REPUBLICAN CONVENTION MON

The Osgood file --- this is DR...

New Orleans dodged a bullet, and so did the Republican convention:

TAPE:

Back with more from St Paul Minnesota, after this:
(SPOT)

TAPE Call To Order

What a difference a week makes.  In Denver, the Democrats gathered in front of their rock concert set to watch the final tango between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.  Here in St Paul, there was no drama, no flash -- except for the Florida delegation which showed up wearing the same yellow tropical shirts -- but instead the marquee event of the evening was an appeal for hurricane relief donations from first lady Laura Bush, and aspiring first lady Cindy McCain:

TAPE TAPE...American hats

The stage was bare except for the podium, and he telepromter; the video backdrop was a slow motion American flag, and the main activity of the afternoon was texting $5 donations to the Red Cross.

It was a  gracious gesture which coincided nicely with the convention's theme of country first, and it accomplished one other very important thing.

Because, had they partied, we all know exactly what television would have done:  you'd have seen flooded neighborhoods on one half of the screen, and partisan revelers on the other half.  And with high definition television, there would even be room for a third window showing dropping real time poll numbers.

But as it was, the worst did NOT happen, and assuming that holds, I can tell you there are thousands of red white and blue balloons tucked into teh rafters of the XCL center, ready to be dropped on a Republican party that would like to put not only Gustav, but maybe even Katrina...behind it.

TOF...