Isaac? Who's Isaac? The RNC Convention

Despite the threat of a tropical storm, the Republican National Convention is underway here in Tampa, Florida.

Well, sort of. Due to potential travel issues from tropical storm Isaac, convention organizers postponed the Monday session of the convention until Tuesday, then will compress the rest of the schedule to fit in three days instead of four.

Even with the postponement, the RNC hosted its opening reception at the Tropicana Dome in St. Petersberg. Thousands of attendees mingled on the stadium field while sampling varieties of food and drink. Entertainment was provided, on three stages, by performers from Busch Gardens, the Tampa Bay Buccanneers cheerleaders, and some allegedly popular musicians and singers who were unknown to me.

So today is basically a "free" day. Nearly all of the non-convention events and parties are still happening, since the weather is turning out to be not as bad as the forecast (Minnesotans know about this). 

I'm fine with this development for two reasons:

1) the national convention (for both parties) is a made-for-TV event. It's almost completely scripted from start to finish, save for the business meeting on the first day. In fact, the real "business" of the convention took place last week in a number of committee meetings around rules, party platform, etc.

As a ninth alternate, I have little chance of being seated. The alternates are simply a member of the studio audience during the convention proceedings.

2) It's my birthday today. I've joked with the delegation that the RNC canceled Monday's session just for me. I was hoping I could convince Congresswoman Bachmann (a member of the Minnesota delegation) to sing "Happy Birthday" to me, but that didn't happen.

I'll check in tomorrow, when the "real" convention begins. To see my ongoing commentary from the convention and from Tampa, check out my Twitter feed (@neeho) and my Tumblr blog (neeho.tumblr.com).