One last frame to punctuate the week in St. Paul. Team McCain-Palin have had two campaign stops in two states since the house lights came up in the Xcel Engergy Center less than 24 hours ago. This was the scene there Wednesday night, two hours after Gov. Palin gave her speech to accept the Republican nomination for vice president.The convention ended, but the contest has just begun.Return to Photo Blog homepage

McCain speaks. Reporters write.The script.The conclusion.Sarah fans.McCain's accepts the nomination.A family moment.The Alaska delegates make it official. Palin for veep.Return to Photo Blog homepage

Toto, we're not in Alaska anymore.

I think it was like two or three weeks ago that I last covered a press conference at Governor Sarah Palin’s office in Anchorage. I walked in a little early and had time to kill so I sat in her office waiting area and read their newspapers. When the press conference started, I was the only still photographer there.

Flash forward to today. A reporter and I get a call at our hotel telling us that if we’d like to cover a Palin-related event, we’d better get to downtown Minneapolis in twenty minutes. What’s going to happen? Details are few.

Unfamiliar with downtown Minneapolis, we get there with no time to spare. There we wait with a small pool of reporters and photographers. We’re led upstairs to the campaign Secret Service detail. Our bags are inspected, our backgrounds checked. We wait.
Finally we rush to waiting vans parked in a closed-off street outside the swank hotel. Two large vans are marked “Palin Press.” We cram in.

A police-escorted motorcade makes its move. We’re headed to the Minneapolis Museum of Russian Art, a small building in a residential neighborhood. We’re told this is a luncheon of the Republican Governor’s Association.

We’re led down a back alley and herded near a rear entrance. We wait. KTUU’s Jason Moore and Scott Jensen met up with the pack and asked for access.
Finally let inside, we packed into a small, dark gallery room. It had been pre-lit for the event.
A podium. Governor Palin stood with eight other Republican governors. She made a statement rehashing many of the points of her convention speech last night. She took no questions when she was done. In fifteen minutes, maybe, it’s over and we’re rushed out the back door.

We’re ordered back to the vans, not even allowed to watch as she exits the building. From down the street I made a couple frames as Palin exits, paparazzi style.

We’re transported back downtown. Walking into the hotel we asked the Secret Service when we’ll be allowed to go back to our car. He assured us we can go. “I won’t arrest you,” he says.

Awaiting entrance to the press event.I hasten to set an exposure.Comments for the media.Back to the motorcade.Across the street from the museum, a polite protest.Return to Photo Blog homepage

There's been such heavy, heavy scrutiny on the Palin family this week, so it was interesting to watch how they handled it when so many cameras of the world were focused on them. Quite well, I'd say.
The Palin family with Cindy McCain.
Levi and Bristol caught in the glare of a flash.The other star of the show, Piper.Proud parents, Sally and Chuck Heath.The young couple on stage.Track gets a smooch from his mom.Return to Photo Blog homepage

The hall.
Piper, Levi and Bristol.
The wave.
Todd and Trig.
The smile.
The audience.
The congratulatory hug.
The Republican Party ticket.
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Wake her up. RNC's third night starts soon.
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Protesters began to crowd Rice Park in St. Paul this afternoon. This is the last I'll see of them today. I'm inside staking out my spot for the big speech.
More Code Pink, more anti-Palin sentiment.
Various causes intermingle.
Protester protests protesters.
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Today a group of Republican women held a press conference express their disgust at what they perceive to be a sexist "smear campaign" by the media and bloggers against Gov. Palin.
Rosario Marin, former US Treasurer, has something to say.
Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN). Unhappy.
Questions from the press.
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Protesters come in a variety of flavors. Some are violent, some are loud and some are just odd. Here's a tour of the latter as delegates line up to enter the second night of the Republican National Convention. You've been warned: The protesters' brand of humor might be offensive to you.

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