(Reposted when server error ate the text)

Took an early lunch and walked down to the RNC for some free entertainment. I wasn’t disappointed.

11:02am Passed a group of blanket-wrapped protestors who are squatting along the curb. It’s mid-50’s…perfectly normal Fall day in Minnesota. Thought about chiding them for being unprepared, but then again Chris Matthews had a blanket wrapped around his legs during the broadcast last night.

11:05am Practiced my sound bite comment on the Palin speech, just in case I get roped into a “man on the street” interview.

11:15am Grabbed some lunch and hit the rope line in front of the MSNBC stage in Rice Park. Chuck Todd was live, and Orin Hatch was waiting to be interviewed.

11:20am As a intern hands out “Countdown” and “Morning Joe” fans (useless, given the cool weather), a female RNC delegate next to me whines about Joe Scarborough being the only guy on MSNBC that she likes. I comment that Joe is the only one I don’t like, and the battle is joined. I tried to knock down the “Palin got more votes than Biden” lie that she parroted, but she didn’t want to listen to the truth, and shushed me because her hero was about to speak.

11:25am Orin Hatch says nothing memorable. He is, however, wearing a black soft cast on his right arm, just like Cindy sported a few weeks back. New Republican fashion statement?

11:29am As he leaves the stage, Senator Hatch gives a left-handed fist bump to a production assistant! Where’s my camcorder when I need it?

11:35am Got into an amicable discussion with another Republican, who laughs and shakes his head when he’s forced to agree with my assertion that Governor Palin is not just a talented speaker, but the biggest celebrity of the convention.

11:45am Chuck moves to the back of the stage to interview Governor Pawlenty. Tim exudes “Minnesota nice” as a make-up person hovers over him.

11:50am Chuck makes an uncharacteristic on-air gaffe when he discusses earmarks and McCain’s chances to carry Minnesota and the Upper Midwest. He states that Minnesota gets back more federal dollars than we pay in. Pawlenty gently tries to correct the mistake, but Todd pushes on. Tim then says something about federal aid and wastewater treatment plants that I didn’t catch. Wasn’t a wastewater treatment plant one of Wasilla’s successful earmarks?

11:55am Coverage is swinging back to Brian Williams in New York, so I walk around back to scope out the delegates as they pass through the hard fence line. Governor Pawlenty is there, having taken time to be interviewed by an obviously nervous high-school student reporter and camera crew. Did I mention that Tim really is a nice guy?

12:00pm Without
much else going on in the park, I head back to work, making sure to make non-threatening
eye-contact with the 147 police officers that I pass along the way.