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Inside the Xcel Convention Center, Scoop’s view is not as good as at Denver, as there’s no way to see even the backside of who is on stage. On the big screen is the Chairman of the Republican National Committee, Mike Duncan, calling the convention to order at 2:30pm on Monday, September 1, 2008.

The convention opened with Boy Scouts trooping the colors, a woman of Indian (the subcontinent) descent reciting the Pledge of Allegiance, Miss Minnesota 2008 (wearing her tiara) singing the National Anthem, and a former basketball player for the Minnesota Timberwolves giving the Invocation.

Here follows some pix from inside the Convention.

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Today was supposed to have been “Service” day, with speakers to include Joe Lieberman [D-Independent], Arnold Schwarzenegger, Dick Cheney, Laura Bush, and George W. Bush. But instead, the Chair urged people to take out their cellphones and text a $5 donation to the Red Cross for hurricane relief work.

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Laura Bush and Cindy McCain did make an appearance at the convention, the latter dressed in yellow which merely heightens my impression of her tall, thin, blonde self playing String Cheese to her husband’s Cauliflower Head appearance. Sadly, I was outside photographing the protests so I missed the convention’s reaction to the two sweet ladies. But here is Laura live on CNN:

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And for no particular reason, except that I happen to think that the McCain campaign has hedged its balls by playing Hurricane Gustav—already just a Level 1 as Laura Bush was speaking—like a godsend media event/excuse not to have the unpopular Bush and Cheney speak at the convention, here also is a photo of a mysterious fruit for sale in a local produce store:

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--PEACE—