Political Souvenirs Galore

By Justin Deck / Washington Bureau Producer

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Political memorabilia in St. Paul has been tough to find at times… until today. Vendors rolled into St. Paul and set up shop selling everything from t-shirts to tote bags to buttons.

Just yesterday, Rice Park, just a few blocks away from the Xcel Energy Center, was the center of protests. Today, some protesters were still lingering as people crowded around vendors trying to claim their piece of political history.

One couple from New Hampshire, who just happened to make a stop at Rice Park, were eager to pick up some McCain/Palin swag. They spoke about their loot, the convention and Sarah Palin’s speech Wednesday:

done

Although convention fanfare has been around all week, everything is about Sarah Palin, with people on the streets casually talking about her speech Wednesday. From the word on the street to the trinkets for sale, its clear that she is a focal point of this convention, at least so far.

Sarah Sighting

By Dana Brown / Washington Bureau Producer

This morning, Sally Kidd, photographer Eric Jensen and I were working our way through about 50 live shots.  We were knocking them out, one right after another.  Then, we had a quick break, so I peered over the edge of the skybox to see what I could see.

That’s when I saw her.

Cream colored skirt suit.  Tall black pumps.  Hair perfectly pulled into that now famous up-do.  The glasses.  The smile.  The whole bit.  Could it be?  At 6:30 in the morning?

Sarah Palin?  The Republican nominee for Vice President?  Right before my eyes?  I was in desperate need of caffeine, so I wasn’t 100% trusting my own judgement.  Sally and Eric turned and looked as well.

It WAS her!  Eric and I jumped to get our cameras. (our digital cameras – Eric’s fancy shmancy television camera was of course perfectly framing Sally’s live shots)

We snapped a couple of shots as Sarah Palin toured the stage where she will speak at the GOP Convention tonight.

Palin Takes the Stage

 

Word certainly traveled fast.  Within minutes, the media swarmed the stage.  She is after all, “the big get” right now as we media types like to say.

The Media Gathers Around

She stepped up to the microphone.  Are you ready for her words this morning?  I heard them with my own ears…. “One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten.”

Yep.

Mic check.  It worked.  You can bet the Xcel Center will be booming when her voice hits that microphone tonight!