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He met her in the bar of the swank hotel and invited her to his room. Once there, the woman fixed the drinks and told him to get undressed. And that, the delegate to the Republican National Convention told police, was the last thing he remembered. When he awoke, the woman was gone, as was more than $120,000 in money, jewelry and other belongings. The thief's take stunned cops. "It's very, very, very rare," Minneapolis Police Sgt. William Palmer said. "I can think of a couple of burglaries where we had that much stolen, but it's the first time I've...

Alaska Governor Sarah Palin tore through the Republican National Convention like a lead sled in the Iditarod dogsled race, while Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, who chose to forgo a scheduled convention speech by staying away to deal with Hurricane Gustav, catapulted to the top tier as a GOP presidential candidate in 2012 or 2016. Indian American Republicans who attended the convention Sept. 1-4 unanimously raved to India-West about Senator John McCain’s vice presidential choice and Palin’s stiletto-like jibes at Democratic presidential nominee Senator Barack Obama in her acceptance speech. “She sent a vibrant message to Middle America that she connects...

Top Obama fundraiser Jodie Evans stated she used C-SPAN credentials without the cable news outlet's knowledge at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul last week.Also, her Code Pink co-founder Medea Benjamin bragged to the press at the Democratic National Convention that she had convention press credentials under the name of a Christian radio netweork.Evans, who has been a part of Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama's campaign finance operations since the beginning of his run for the White House in February 2007, charged the stage when Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin was making her acceptance speech. She claimed to...

For Freeper poll watchers, this is an interesting article about party identification. This is really the reason that Rasmussen has not shown the same gap for McCain that Gallup has recently, as Rasmussen is weighting his poll according to a full 90 days prior survey of what he believes the makeup by party will be come election day. I guess that we will all find out on November 4th, but I personally don't think that this is a traditional situation where the increase in Republican party identification or leaning will decrease to levels that Rasmussen is currently weighting his polls...

A man arrested during protests during the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minnesota is now being investigated for arson at the Texas governor's mansion in June. The story was first reported Tuesday by CBS 11's sister station WCCO in Minneapolis. Bradley Neil Crowder, 23, of Austin, is charged with one count of possession of firearms not registered to him after his arrest Sept. 1 in St. Paul. Prosecutors believe Crowder and another man, David Guy McKay, made Molotov cocktails which could then be thrown into a St. Paul parking lot where law enforcement parked their vehicles. A high-level source...

Democrats tried to attract Catholic voters in Denver. Republicans tried to attract them in St. Paul. As the excitement at the end of the Republican National Convention affected Catholic Republicans as much as it did other delegates, they may have succeeded. Polls and TV ratings suggest Sen. John McCain of Arizona and his vice-presidential candidate running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin ended the convention way ahead of where they started.In his acceptance speech, McCain electrified Catholics by speaking about a culture of life, funding for private schools and America’s newest Catholics, immigrants.“From the boy whose descendants arrived on the Mayflower...

I assume John McCain chose Sarah Palin as his vice-presidential partner in a fit of pique because the Republican money men refused to let him have the stuffed male shirt he really wanted. She added nothing to the ticket that the Republicans didn't already have sewn up, the white trash vote, the demographic that sullies America's name inside and outside its borders yet has such a curious appeal for the right. So why do it? It's possible that Republican men, sexual inadequates that they are, really believe that women will vote for a woman just because she's a woman. They're...

In an interview published Sunday with the German mag Der Spiegel, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger said he didn't miss going to the GOP national convention because it lacked "bipartisanship." He compared the "hard core" who run the national party to California's GOP leaders: "I have almost no contact with them – none. Because they're just so out there." That should help round up those GOP votes for his budget proposal …

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Blacks are scarce here at the Republican National Convention. Of the more than 2,300 Republican delegates who gathered this week, just 36 -- or 1.5% -- were black, the lowest portion in 40 years, according to a study by the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, a Washington think tank that focuses on black issues. That is substantially below the figure in 2004, when a record-setting 6.8% of Republican delegates were black. The number of black Republican candidates running for federal office also has fallen sharply, to about seven from a high of 24 in...

It turns out a protest aimed at disrupting events at last week's Republican National Convention had a Fort Wayne connection. Fort Wayne realtor Annie Eckrich says her stolen identification was used by operatives to illegally gain entry onto the convention floor. Eckrich, who was an alternate delegate to the Republican Party extravaganza in Minneapolis- St. Paul, says she didn't know anything about what happened until a reporter called her, asking if she'd handed over her credentials to protesters. The story has gotten national attention on several political blogs. One of those blogs has displayed a picture of a simple badge...

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Minnesotans may want to have the legislature investigate this report from the Examiner about University of Minnesota staff involvement in violent anti-Republican protests during the convention in Saint Paul. According to Ray Robinson, key meetings were held on the U of M’s Twin Cities campus, and involved staff from both the university and union leaders of the AFSCME local that represents them: University of Minnesota staff were key coordinators of the recent violent protests at the Republican National Convention (RNC). The university employees are also members of the local clerical union of the American Federation of State County and Municipal...

University of Minnesota staff were key coordinators of the recent violent protests at the Republican National Convention (RNC). The university employees are also members of the local clerical union of the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees. The AFSCME is part of the AFL-CIO union. Protests turned violent at the 2008 RNC located in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Police have arrested hundreds of demonstrators for violent attacks on police officers and bystanders and other more nuisance crimes. The Saint Paul Police have identified an anarchist group called the RNC Welcoming Committee as being at the center of the violence....

Before Gov. Sarah Palin came flying in from the wilds of Alaska for the Republican convention in St. Paul, there was a lot of sniggering in media rooms and satellite trucks about her beauty queen looks and rustic hobbies, and the suggestion that she was better suited to be a calendar model for a local auto body shop than a holder of the second-highest office in the land. Ms. Palin, unwilling to be rendered as a caribou-skinning cartoon, stepped to the microphone on Wednesday and punched back. [...] In the press galleries at the convention, journalists wrinkled their noses in...

Protesters Say They're Proud Of RNC ActsSep 7, 2008 12:20 pm US/Central MINNEAPOLIS (AP) For two years, demonstrators had been looking toward the first four days in September -- when they'd take to the streets of St. Paul to speak out against the war in Iraq, the Bush administration and the Republican agenda. **SNIP** She pointed to Thursday night, when hundreds of people stayed on the streets of St. Paul, even after police told them to leave. Nearly 400 people were arrested, including Sundin. "I think it made a very strong statement," she said. **SNIP** "We think we were able...

Highlights From the GOP ConventionToday This weekend, C-SPAN presents highlights of Republican National Convention including acceptance speeches by Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) & Sen. John McCain (R-AZ). Then, Rep. Ron Paul's (R-TX) speech at "Rally for the Republic

Thank you for that warm welcome. I am honored to be here. We meet tonight in the wake of a terrible storm that has hit the Gulf Coast but that hurts all of us, because we are all members of our larger American family. At times like this, we set aside all that divides us, and we come together to help our fellow citizens in need. What matters is certainly not whether we are Democrats or Republicans, but that we are all Americans. The truth is, it shouldn’t take a hurricane to bring us together like this. Every day, across...

Almost exactly one year ago during a Republican presidential debate in Durham, New Hampshire, I said that if I weren't running for President myself, I'd be supporting John McCain. Well, I'm not, and I do. Every four years, we are told that this Presidential election is the most important election of our lifetime. This year - 2008 - IS the most important.This has already been historic. It is the longest Presidential campaign in history. And it sometimes felt even longer.The American people realize this election represents a turning point. In two months they will decide the future direction of our...