CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Governor Perdue will deliver the keynote address at the 2009 North Carolina Conference for Women.

The conference will take place at the Charlotte Convention Center, 501 S College St. at noon on Jan. 28.
Charlotte, NC 28202

ST. PAUL, Minn .— Given the amount of enthusiasm on the convention floor where John McCain will accept the Republican nomination tonight, you’d never know this election is likely to be the toughest for the party in years. 

Souring economic trends combined with dissatisfaction with President Bush will make it exceptionally difficult for Republicans to keep the White House and gain seats in Congress, political analysts say.

“It’s obviously not a good year for Republicans, not in this climate,” said Andy Taylor, a political scientist at North Carolina State University.  “You’ve got a Republican president with an approval rating of less than 30 percent and the country wants change.”

Still, the hard core Republicans gathered in St. Paul this week are anything but pessimistic – at least publicly. Delegates say there are three reasons for their optimism. 

First, of all the candidates who sought the GOP nomination, no one positioned himself as a party outsider more than McCain.  That will help attract independents, they say, in a year when a more traditional candidate would almost certainly lose. 

Second, the party’s conservative base, which was crucial to both of Bush’s victories, has been slow to warm to the Arizona senator. But his selection of conservative, pro-life Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska as his running mate seems to have changed that, and delegates hope energy from that key voting block will put McCain over the top. 

And third, they say, Palin’s appeal to women voters — including some former supporters of Democrat Hillary Clinton — could be extremely important.

“This is an exciting moment for women, certainly, that we have a lady at the top of the ticket and that will help,” said Valerie White, a delegate from Asheboro, N.C.  

Amongst delegates, there is near universal agreement with an assessment of the race that McCain campaign manager Rick Davis offered South Carolina Republicans at a breakfast meeting earlier this week.

“With the excitement and the message and the commitment that we will show the American public when John and Cindy (McCain) and Gov. Palin leave the convention Thursday night, we’re going to be ahead, we’re not looking back and we’re going to win in November,” Davis said, to thunderous applause.

Scott Huffmon, a political scientist at Winthrop University in South Carolina, says that though the tide is running against Republicans this year, they could yet pull out a win.

The potential impact of racism on the election — a new, largely unpredictable factor brought on by Barack Obama’s historic candidacy as the first black man to be nominated for president by a major party – could end up tipping the election to the GOP, he said. 

But a win is anything but guaranteed.

“I’m not sure the Republicans should be quite as optimistic as they seem to be at the convention,” he said.

Johnston County McCain supporters will hold an Oyster Roast and Convention Watching Party Wednesday in Smithfield to watch Gov. Sarah Palin accept the vice presidential nomination at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn.

Palin is only the second woman in history to run on a major party ticket.

John McCain’s supporters across America are inviting friends, family and co-workers into their homes and gathering at McCain campaign headquarters throughout the country to participate in phone banks and share in Governor Palin’s historic moment. Mayor Linwood Parker also serves as McCain County Chair for Johnston County.

Four Oaks Mayor Linwood Parker, Elizabeth Raynor and Johnston County McCain Supporters will gather at 7:30 p.m. at The Holiday Mart on Hwy. 301 in Smithfield.

For directions, contact: Mayor Linwood Parker at 919-631-6911.

The Wake County Republican party will celebrate John McCain’s acceptance of the Republican party’s nomination for President of the Unites States at a watch party Thursday.

The public is invited to Raleighwood Cinema from 8:30 to 10 p.m. on Thursday to enjoy watch Senator McCain’s acceptance speech on the big screen.  

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ST. PAUL, Minn. – Poor John McCain. Wednesday’s speech by Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, John McCain’s running mate, is the most-anticipated event of the Republican National Convention.

Even McCain’s campaign manager, Rick Davis, said Tuesday the speeches by Cindy and John McCain on Thursday night “will probably be a let down” after all the excitement Wednesday.

Palin is Wednesday’s headliner, with presidential also-rans — former Govs. Mike Huckabee of Arkansas and Mitt Romney of Michigan and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani — as her warm-up speakers.

Republicans are living in interesting times, as the supposed Chinese curse puts it. First, they had to contend with Hurricane Gustav and now news about Palin is spinning around the Xcel Energy Center.

Palin was virtually unknown to most of the country until Friday, and her picture keeps changing. Initially, she was seen as a reformer.

“As governor, I’ve stood up to the old politics as usual, to special interests, to the lobbyists, the big oil companies, and the good-ol’-boy network,” she said in Dayton on Friday.

By now, politicians must know that such declarations won’t go unchecked. Nobody forgets that Democrat Gary Hart in 1988 announced himself as a presidential candidate with highest ethical standards. When rumors later surfaced about his womanizing, Hart told reporters, “Follow me around…it’ll be boring.”

They did, and it wasn’t. A photo of Hart with a woman not his wife sitting on his knee on a boat called “Risky Business” ended his political career.

Nothing that dramatic is happening with Palin, but news reports paint her more as an old-style politician than as a maverick. As mayor of little Wasilla, she hired a lobbyist to win $27 million in federal earmarks, and she raised the sales tax. She supported the infamous “Bridge to Nowhere” before she opposed it.

Anyone can change her mind. Positions do evolve. But earlier this year, Alaska, under Palin’s watch, requested nearly $200 million in earmarks in the 2009 federal budget, according to news reports.

That she’s a hard-working governor trying to secure funds for her state is no crime. And, for his part, McCain says he is not surprised by any of the news. So why did he present her as he did?

Monday, the McCain-Palin campaign announced that Palin’s 17-year-old daughter, Bristol, was unmarried, pregnant and planning to wed. While everybody agreed it was a family matter, the fact that Bristol is not having an abortion was cause for celebration among Republicans.

To be sure, the tone of the baby-watch coverage was breathless and excessive, but that’s the way of today’s feverish 24-7 news environment.

At a breakfast Tuesday with the South Carolina and New Hampshire GOP delegations, campaign manager Davis lambasted the news media, saying it was unfair when the country was riveted on Gustav for the news media to “stir up a pot of innuendo and personal attacks” about Palin.

He said Republicans will tell their side of the Palin story Wednesday. These times are going to stay interesting.

ST. PAUL, Minn. – Sen. John McCain has arrived in the Twin Cities as delegates to the Republican National Convention prepare to nominate him for president.

McCain stepped off his campaign plane shortly before 1 p.m. EDT Wednesday at Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport. His running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, was among those greeting McCain.

McCain is scheduled to deliver an acceptance speech to delegates Thursday night.

WASHINGTON – President Bush promised Tuesday that the nation would be safer with John McCain as president, saying his impressive life story and sound judgment make the Arizona senator the man Americans need in the White House.

“I’ve sat at the Resolute desk and received the daily intelligence briefings, the threat assessments and the reports from our commanders on the front lines,” Bush told delegates to the Republican National Convention in Minnesota via video hookup from the White House. “I know the hard choices that fall solely to a president. John McCain’s life has prepared him to make those choices.”

Bush added: “He is ready to lead this nation.”

Inside the hall, the Bush family legacy was on display. Bush’s father, former President George H.W. Bush, drew a standing ovation when he entered the arena with his wife, Barbara, and other relatives.

And first lady Laura Bush took the podium to introduce the president’s address.
 
She was the voice of defense for her husband’s record, tossing out statistics on everything from education gains to fighting AIDS across the globe. She said that when Bush took office, fewer than 50,000 Africans suffering from AIDS were getting the medicine they needed to survive, and that the number now is nearly 2 million.

“You might call that change you can really believe in,” the first lady said, a clear poke at the slogan of McCain’s opponent, Sen. Barack Obama.

She also praised McCain’s choice of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin for his running mate, saying: “I’m proud that America’s first female vice president will be a Republican woman.”

The image of Bush standing alone before a television camera in the White House’s majestic Cross Hall was beamed onto giant video screens 1,100 miles away in the Xcel Energy Center.

His eight-minute address was a far cry from earlier plans, sidelined by Hurricane Gustav’s landfall, for the president to make a dramatic, celebratory appearance Monday in person as the final speaker on the convention’s opening night.

Execution of the alternate plan was a bit awkward.

The crowd rose to its feet to applaud Laura Bush’s introductory remarks just as the president – apparently unaware of the clamor in the hall – had started speaking. As a result, his opening words were drowned out. On several other occasions, his words were lost when he continued talking over cheers in the hall.

ST. PAUL, Minn. – As the Republican National Convention began this week, GOP delegates from Gulf Coast states in the path of Hurricane Gustav scrambled South to protect their homes.

And now a second hurricane could affect the convention. Before the convention wraps up Thursday, delegates from some Atlantic coast states plan to bailout early to prepare for the approach of Hurricane Hanna, perhaps as soon as today.

Cleo Steele, an alternate delegate from North Myrtle Beach, S.C., who lives less than a mile from the ocean, plans to head back to South Carolina on Thursday before John McCain accepts his party’s nomination in a primetime speech.

“It’s a big disappointment. I’ve been here since Sunday, and I wanted to be there to watch. But you do what you have to do. I imagine I’ll catch it on TV at home,” she said.

Republicans can’t seem to catch a break from the weather this month. The McCain campaign had hoped to spend four straight days beginning Monday talking about his biography and attacking Barack Obama.

Gustav forced the party to exclude most political content from Monday’s session and focus on hurricane relief efforts. The party resumed previously scheduled political speeches Tuesday, and expected to keep them up through the week.

It’s unclear what impact Hanna will have on the convention. Current forecasts predict it making landfall somewhere between South Florida and South Carolina around Friday morning as a weak hurricane or tropical storm.

But the effects of the system could be felt on the coast a full day earlier, which could again distract national attention from the convention.

McCain is likely to accept the nomination on Thursday night in prime time, though organizers caution that the convention schedule could still change.

If McCain does speak Thursday, South Carolina State House Speaker Bobby Harrell won’t be watching from the floor. Harrell, a delegate, plans to leave St. Paul Thursday morning to help the state, his family in Charleston, S.C., and his State Farm insurance agency prepare for the storm.

“I need to be at home on Friday when it comes,” he said.

Though forecasters do not expect a repeat of Hurricane Hugo, a powerful storm that devastated South Carolina in 1989, Harrell said experience has taught him forecasts can change at any time.

“This isn’t Hugo – yet. People still need to be prepared,” he said.

State Rep. Alan Clemmons, a delegate from Myrtle Beach, S.C., said Tuesday that he wasn’t sure how the storm would affect his convention plans.

“We’re prepared to head out if need be, but it all depends on the movement of the storm,” he said. “Right now, we’re just watching Hanna very closely to see where she’s headed.”

SAINT PAUL, Minn. – This evening former Senator Fred Thompson will address the 2008 Republican National Convention. Senator Thompson will expand on the convention’s overall theme, “Country First,” and the theme for today’s program, which is “service,” as he illustrates why John McCain is best qualified to be the next President of the United States

Here are some excerpts from his speech:

On John McCain’s qualifications to be president:
“This is the kind of character that civilizations from the beginning of history have sought in their leaders. Strength. Courage. Humility. Wisdom. Duty. Honor. It’s pretty clear there are two questions we will never have to ask ourselves, ‘Who is this man?’ and ‘Can we trust this man with the presidency?’”

On John McCain’s dedication to doing what is right – not what is popular:
“He has been to Iraq eight times since 2003. He went seeking truth, not publicity. When he travels abroad, he prefers quietly speaking to the troops amidst the heat and hardship of their daily lives. And the same character that marked John McCain’s military career has also marked his political career. This man, John McCain, is not intimidated by what the polls say or by what is politically safe or popular.”

On John McCain’s commitment to taking real action to reform Washington:
“But while others were talking reform, John McCain led the effort to make reform happen – always pressing, always moving for what he believed was right and necessary to restore the people’s faith in their government. Confronting when necessary, reaching across the aisle when possible, John personified why we came to Washington in the first place.”

On John McCain’s ability to restore integrity to our government:
“My role is to help remind you of the man behind the vision. Because tonight our country is calling to all of us to step up, stand up, and put ‘Country First’ with John McCain. Tonight we are being called upon to do what is right for our country.”

ST. PAUL, Minn.-Hurricane Gustav forced Republicans to restructure Monday’s convention schedule to avoid appearing insensitive, but the parties kept on going.

Across the Twin Cities, corporations – almost all that lobby Congress and state governments – and interest groups are going ahead with hundreds of parties to fete lawmakers – from country music concerts to exclusive dinners at posh restaurants.

For example, AT&T, the telecom giant that earlier this year persuaded Congress to grant it immunity from warrantless wiretapping lawsuits, hosted parties for delegations from South Carolina, Indiana and others.
Events hosted by railroads, pharmaceutical companies, realtors, beer companies and dozens of other industries that lobby Congress are planned through the week.

The events provide elected officials with free drinks and food. They provide lobbyists easy access to lawmakers to talk up favorable legislation.

Recent changes in federal ethics laws have made it harder for lobbyists to throw parties for senators and representatives than at past national political conventions. But the new rules still leave plenty of room for schmoozing, said Sheila Krumholz, director of the Center for Responsive Politics, a campaign finance watchdog group.

The permissible dollar value of goodie bags handed out to lawmakers at many parties has dropped from $50 to approximately $10.

“So, instead of getting a primo cigar in their (goodie) bags, you get a lesser cigar,” she said.

Corporations with interests in federal and state regulations sponsor receptions and other parties as part of an overall strategy to influence policy that includes targeted campaign contributions, industry political action committees and maintaining a lobbying presence on Capitol Hill.

“These parties aren’t charity. They are a vehicle that allow them to gain access to members of Congress,” and other elected officials, Krumholz said.

Because of Hurricane Gustav, McCain campaign manager Rick Davis asked corporate sponsors Sunday to make sure that the events were “respectful.” He also asked them to consider adding a fundraising element to the parties to collect money for storm victims.

Many did. At an AT&T event held at a British pub in Minneapolis Sunday night, attendees were handed a card with instructions on how to send money via text message to the Red Cross.

At the event – held for South Carolina delegates – state GOP chairman Katon Dawson also set out big red buckets to collect cash for the Salvation Army’s hurricane response activities.

South Carolina Republicans plan to continue raising money at all delegation parties this week, he said.

“Being from South Carolina, we understand the carnage a hurricane causes… Hurricane victims, it doesn’t matter if they’re Democrats or Republicans. They’re Americans,” Dawson said.