GOP Rides Out the Storm

The Republican Convention is in a holding pattern as we wait and pray for the hurricane whipped Gulf Coast. The Twin Cities of Minnesota are acting as good hosts for Republicans who find themselves with a little less to do today.

Of course, this downtime leaves political geeks and gawkers ample time to speculate on the impact Mother Nature will have on the election. The 2008 Democratic and Republican Conventions were going to be different in countless ways and many people would have expended much hot air comparing and contrasting the events. (Insert your own joke about how these pontifications would add to global warming) However, the abbreviated GOP convention makes such comparisons even more difficult to make.

Last Thursday, 84,000 people packed a football stadium and some 38 million Americans tuned in to watch Senator Barack Obama give a speech. Even the McCain campaign would admit their numbers would have only been a fraction of this. The size of the viewing audiences may or may not portend anything, but now they are not even going to be considered. We will now, rightfully, look to help our countrymen in and around Louisiana. Much of the punditry agree this lack of contrast is good for McCain.