “The only thing I’m convinced of is that we have a whole hell of a lot to do,” she said. Read More »
ST. PAUL – Sen. Sam Brownback made a run for the presidency and he’s eyeing the governor’s seat. But tonight it was all Sen. John McCain.
Brownback leveled a passionate endorsement of McCain to Republicans here, drawing a repeated mantra from the crowd of “Yes we will!” as he asked the packed arena whether America would win in Iraq, develop cheaper energy and reform tax codes.
That powerful “Yes we will!” initiated from the sunflower-clad Kansas delegation on the convention floor and quickly spilled through the Xcel Energy Center.
ST. PAUL — Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback will speak six spots back from Sen. John McCain tonight, according to a new schedule released by the Republican National Convention. That’s a bit deeper in the program than initially expected. But it still puts him on the stage sometime after 7 p.m. (Central). Read on for the rest of tonight’s line-up… Read More »
EDINA, Minn. — Barely half a day after a woman from St. John, Kan. addressed the Republican National Convention on rural development, Gov. Kathleen Sebelius today announced the creation of a new Division of Rural Development in the Kansas Department of Commerce.
Was it a reaction to Carolyn Dunn’s short speech on the main stage in St. Paul’s Xcel Energy Center? Or just some coincidental timing? Sebelius’ office says neither. Read More »
EDINA, Minn. — For a minute there, it almost seemed like Sen. Sam Brownback, a staunch conservative and strong supporter of Sen. John McCain, was going to endorse Sen. Barack Obama.
“I think what Obama has tapped into is what Reagan did so well and that’s just the optimism and hope of the American public,” he told a room full of Kansas delegates who were eating plates full of fruit and muffins this morning. “His speeches, when I watch him, I like him.” Read More »
ST. PAUL — As expected, all 39 Kansas delegates at 10:45 p.m. tonight cast their votes to nominate Sen. John McCain for president despite former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee’s easy victory in the Kansas caucuses earlier this year.
With a nod to the University of Kansas Jayhawk’s NCAA basketball championship and a staunch voting record for Republican presidents dating back to 1964, Republican Party Chairman Kris Kobach announced McCain represents Kansas values.
ST. PAUL – Carolyn Dunn walked onto the main stage of the biggest Republican political event in years with a giant backdrop of a Kansas sunset shining on a small town street. Read More »
ST. PAUL — Of everyone vying for attention this week outside Xcel Energy Center, these two guys might just have the strangest cause. While others toted signs demanding an end to the war or immigrant rights Monday, Mike Rasmussen of Great Falls, Mont., and Pete Caprise of New York City (holding the sign) advocated the end of what they call ‘bird porn.’ Though no one seems to get it here on the streets of St. Paul, they say they’re serious. See for yourself…
