By Jody Hope Strogoff
THE COLORADO STATESMAN

We had barely finished writing our last story about the Democratic National Convention in Denver when suddenly it was time to head to Minnesota. The close proximity of the two conventions this year presented a challenge. We were drained from the action-packed week of the Democrats and hardly had time to recoup.

The timing of the Republican convention the first week of September was very late in the campaign season, in marked contrast to past election cycles when there were usually at least a couple or three weeks between the two. When speculation began about the possible cancellation or downsizing of the GOP event due to the onslaught of Hurricane Gustav, I admit that for a moment I relished the prospect of staying home in Denver, getting caught up on sleep and semi-relaxing over the Labor Day weekend.

Besides, I thought, there wouldn’t be very much news emanating from St. Paul. Republican nominee John McCain would likely select either Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty or former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney as his vice presidential running mate. Both had been in Denver during the Dems’ convention to offer Republican response to the Democratic saturated media coverage. Maybe we could punt, I surmised, and cover the GOPs from the vantage point of monitoring television and the blogs.

But there was no way the non-partisan Statesman could devote so much coverage to the Democrats without countering it with the same on-the-scene coverage of the Republican convention the following week.

So off we went — a mightily downsized crew compared to everyone who was on hand to cover the Democrats — and thus ensuring that the newspaper’s record of covering both major party’s political conventions since 1980 would remain intact. The 2008 Republican convention represented our 16th consecutive national convention.

If we had any notion that events in Minnesota would by fairly staid, of course all of that was stricken with McCain’s surprise announcement that Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin would be number two on the ticket.

Even before we got to Minneapolis, the selection of Palin had become a full blown story. And by the time we got to Minnesota, she had become a true phenomena with more force than the gale winds which were heading towards the Gulf coast.

Sarah Palin was “the” story at the convention. We watched as delegates and visitors to the twin cities embraced this so-called baracuda whose prime time speech Wednesday night would be the highlight of the slightly abbreviated event.

Colorado delegates were as tantalized with the prospect of a McCain-Palin ticket as people elsewhere across the country. Where once we sensed a somewhat tempered reaction to GOP standard bearer McCain in the state, now we detected excitement and enthusiasm which would not dim.

With Denver’s Democratic convention now over, we presumed that Colorado’s time in the spotlight might also vanquish. But we were wrong. In fact, it appears that our moniker of “battle state” is as firmly attached as ever. As we go to press, there is news of Palin’s visit to Jefferson County on Monday. And Barack Obama’s three-stop tour of Colorado the same day lends credence to our state’s important role in this year’s political process.

The conventions may be over, but the political action is just heating up.