Day one is here, and the first thing on the agenda is Gustav watch.  As a result of the storm's arrival, the first day's convention schedule was cut short and will run from 2:30 to 5:30...which means no primetime coverage tonight.  Not sure what's planned to try and take up the slack from a message standpoint, but we'll see.  We're assuming there will be a video message from Bush, given that he was supposed to speak tonight.

In the meatime, still get great reaction to the Palin pick for VP.  Haven't run into anyone, whether RNC members, delegates or just conservative leaders in general that have any problem with it.  Quite the opposite in fact.  They're pretty much ecstatic and think it's a homerun, and I tend to agree.

She checks so many of the boxes that we need - and McCain especially needed - in a running mate.  And the demographic angle gives the Dems fits.  She's sort of like a Swiss Army knife of candidates - she's got a little bit of everything. 

The other important thing about this pick is that it gives social conservatives a high level of confidence now in what type of judges McCain would appoint to the judiciary.  Picking the wrong person here would have undermined any faith in his promises to appoint judges like Alito and Roberts.  And given that the next President will likely be able to appoint one to three members of the high court, that issue is what will move conservatives to work on behalf of the ticket more so that anything else this fall.

I'm up in Minneapolis for the Republican National Committee meetings this week, leading up to next week's convention and will be blogging daily while I'm up here.  I've also set up a Twitter feed (sign up here) so I can pass things along between trips to the hotel room...and a Flickr feed to pass along some interesting photos.  Those will be available up at the top of the homepage for the next two weeks, so check back often for updates.

For the next few days I'll be working with fellow RNC members to try and reform our primary schedule for the 2012 primaries and beyond.  The general consensus is that, with so many states continuing to rush to the front of the calendar in each cycle, we're moving towards what will soon be tantamount to a national primary - which pretty much everyone agrees is an awful idea.  (I've written more on that previously here and here).  The problem is getting enough states to agree on the solution.

The Rules Committee meets today, so more on that later.

In the meantime, we're having a great time watching the entertainment from Denver...and waiting to see if Bubba continues to stick it to Obama tonight.

Stay tuned.

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Just saw this from the AP: