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Served, With a Twist

August 31, 2008 5:03 PM

4:02 pm CT: There will be, essentially, no Republican National Convention Monday -- but one of the week’s most anticipated parties will go on, with a twist.

Per ABC’s Ann Compton, the Distilled Spirits Council, which has distributed one of the hottest tickets in the Twin Cities this week, announced Sunday that the party will go on, under a slightly different name.

"Due to the growing threat to our nation from Hurricane Gustav, the sponsors of the Spirits of Minneapolis event on Monday night have made a collective decision to change the event into the Spirits of the Gulf Coast, shifting the focus to a fundraiser for . . . the American Red Cross Hurricane Relief Fund," organizers said in an e-mail to invitees.

"To that end, we will have a senior Red Cross representative in attendance and we will encourage everyone to make a donation to the Fund at the door. In addition, the event sponsors will make a large matching contribution and present a check at 10:30 PM."

GOP leaders have sent out the word to keep things relatively quiet this week; the image of lawmakers mingling with lobbyists over martinis while an American city floods is something everyone in St. Paul wants to avoid.

As for the Democrats, the DNC canceled the media welcoming party that was scheduled for Sunday afternoon in St. Paul.

UPDATE: The Washington lobbying firm Kearsarge Global Advisors is keeping its Sunday night party at the new W Hotel in Minneapolis on the agenda. This, according to an e-mail sent to invitees: "Also, we are donating the same amount of money spent on the reception to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund."

August 31, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (10)

Honey, I Shrunk the Convention

August 31, 2008 12:01 PM

10:50 pm MT: Rick Klein from ABC’s The Note here -- blogging all week again, this time from St. Paul.

The Republican National Convention was always going to be less of a spectacle than the Democrats’ big party last week. The GOP brand is severely damaged, so much so that Republicans in tight races were always planning to skip the week in Minnesota.

The GOP of 2008 simply doesn’t have the roster of superstars to sustain a week’s worth of speaking schedules. And nothing can match the Clinton-Obama storyline that fed the media obsession in Denver.

But now comes a hurricane to blow even the diminished plans off course. The president and vice president aren’t coming after all. Gov. Bobby Jindal, R-La., a rising star, can’t make the trip for obvious reasons.

Delegates from Gulf Coast states may curtail their trips. (Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, R-Calif., isn’t coming either -- he’s stuck in a state budget fight on the left coast.)

Sen. John McCain’s team is trying to figure out how to handle it all. Depending on how back Gustav’s damage is, McCain himself may wind up addressing the convention remotely.

The flip side: This is an awfully good year to have an atypical convention. Four days of revelry in St. Paul may have been good therapy for the delegates in time for their quadrennial party, but it would have showcased a party that it’s a bit of an identity crisis.

The convention almost certainly will go on; there are legal and financial ramifications for making the McCain-Palin ticket official at a nominating convention. But the smaller party may be just what the image doctors ordered.

August 31, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (18)

Obama's Challenges: Closing Thoughts -- DNC Final Night

August 28, 2008 11:53 PM

9:48 pm MT: From Rick Klein, author of ABC's The Note: Sen. Barack Obama's convention speech offered twin challenges -- one to his opponent, one to the voters he wants on his side. And to all audiences listening, he showed he is ready for a fight.

To Sen. John McCain, the message was stark: He will meet his challenges on McCain's own terms. On foreign policy, the economy, and most noticeably national security, Obama signaled a willingness to engage McCain, with a bite he hasn't shown in the past.

To the country, his challenge was trickier: Accept this non-traditional candidate and channel your hopes into him. He offered a long list of policy proposals designed to appeal to the broad middle, and offered his own biography to answer the caricature being peddled by the McCain campaign.

"I don't know what kind of lives John McCain thinks that celebrities lead, but this has been mine," Obama said.

This was not Obama's best speech, but neither was it supposed to be. Four years ago, he was introducing himself and sparked a movement; now, as he showed Thursday night, he's trying to win an election.

His choice of tactics risks tarnishing an image; one Republican official monitoring the speech said he spent nearly 20 of his 44 minutes speaking on the attack.

But perhaps that's the point: To Democrats who are sick of losing elections, there are worse things than rallying behind a fighter. And to a country that wants a change in direction, Obama offered himself up as -- yes -- a hope.

Check back tomorrow for more in tomorrow's Note.

August 28, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (24)

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

August 28, 2008 8:49 PM

6:50 pm MT: No, not Aretha. But how many speakers--like Al Gore just now--have gone out of their way this week to say they respect John McCain, shortly before bashing him? How many Republicans do you think will say the same about Barack Obama next week?

August 28, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (5)

Hollywood in the Rockies

August 28, 2008 8:46 PM

6:40 pm MT: We've had a procession of interesting celebs come through our booth on ABC NewsNOW this week -- including will.i.am, Melissa Etheridge, and tonight, John Legend. Celebrities often get a bad reputation when they try to jump into the political world, and often they deserve it.

But let me offer a humble opinion about at least these three: These are serious, earnest people trying to make a difference. There are worse things you can do with celebrity than that.

August 28, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (3)

How's Obama Feeling Tonight?

August 28, 2008 8:21 PM

Per ABC News' Karen Travers: Sen. Barack Obama's brother-in-law Craig Robinson told ESPN's Andy Katz that he was just with Sen. Obama and he described him as being, "incredibly relaxed, loose and joking around."

Robinson, the head basketball coach at Oregon State, told Katz that Obama said he was more concerned about his family's well-being tonight, and how they were holding up, and that he is ready for tonight.

August 28, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (6)

The Oprah Effect

August 28, 2008 7:48 PM

5:36pm MDT: Per ABC News' Nitya Venkataraman...Oprah!

You've never seen a pack of journalists get so excited as when Oprah Winfrey and her best friend Gayle King stopped by the ABC News workspace -- located deep in the bowels of Mile High Stadium -- to say hello to Good Morning America co-anchor Robin Roberts and ABC News President David Westin.

The rumors are true -- Oprah's here!

(Photo courtesy of unofficial ABC News paparazzi and Green Room Girl Courtney Cohen)

August 28, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (7)

On the Mountaintop

August 28, 2008 7:09 PM

5:05 pm MT: Watching the tribute to Dr. King, I'm struck first of all by how remarkable this coincidence is, to have the first black man nominated for president deliver his acceptance speech 45 years to the day after King declared, "I have a dream."

And here in the mile-high city, this also offers an opportunity to Democrats to continue their outreach to religious voters. The King imagery can't hurt.

August 28, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (7)

More on the Hottest Ticket in Town

August 28, 2008 5:32 PM

3:31 MT: A little more on ticketing for entry here at Mile High Stadium from ABC News' Nitya Venkataraman.

Those interested in tickets signed up on August 6 and were notified a week and a half later whether their efforts were successful. About two-thirds of the tickets were reserved for attendees from Western battleground states.

One early arrival on the delegate floor said she snuck in at 10am with the volunteer hordes to make sure she got a got a good seat. Her hard ticket, which displays a hologram of the American flag and Obama's profile when held at different angles, assigns holders to a section, but not a specific seat. She got no response, she said, when she followed the Obama campaign's system to sign up for tickets online. Instead, she got her ticket by volunteering for a local Denver campaign office.

And as for those planning to scalp the hottest tickets in town, word on the street is that organizers are discontinuing the barcodes of any ticket images posted online.

August 28, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (7)

Good Sport

August 28, 2008 4:59 PM

2:55 pm MT: Word that Sen. John McCain planned an ad for this evening rippled through Democratic circles this afternoon. It’s unheard of to try to step on your opponent’s message on his big night like that.

But what he’s saying is probably going to silence any critics:

McCAIN: “Senator Obama, this is truly a good day for America. Too often the achievements of our opponents go unnoticed. So I wanted to stop and say, congratulations. How perfect that your nomination would come on this historic day. Tomorrow, we'll be back at it. But tonight Senator, job well done.”

Today is the 45th anniversary of the March on Washington -- and Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech.

A savvy move from a candidate who voted against making King’s birthday a national holiday. And a classy move from a candidate whose own week in the spotlight is about to begin.

August 28, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (12)