Bob CollinsFor the most part, delegates haven’t gotten to see much of St. Paul or meet many people from the Twin Cities. They’re taking buses into and out of the city, and directly to whatever private event they’ve got scheduled.
All they know, is what they see out of the bus window, as this image taken by a member of the Ohio delegation attests:
“Monday night the delegation attended a reception honoring Auditor of State Mary Taylor. It was in the beautiful Landmark Center in St. Paul. The building was perfect but the location turned out to be a little rough. It was so close to the Xcel Center (where the Convention is) that we were blocked and harassed by protestors any time we stepped outside.”
Meanwhile, bloggers for the Rocky Mountain News in Denver have assessed that St. Paul is the new Chicago:
Claim: Denver worried about being compared to the 1968 convention, but it was the 2008 Republican National Convention in St. Paul that earned the distinction – on its first day.
Rocky Truth Patrol says: Rock Solid
Some 150 National Guard troops were called in Monday to help maintain order in some parts of St. Paul after self-described anarchists smashed windows, slashed tires and even attacked delegates.
The comparison came from Fred Biebel, an 83-year-old delegate from Connecticut, in an interview with the Hartford Currant. Biebel has attended every GOP convention since 1956. He made the comparison to the Republican convention of 1968, which was less violent than the Democrat’s convention that year in Chicago, but still featured protesters throwing rocks at the windows of the delegates’ bus.
“It compared a little bit, not as bad, to 1968,” Biebel told the Hartford Currant. “That was scary.”
Meanwhile, officials in Denver were still counting their blessings for a relatively smooth DNC last week. Managers of downtown skyscrapers even had glass company trucks on standby in their buildings’ garages, ready to fix any broken windows. None were needed.
