Raining on the GOP Parade

Well, it looks like this week may not work out how I- or any other Republican- expected. As I was landing here in Minneapolis Saturday, Republican organizers were rushing to re-arrange the year of planning that they had worked so hard on.

As I walked around last night, questions about what this week would actually amount to swirled all around. Make no mistake, Republicans are here and are ready to have a good time. But we all recognize that some things are more important than partying and politics. In between meetings and events, all of the delegates are stealing looks at Fox News to see what devastation Gustav has brought so far.

It will be interesting to see what the party decides to do for the rest of the week. Walking out of the opening reception last night, I asked a party official what the schedule looked like for the rest of the week: "we'll play it by hear," he said. That seems to be the new theme of the week, and it sure reinforces the old theme of "County First".