I'm heading over to the Xcel Center right now for the last night of the GOP Convention here in Minneapolis - St. Paul. After Sarah Palin's home-run last night - the expectations are high for John McCain to equally deliver. I'm confident he will.

If you're not watching the Convention on TV scope out the action live on UStream and follow the back channel chatter on Twitter at RNC08.com.

Lastly, check out David's interview of Erick Erickson of Redstate on how bloggers are being treated at the Convention.

It's day 2 of the GOP Convention in MSP and right now I'm backstage at the Target Center in downtown Minneapolis waiting for Ron Paul's Rally for the Republic to get started.

The lack of posting yesterday was due to the fact, that well, there was nothing to cover as almost all convention activity was suspended. But as I predicted, Hurricane Gustav wasn't the mother of all storms that some feared it would be, and we've now returned to our regularly scheduled program here in MSP.

Because Paul wasn't invited to speak at the GOP Convention - he's throwing his own gig - and according to reports the venue's been sold out.

David and I walked in just as Paul was wrapping up a press conference - but Matthew Yglesias has the round up here.

I'm blogging this from the press filing center - a collection of folding tables backstage - and we're seeing a pretty heavy media presence for the rally - lots of tv cameras and reporters. I think it's because the GOP Convention doesn't kick off until 6 or 7 tonight and everyone's looking for something to cover this afternoon. Smart planning by the Paul campaign to hold this now - the only problem is that Dr. Paul doesn't take the stage until 7PM - a time when most media (including myself) will have already moved down the street to the Xcel Center.

As always check out RNCO8.com for up-to-the-minute Twitter coverage.

Updated: 1:44PM Check out David's interview with Ron Paul's communications director Jesse Benton:

More videos of the rally on the TechRepublican YouTube channel here.

Will the GOP Convention actually happen? That's the question that's on my mind as I watch the cable news from my hotel room in Eagan, Minnesota just a "tad" outside of Minneapolis - St. Paul (or MSP as I now call it).

We know the that the political portion of tomorrow's program has been canceled and that President Bush and VP Cheney won't be coming to MSP on Monday. The rest of the week's schedule is up in the air and we'll find out about Tuesday's schedule by noon on Monday.

Personally, I'm predicting that the convention will be be back to normal come Tuesday - it looks like Gustav will miss New Orleans and the storm won't be nearly as strong as Katrina was three years ago.

Aside from Gustav, one of the big stories surrounding the convention is just how tech-savvy the event plans to be - and the media has been picking up on the story - for more check out the articles below, David and I are quoted in each respectively.

Convention's cacophony of voices will include blogs, vlogs, tweets and phlogs, MinnPost.com.

Bloggers Plan To Blanket GOP Convention, National Journal.

As happens during any convention or conference - people's twittering kicks into overdrive. As others have noted, I think Twitter is at its best for these large events, lots of people in the same venue each sharing their own unique perspective on the proceedings.

And the best way to follow the Twitter conversation for the GOP convention is by scooting over to RNC08.com where you can follow a live feed of tweets with the hashtag #RNC08 as well as Flickr pics tagged with RNC08. Follow along and join in - #RNC08.

TechRepublican managing editor Joe Mansour and I will be attending the Republican National Convention next week as credentialed bloggers. Natch.

You can expect to see lots of coverage on what you probably won't find elsewhere, like:
* How are the Convention staff handling the bloggers?
* Is our space better than that of the MSM outlets?
* What does the Google Lounge look and feel like?
* How expensive is the Internet connection?
* Do Republicans still think that the Internets is just a series of tubes?
* Random Republican "celeb" sightings on mobile devices (think Paparazzi style as I'm def rolling with my Nikon D300 and telescopic lens).
* Is Blogger-In-Chief Meghan McCain continuing to keep it real, authentic, and stylish?
* Does McCain's blogger relations guru Patrick Hynes have anything to say for continuing to rock 'n roll so well on the trail?
* How many times did the word "Internet" get said during the Convention speeches?
* Will Chuck Norris be there and will he grant me an interview (before killing me with an eyelash--BAM!)?
* How awesome are Meg Whitman and Carly Fiorina (and will RNC spokesbloggette Liz Mair hook a brother up with an interview)?
* Has anyone heard of Slatecard?
* What's the feedback on the #dontgoMovement?
* And, of course, how awesome is the night life?

As always, we'll be blogging, vlogging, tweeting (follow @TechRepublican for blog posts, and @JMansour and @DavidAll for live-tweets), and phlogging (my Flickr account is here).

Heads up: I'll also be cross-posting some of my less-partisan posts over at TechPresident.

So as you can see, we're "in" and we're hopeful that you'll check in from time-to-time for a sneak-peek on what we're seeing from inside the Convention.

Revolution.

Two quick items that I've recently added to the sidebar on the right worth pointing out.

1. Linking the GOP Convention

I support the Republican National Convention and hope to be there (come on housing!), clicking and camming away on bloggers row and eating candy and drinking vitamin water in Google Lounge. Therefore, I've added that little banner linking the official convention website. This will both help the official convention site with eyeballs from TechRepublicans and with robots for search engines to help with SEO. If you have a blog, myspace page, or another space on the Internets, I'd urge you to grab one of the many banners and link it up on your site and help out the team.

2. Lijit Integration

Underneath the Feedburner chicklet, you'll see a search box powered by Lijit. I played around with it last night after reading a recent post by David Almacy at CapitalGig on the personal value of Facebook which mentioned the service.

I'm giving Lijit a try because it appears to add value to your valued readers by providing a search function to all of your aggregated web properties (like the TechRepublican YouTube and Twitter accounts) and your personal content network (e.g., your blogroll). As the blog owner, I like to see what the "Popular Searches" are because that helps me think on delivering the content that my readers are looking for.

And by the way, applications like Lijit, apps that are "mash-ups" or "pieced together" of many Web 2.0 sites and applications is the beginning of Web 3.0.

I'm going to be thinking and writing more extensively on Web 3.0 and its application to politics in the near future, but for now, feel free to watch and think on how Eric Schmidt of Google defined Web 3.0 back in August:

We recently told you about a contest the GOP Convention was holding asking users (e.g., us) to help name their blog. We made a few suggestions.

Today the GOP Convention has launched a nifty polling mechanism based on March Madness brackets to help determine what the name will be.

Here's a screen grab:

My top choice is CTRL+SHIFT+GOP because of its obvious and clever use of techy terms along with a real message that the GOP needs to recognize: To succeed online, there needs to be a "shift" in "control." But hey, that's just my suggestion (and I only get one vote).

Head over to Blog Madness and vote.

UPDATE 4:44 PM: Speaking of the GOP Convention, I just realized that someone other than the GOP Convention has that Twitter URL/account. That's a big loss in my book.

UPDATE 6:36 PM: The folks at the Convention just emailed me to let me know about their shiny new Twitter account @GOPConvention08.

And, for the record, I'm following both.

Our friends over at the 2008 Republican National Convention are asking for a little help in the naming of the convention blog:

Some immediate thoughts:

* "Shift+CTRL+GOP"
* "Return of the Red" (cue the Mark Morrison)
* "Elephant Droppings"
* "Forward Slash Blog"
* "The Lanyard"
* "Red Hot and No Blues"

If you want to join in, send your ideas to this address.

Just a heads up -

If you're interested in live-blogging from the GOP Convention in Minnesota Septemeber 1-4, 2008 you can now apply for media credentials online.

I plan on attending so hope to see you there.

The Minnesota Monitor reportss some good news for bloggers that are hoping to (once again) attend and cover the Republican Convention: We are invited.

"We are going to welcome the blogging community. We need the bloggers and the independent media on board," said Mike Duncan, chairman of the RNC. After taking a few shots at Democratic candidate Sen. Hillary Clinton, Duncan pointed to the large success that the GOP is experiencing through the use of social networking sites such as Facebook.com and through blogs.

Gordon Pennoyer, deputy director of media operations for the RNC, echoed Duncan's sentiments. "We plan on having a considerable blogger presence," he said.

The RNC, will host an Internet Alley for bloggers and traditional media that have interactive online presences. Unlike the traditional media, bloggers and independent media will not have to apply for credentials through the Congressional Press Galleries, the body typically charged with approving credentials. Instead, bloggers and independent media will apply for "special press credentials."

By the way, did you catch Chairman Duncan patting himself on the back for the good work they are doing using social networking and blogger outreach? Keep up the good work Cyrus.