Tom Baxter:

GOP Handling Storms Well - So Far

By Tom Baxter
Southern Political Report

(9/1/08) Every four years without fail, some sourpuss writes an analysis which says that conventions don’t serve a purpose anymore, and ought to be boycotted by a right-thinking media. Like most things repeated over and over, this is an empty argument, and can be exploded by even a cursory review of the impact of conventions over the last several elections.

At first wink, it might seem this year’s special circumstances are giving the anti-convention argument a test, since the Republicans dramatically shortened their first-day program in respect for those contending with the Class 2 Hurricane Gustav. With a couple more big storms bearing down on the country, there’s no certainty the rest of this week’s planned events in Minneapolis-St. Paul won’t be affected also.

Nevertheless, this is still a national convention, even if it sometimes seems from a distance like it’s being scripted by the producers of “Desperate Housewifes,” which has already used a violent storm and a mother covering for a teen pregnancy as plot lines.

Inside, there weren’t any McCain strategists who were unhappy to see George W. Bush and Dick Cheney called from their speaking assignments to more important duties, for all their concern over the hurricane per se.

Nor was this Labor Day the worst for the story about Gov. Sarah Palin’s daughter’s pregnancy to break. It’s going to generate a lot of cable chatter anyway, but the storm news has the indirect impact of keeping the story more in perspective. (And once again, this actually helps with the conservative base.)

All in all, Gustav has been as good politically for the Republicans as a hurricane at convention time could be, even generating footage of the Gulf Coast Republican governors watching over their states.

What the Republicans really have to worry about is Hannah and Ike. The generally good marks being given the emergency effort in the Gulf could be overshadowed by new talk of climate change, if the East Coast absorbs two storms in rapid succession.

Outside the convention hall, Republicans appear from all reports to be cheerfully ignoring the McCain campaign’s entreaties to tone it down, and making the rounds of parties as they always have.

It’s easy to take a puritanical view of this when the other side of the split-screen is a storm-tracker map. But the Democrats partied down last week in Denver, even as they participated in an event most felt to be truly historic.

That’s because, to get enough people participating to make it viable, politics needs to be entertaining and fun, and inspiring: words that are arranged in ascending order of importance, but which are very much interrelated.

To come back from Minneapolis-St. Paul with anything like the enthusiasm with which the Democrats left Denver, this crop of post-Bush Republicans needs to bond. They don’t have to put on the kind of show the Democrats did last Thursday night, but they have to get excited enough to convince themselves and those who watch them this week that they can win this election. One hurricane, therefore, is enough.

(There was also a development that’s hugely important for the presidential election four years from now, lost amid all the juicier news. The Republicans didn’t go along with the Democrats, who last week approved a plan that would have pushed most 2008 primaries back to March. That guarantees both parties will probably have a calendar similar to this year’s – if not even more front-loaded.)