A lot of speculation and curiosity preceded John McCain’s acceptance speech last evening, but there was less anxiety than before Gov. Palin’s. The stage at the Xcel Center was reconfigured to give more of a "town hall" atmosphere for McCain. A runway was added so he could move out into the audience. Workers were still laying the floor tiles when we arrived.

Security has been elevated because of protester attacks and threats of more. There are guards in our hotel lobby and one on each bus that takes us to the Convention center. Swarms of police helicopters circle the meeting center. I have not seen any violence first hand, just on TV. One of the security men I talked to said extra personnel were brought from as far way as Florida. There are now about 50 percent more people on police duty than normally serve St. Paul, Minneapolis and the county combined.

The positive and helpful attitude of all the volunteers at the convention is impressive. Yesterday I missed a shuttle to an event and a young man from the Minneapolis Welcome Committee insisted on driving me there in his personal car and then declined an offer to pay for gas. When I commented on the friendly attitude, one of the workers proudly told me Minnesota was known as the "Volunteer State.” It didn't seem appropriate to tell him that title was already taken, so I just smiled.

McCain’s speech was low key compared to ones we heard earlier, but it was accepted by the rank-and-file as having simplicity and genuineness that most political rhetoric lacks. During the speech, there were at least two interruptions by demonstrators. One was about 50 yards from where I was sitting, but it was dark and I couldn't see much that happened. I did see a couple of hefty security men hustle the offending individual to an exit. Passes imprinted with a code were required to get into the hall, so I assume the demonstrators used ones that had been stolen. There were a few Ron Paul supporters in the hall but the ones I saw were civil and contented themselves just waving placards.

After the speech, the candidates briefly walked around the edge of the platform shaking hands, and posed for photos with their families. Then we heard they were leaving for campaign events in Wisconsin. Before the hall emptied, scavengers started collecting signs, cards, etc. carrying them out by the armload. Probably many will appear on eBay soon. Bill Hilleary and I managed to scrounge a couple of placards to bring home, but our competitors were younger and very thorough.

Friday morning there is the usual scrambling about with baggage and completion of travel arrangements. Bill and I were about to miss our bus to the airport and had to break in the checkout line at the hotel. The person displaced was none other than our own Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey. Fortunately he accepted this with good nature and so enabled us to catch our return flight.

On the trip back, everyone we talked to who had been at the convention expressed optimism and felt a greater Republican unity has been achieved, especially with the addition of Gov. Palin to the ticket. Time will tell if it is enough to turn the tide.