Changes

===Republican National Convention===

===Republican National Convention===

[[Image:Cjjfdjfty.png|200px|right|"Republican Party Elephant" logo]] The 2008 Republican National Convention was held in [[Saint Paul]], [[Minnesota]] from September 1 ([[Labor Day]]) until September 4. The presumptive nominee will be Senator McCain. The location has political significance in that [[Minnesota]] will likely be a close state during the general election, as will it's neighboring states [[Wisconsin]] and [[Iowa]].

[[Image:Cjjfdjfty.png|200px|right|"Republican Party Elephant" logo]] The 2008 Republican National Convention was held in [[Saint Paul]], [[Minnesota]] from September 1 ([[Labor Day]]) until September 4. The presumptive nominee was Senator McCain. The location has political significance in that [[Minnesota]] will likely be a close state during the general election, as will it's neighboring states [[Wisconsin]] and [[Iowa]].

The convention schedule had to be altered due to the upcoming landfall of [[Hurricane Gustav]]. The first day almost entirely focused on raising money for Hurricane relief.  This led to a shortened three day convention instead of four and there was some shuffling of who was speaking on which day to accomodate the suddenly shortened time span.  In a surprise, George W. Bush was only delivered an eight minute speech by satellite.  In another surprise Sarah Palin's speech was watched by as many people as saw Obama give his acceptance speech on the closing night of the Democratic convention, as over 40 million people tuned in.<ref>http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26548482/</ref>  She was considered the highlight of the convention, even surpassing John McCain's speech the next day, and was noted for doing an exceptional job.  Recognizing the strong asset that they have in her, the Republicans made reference to her many times on the last day of the convention.  McCain, not known for being comfortable reading prepared speeches in a convention hall, delivered a solid speech.  While Obama continued to enjoy a lead in the polls, it changed quickly thereafter to a slight McCain-Palin edge.  The Republican convention more than cancelled out a very powerful Democratic convention.

The convention schedule had to be altered due to the upcoming landfall of [[Hurricane Gustav]]. The first day almost entirely focused on raising money for Hurricane relief.  This led to a shortened three day convention instead of four and there was some shuffling of who was speaking on which day to accomodate the suddenly shortened time span.  In a surprise, George W. Bush was only delivered an eight minute speech by satellite.  In another surprise Sarah Palin's speech was watched by as many people as saw Obama give his acceptance speech on the closing night of the Democratic convention, as over 40 million people tuned in.<ref>http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26548482/</ref>  She was considered the highlight of the convention, even surpassing John McCain's speech the next day, and was noted for doing an exceptional job.  Recognizing the strong asset that they have in her, the Republicans made reference to her many times on the last day of the convention.  McCain, not known for being comfortable reading prepared speeches in a convention hall, delivered a solid speech.  While Obama continued to enjoy a lead in the polls, it changed quickly thereafter to a slight McCain-Palin edge.  The Republican convention more than cancelled out a very powerful Democratic convention.