This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, Aug. 27, 2012 - TAMPA – They flew into a tropical storm, hunkered down for rain, collected delegation goodie bags and waited for national GOP leaders – in the wake of emerging Hurricane Isaac – to complete a last-minute restructuring of the long-planned Republican national convention.
Through it all, Missouri’s 101 GOP delegates and alternates – minus a few stuck in transit from St. Louis – were upbeat Sunday about the rain-delayed convention, prospects for the Romney-Ryan ticket, and the possibility of having some fun despite the storms around them.
“We have people who came here from every congressional district and every corner of Missouri to make it clear who they want to see as their next president,” said Lloyd Smith, executive director of the Missouri Republican Party and a veteran conventioneer.
Attending his first national convention, Missouri State Auditor Tom Schweich said that “the weather has created a certain unpredictability for the week, but as good Republicans we value our resilience and flexibiity. We'll work around the weather and have a successful convention."
While the storm’s eye was moving to the west of Tampa late Sunday, the local and national media remained fixated on its path. “Isaac Derails Day 1” trumpeted the top headline in Sunday’s Tampa Tribune. The Tampa Bay Times bannered: “Isaac Intrudes.” National Republican officials spent much of Sunday revamping the convention schedule, in what a pundit likened to “calling an audible at the line of scrimmage.”
Meanwhile, Missouri delegates, alternates and guests – about half of whom indicated that it was their first convention – gathered Sunday afternoon for an organizational session and pep talk. Many of them also attended a big reception and party Sunday night at enclosed Tropicana Field, home of the Tampa Bay Rays baseball team. And several Missouri delegates for U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, R-Tex., attended a rally for their candidate, who was not scheduled to speak at the convention itself.
Noting that delegate Phyllis Schlafly – a nationally known conservative activist – had been to 16 conventions, Missouri GOP chair David Cole said: “Whether it’s your first or your 16th, let’s hope for a fun, exciting and memorable convention.”
While Smith said some of the state’s delegates – particularly those flying out of St. Louis – had been delayed by canceled or re-routed flights Sunday, “our hope is everyone will be here before we go into full convention mode on Tuesday.”
Among the Missouri GOP luminaries scheduled to take part in some delegation sessions were U.S. Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo.; former Sen. Jim Talent of St. Louis, a senior adviser to Romney; and former Sen. Christopher S. Bond, now a lawyer and consultant. None of the three was at Sunday’s meeting.
Akin political storm
One prominent GOP politician who won’t be at the convention is U.S. Rep. Todd Akin, R-Wildwood, whose “legitimate rape” comments last week caused a national political firestorm that led GOP establishment officials to ask him to withdraw from the race against Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo. On Friday, a feisty Akin called a press conference in Chesterfield to say he is staying in the race.
Mitt Romney, in an interview with FOX newsman Chris Wallace that was aired Sunday, went even further than he had last week in condemning Akin’s remarks and asking him to step aside.
“I think it was a terrible statement on his part,” Romney said. “I think it was uninformed, I think it was outrageous and offensive.”
Romney added: “I’ve asked him [Akin] to get out of the race. I think I have distanced myself from the kind of thing he said as far as I possibly can.”
Romney also said Akin “is being used by Democrats to try to cast a shadow on our entire party,” even though “the leaders of our party have pretty much unanimously said: Mr. Akin, get out of the race.”
While Schweich and some other Missouri GOP delegates steered clear of the Akin issue, the St. Louis County congressman had his defenders.
“When you know Todd Akin’s record, he’s not afraid of the Republican Party, he’s not afraid of [defying] the president telling him to vote for something. He’s his own person,” said delegate Joan Harms.
Harms, who sported an Akin for Senate sticker, is the county clerk of Platte County, near Kansas City. A strong opponent of abortion, she started out as a Rick Santorum delegate, but – after Santorum released his delegates – agreed to join the Romney slate. She thinks the storm over Akin’s comments will blow over, and Akin will beat McCaskill.
One of Akin’s staunchest national supporters has been former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, whose speech to the GOP convention had been scheduled for Monday – the storm-predicted day that the RNC opted to cancel, redistributing its speakers.
On Sunday, Huckabee said his new speech slot would be Wednesday evening. He said his theme will be “we can do better,” but – in a Fox News interview Sunday evening – he did not address whether he planned to mention Akin's situation. He said RNC had not interfered in his speech, which he wrote himself. In a session Friday with religious broadcasters, Huckabee had alleged that party leaders who had tried to oust Akin had acted like “union goons.”
Convention schedule disrupted
While the storm over Akin seemed to ease a bit after his announcement Friday that he would stay in the race, the presidential race was taking on a sharper edge Sunday. While President Barack Obama was accusing Romney of taking “extreme” positions on some issues, Romney bashed Obama for failing to correct or distance himself from questionable criticisms of Romney ads aired by Obama-friendly groups.
Meanwhile, Tropical Storm Isaac led Republican officials to reschedule all of Monday’s scheduled speeches and convention events. A revamped schedule was released late Sunday, compressing the convention into three days, Tuesday through Thursday.
But GOP officials also were keeping an eye on Isaac, which was expected to strengthen to a Category 2 hurricane by mid-week, headed more toward the Florida panhandle and Louisiana, where Gov. Bobby Jindal declared a state of emergency late Sunday.
While Republican leaders hope the convention will conclude Thursday night, rumors flew that – depending on the hurricane’s speed and destructive path near New Orleans – they had left open the possibility of extending it to Friday.
On Sunday afternoon, sound experts and some musical groups were running through dress rehearsals at the Tampa Bay Times Forum for parts of the convention program, and some of the week’s speakers were checking out the elaborate stage and podium.
And, of course, much of the discussion was about how Romney and his running mate, U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, would frame their convention remarks and try to unite Republicans. As Schweich said:
"This is an opportunity to unite behind the Romney-Ryan ticket, to explain to Americans what a Romney-Ryan administration would do -- offering a sharp contrast in both their approach and their level of competence when compared to Obama-Biden."