Enter Bush 41 Scoopsville ...
Dateline: Twin Cities -- Sneed hears former President George Herbert Walker Bush, whose son is tanking in the polls, will be the surprise star of the Republican National Convention in Minnesota. His appearance has been kept a secret because the elder statesman was debating whether to attend.
• • The kicker: Current President Bush and Veep Dick Cheney are expected to be in and out of town very quickly after arriving Monday. Hurricane Gustav may force them to head immediately to the Gulf Coast.
In addition to the storm down south, the Republicans are readying for a ton of Iraq war protesters. The dual headache threatens to mess up their convention.
• • The trouble: Although security was heavy in Denver for the Democratic National Convention, the roar of protest resulted in a whisper.
Hmmm: Will John McCain's selection of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as veepmate energize Hillary Clinton's supporters to cross party lines . . . or have the opposite effect?
• • To wit: Will it invigorate Clinton, who wanted to make history, to make sure another women doesn't become the nation's first female vice president?
• • Translation: "I've worked for Hillary Clinton, and I will tell you this," a male African-American Obama delegate from New York said while watching McCain's veep announcement on TV in Denver. "The selection of Gov. Palin will energize Hillary to the extreme to elect Obama. This woman is very serious. She's driven. Do you think she wants another woman eclipsing her place in history? I doubt it."
Dateline: Denver -- Sneed watched U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. get more bulb coverage/photo attention than his famous father, the Rev. Jesse Jackson, in the Illinois delegation section before Obama delivered his acceptance speech. Rep. Jackson and wife, Ald. Sandi Jackson, sat smack-dab in front of Barack Obama's podium. The Jacksons were seated next to Tonya Lee, wife of movie director Spike Lee, who was busy capturing the Illinois delegation excitement on his hand-held movie camera.
The Rev. James Meeks taking a momentary break from clapping during Obama's speech to tell Sneed he's still going full speed ahead with his school boycott focusing on New Trier High School in Winnetka.
"The people in Winnetka have been wonderful to us," Meeks said. "They couldn't be nicer. They are planning to even feed us during the boycott!" (Meeks had hoped to broker a deal with city and state leaders during the Denver convention -- and it didn't happen.)
Greater love hath no father: Ald. Ed Burke sitting on the sticky, dirty convention floor in the Illinois delegation section, so his African-American son, Travis Olison, could have his seat -- and be photographed with Spike Lee. ... Legendary footballer Rosey Grier, a member of Dem presidential contender Robert F. Kennedy's coterie, was spotted at the Obama acceptance speech using two canes. ... Actor George Clooney did not go to the Dem convention, keeping good on his promise to pay someone $1 million if he did. ... Oprah Winfrey spotted waving a small American flag and sobbing throughout Obama's acceptance speech at Invesco Field.
Retiring state Senate President Emil Jones, who is this/close to Barack Obama, tells Sneed he is not looking for some big job in the Obama administration should Barack win the presidency. "I don't want to work that hard," he joked.
So how about an ambassadorship? "I'd consider it," he joked. Bermuda? "Amen to that," quipped Jones' wife.
He told Sneed: Obama "will be the first person in the White House I knew personally."