Being There

At least two CODEPINK protesters were just dragged off the convention floor. This is the second night in a row that the group has smuggled people into the convention. Last night, founding members Medea Benjamin and Jodie Evans used floor credentials from a delegate who disagreed with Sarah Palin's policies and hid their distinctive pink clothing under more conservative dress.

When asked earlier today if CODEPINK might try the tactic again, another of the group's founders, Gail Murphy, said "Don't be surprised."

(From Rob Margetta)

Speeches are always the highlight of conventions, but what about afterward?

Let's remember about one week ago, when Barack Obama accepted the Democratic nomination. The music following his speech was the inspirational music from "Remember the Titans."

Then think back to earlier tonight. Following John McCain's speech, the crowd heard inspiring music from the movie "Rudy."

Not that we're reading into anything but we thought we'd refresh your memory on what both movies are about.

"Remember the Titans": About a racially integrated team that overcame obstacles and won the Virginia state football championship.

"Rudy": About an undersized football player who overcame adversity to inspire fellow athletes and earn a spot on the University of Notre Dame football squad.

As Sen. John McCain of Arizona continues his speech tonight, we can't help but think about those swing states out there.

Yep, that includes you Coloradans, Ohioians, Pennsylvanians and a handful of other voters from states that are considered toss-ups or narrowly likely to vote for one candidate.

That includes you too Michiganders, who, according to CQ writer Greg Giroux have been mentioned more than members of any other state in speeches by Biden, Palin, Obama and McCain.

Now, of course this is an early stage, but who wouldn't want to be going after a state that boasts the nation's worst unemployment?

In a dimly light room illuminated by green spotlights, a modest gathering of about a dozen people are watching John McCain's speech. For now, it's mostly media here at the Google and Vanity Fair party at Minneapolis' Walker Art Center.

The mood is subdued, and the people watching seem slightly bored and distracted. Two Fox News reporters are discussing whether the blue background behind McCain should have been red.

The Anti-War Committee has gone through with its promise to march from the Capitol to the Xcel Energy Center. Using roadblocks made out of lines of bicycle-mounted police and officers in riot gear, security forces diverted the march from its intended path of heading straight south to the Xcel Center.

The crowd of about 1,000 was driven - still marching at a controlled pace - onto the John Ireland Boulevard overpass, where they stopped, halted by a line of horse-mounted police, backed by riot squads and, further back, snow plows. The crowd is mostly full of young-looking people - from high school to their 20s.

With Republicans in St. Paul this week, some people might forget about Minnesota's one-time presidential candidate Walter Mondale.

The former vice president under Jimmy Carter was a rock star in the world of politics nearly a quarter-century ago. Of course, he was a Democrat, but that doesn't take away the fact that he got his party's nomination in 1984. Of course, Mondale did lose that race to President Ronald Reagan in a landslide.

The sounds of whistles and officers hollering has replaced the relative calm to which people in downtown St. Paul are accustomed.

With police lining every street, one cab driver said his town had suddenly turned into a police state.

"I've been to Gaza and the West Bank, and I've never seen anything like it," he said.

A female flagged down another cab outside the Xcel Center, and the driver stopped to let her in. But an officer came running and screamed at the driver, "The next time you do that I'm taking you to jail."

Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, speaking today at the University of Minnesota's Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs, fondly recalled being invited to join the institute's loquacious namesake on a 1976 speaking tour.

Kissinger, secretary of state from 1973-1977, said he was "under some attack" when Humphrey invited him to make several joint speaking appearances in Minnesota. Humphrey, a senator and former vice president at the time, was contemplating another run for the White House. He had lost the 1968 campaign to Republican Richard M. Nixon -- who was advised on foreign policy by Kissinger.

"Occasionally, I would have him introduce me," Kissinger said, recalling Humphrey's legendary gift for gab. "If he introduced you, you never got to speak."

CODEPINK was back to protesting in the same spot, just a block from the Xcel Energy Center, where four of its members were arrested Wednesday. But, where they faced a line of police in riot gear blocking the street Wednesday, today officers in soft uniforms watched from the sidewalks, occasionally telling traffic to keep moving.

Gail Murphy, one of CODEPINK's founders, said the police and the protesters had come to a truce of sorts. During Wednesday's event, "We spoke to them as human beings," she said. "We asked them to look at us as human beings. We really tried to treat them as human beings, and I think they returned the favor."

Michigan has had prime real estate at this year's Republican Convention in St. Paul; the state's delegation is sitting just a few yards from the main podium.

But the state appears to be handing out its own perks, too. Dozens of vehicles, with Michigan license plates have been transporting convention staffers and participants throughout the Twin Cities this week.