Convention Day 1 started out like any other.  The sun was bright and cheery over Minneapolis-St Paul; along the gulf coast a different matter.

Since the actual convention activities don't begin until afternoon and into the night, many organizations and individuals put on breakfasts and lunches to "bring you up to speed" on issues important to their members or companies.  AT&T started us off with a nice but not fancy breakfast on a roof-top bistro downtown where they also had a lawn bowling "alley" (or is it a "field" or "pitch" or "court" ...?)  At any rate, the AT&T corporate folks were there to let us know about their latest gadgets and gizmos or why Congress should do this or that.  But they didn't.

Instead they paid attention to the news and more importantly to their own employee and corporate risks in New Orleans.  They had set up a simple text message system to work with virtually all of the cell providers to let you donate $5 to the Red Cross to help with the effects of Gustav.  They were deeply concerned about AT&T workers who could not just abandon ship at Gustav's approach but, like other utility workers and first responders, had to stay and repair any damage and make sure our emergency response system worked.   

It was impressive to see a great American company quickly using its resources, technology and ingenuity to respond to an American crisis.  And there is probably no return on their investment just employee security, safety and service.  (Truth in advertising:  I am an AT&T wireless customer but own no AT&T stock.)

We next went to a gathering of Veterans for McCain where we got an update on the convention and McCain's take on veterans' and military issues.  The room was full of folks who had spent a life in service to their country and had given much.  Several were POWs with John McCain and two were Medal of Honor winners.  These are the giants of American military lore. It was hard to keep a dry eye.

We then went to lunch with the rest of the Washington delegation at the hotel and had Grover Norquist for a speaker.  Now there is a guy who speaks my language.  His latest book, "Leave Us Alone" speaks volumes about less spending, less taxes, less government and less intrusion.

Then it was time to go.

We arrived at the Xcel Convention center - 2200+ delegates, 2200+ alternative, 200 protesters and 20 million media.  (Is it my imagination or is it interesting that the Al Jazeera and MSNBC are next to each other?) The delegates went to the floor and found their seats and the delegates to the balcony. (The balcony has a much better view.)  Security was tight but did not impede attendee flow.

Convention business came fast and furious.  The stuff we had to do we did and quick since most of the heavy lifting had been done in committee anyway.  Credentials, then Rules, then Permanent Organization were adopted in short order.  Most don't realize that the party (the Dems too, I think) is virtually re-established each four years at the convention.  So that part of the business was done without fanfare.  The other stuff, the glitzy stuff, the speeches and the bluster was left aside as we heard from Laura Bush and Cindy McCain about how we could help the gulf coasters clean up after the lashing they took. They reiterated the AT&T text message program through the Red Cross.

The platform wasn't so bad.  It was about half the normal verbiage but still long and contained a bit more detail than I would have thought best.  I am more of a principles guy.  In military terms, the platform should identify which hill we should take and from which general direction we should attack it, but not what path to take to get there or what to put in our backpacks.  Path and backpack decisions, as long as they conform to the general principles are locally or situational.

To sum up, I'd say the mood was determined and serious yet cheerful.  It reminded me of the American coming together times where every one is friendly and determined to meet a challenge reaching across the aisle to join hands one American to another.  Some of the media described the mood as "somber".

Bull!  (a technical term for media stories whose provenance is questionable or whose story line comes with a hidden or not-so-hidden point of view.)

So despite Gustav, we did our business but lessened the glitz and spent time and treasure helping Gustav victims.   It matches the McCain themes for today and tomorrow:  Country First!  Service!