Quiet first day at Republican convention

By Paris Porter

With the first day of the Republican National Convention shortened to two and a half hours due to worries over Hurricane Gustav, party representatives decided to make the best of it and focus on hurricane relief on Monday.

As First Lady Laura Bush and Cindy McCain, John McCain’s wife, took the podium at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, they focused on relief efforts for hurricane victims on the Gulf Coast. There was applause but the crowd never got a chance to erupt.

But delegates on the floor were still talking politics.

In the hallway, a Wisconsin delegate told one from Illinois that the party needs to work harder to appeal to younger voters.

Mike Knopf, a 17-year-old delegate from Dubuque, Iowa, said he believes the party needs to attract younger voters in order for John McCain to win.

“If I had to make the case for McCain to younger voters, I’d make the case of Democrats being for higher taxes and Republicans being for lower taxes. So you get to keep your money,” Knopf said.

Samuel Benoit, a Haitian immigrant from New York, said he would stress McCain’s experience over Barack Obama’s inexperience.

With no McCain, no Bush, and worries about Hurricane Gustav, the energy felt sucked out of Xcel Energy Center Monday. While many delegates walked around wearing “Stop Obama Express” stickers, the atmosphere was subdued. The floor, where delegates sit, was crowded, but there were many empty seats in the stands. Protests outside the hall couldn’t be heard.

With the hurricane over by the time the convention session ended at 5:30 p.m., delegates looked forward to more speakers and politics on Tuesday.