Director and actor Ron Silver talks about his support for the Bush administration’s response to the attacks of Sept. 11 in New York and Washington and why the issue of terrorism remains important to him now. This video was shot by Inside the Tent contributor John Steward.

Reuters Inside the Tent equipped more than 40 delegates and other attendees in St. Paul and the Democratic National Convention last week in Denver with video cameras to capture the conventions from the ground up. Steward is not an employee of Reuters, and any views expressed are his own.

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Former Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul drew thousands of supporters to his “Rally for the Republic” event this week in Minneapolis,  across the river from the mainstream Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Jennifer Riley from North Dakota, who attended the rally and the Republican convention, talks about the differences between the two gatherings, and the emerging struggle between the “classic conservatives” and “neo-conservatives.” This video was shot by Inside the Tent contributor Ginny Saville, who is a Ron Paul supporter.

Reuters Inside the Tent equipped more than 40 delegates and other attendees in St. Paul and the Democratic National Convention last week in Denver with video cameras to capture the conventions from the ground up. Saville is not an employee of Reuters, and any views expressed are her own.

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ST. PAUL - Faith was on full display at the Republican National Convention on Tuesday night with prayers from a pastor and tunes belted out by a Christian pop star.

Miles McPherson, a senior pastor of The Rock Church in San Diego and former professional football player, evoked patriotism and faith while leading the convention in prayer:

“Thank-you God for always being there for us. And thank you for making America the greatest country in the world. We pray these things in Jesus’ name,” he said to warm cheers from the crowd.

Such overt displays of religion, politics and nationalism would be almost unheard of in many European countries but are common in America, especially with Republican crowds.

The invocation was given by a former U.S. Air Force chaplain while Christian singer Rachael Lampa sang her songs “When I Fall” and “Blessed” on a night dedicated to the theme of “service.”

In brief remarks broadcast from the White House, President George W. Bush said: “I am optimistic because I have faith in freedom’s power to lift up all of God’s children and lead this world to a future of peace.”

The party has a powerful conservative Christian base which is slowly warming to Arizona Senator John McCain who will accept its presidential nomination for the Nov. 4 election on Thursday night.

It has been energized by his selection of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his vice presidential running mate, a devout Christian who is strongly opposed to abortion rights. She will accept that nomination on Wednesday night.

So expect to a lot more displays of faith on the political stage in St. Paul.

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-Photo credit: REUTERS/Mike Segar, Sept 2, 2008

ST. PAUL - Police in riot gear used pepper spray and smoke bombs against a few hundred violent protesters on Monday, and at least a dozen were arrested outside the arena where the Republican party opened its presidential convention.

In the video above, a police officer lobs a smoke bomb in the direction of the camera.

Officers on horseback, motorcycles and bicycles chased down a group of rock- and bottle-throwing protesters that had broken off from a larger, largely peaceful, march by as many as 10,000 people. The smaller group smashed police car windows and a Macy’s storefront, and a few threw glass bottles at police.

In the video above, police march down Kellogg Avenue in St Paul.

A Reuters reporter saw police handcuffing some of the protesters in a parking lot not far from the convention.

The demonstrators earlier had marched from the Minnesota state capitol to the heavily barricaded Xcel Center, where John McCain will accept the Republican presidential nomination later this week. They chanted anti-war slogans and waved signs criticizing President George W. Bush.

Public safety officials put the crowd at 8,000 to 10,000 and reported seven arrests.

The march wound past bus stops where advertisements from the Democratic National Committee showed Bush and McCain hugging with the slogan, “Does this look like change to you?”

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And the Obama campaign thought their biggest worry was getting the right mix of substance and style in tonight’s big speech. Not so much.

The task now seems to be either: a) recapturing the attention of 15,000 journalists busy Googling the difference between Doric and Ionic columns, or b) attacking McCain’s lack of global experience because his campaign is mixing up the Romans and Greeks.
Someone should have put a primer on Classical Architecture and History in the DNC convention guide.

The controversy of course is the unveiling of preparations for Obama’s speech at Denver’s massive football stadium, Invesco Field, which has been transformed into what the McCain campaign has called “The Temple of Obama.”

A stage featuring huge plywood columns painted off-white to look like marble has been set up at the 50-yard line of Invesco Field, and Obama is expected to stride out from between the columns to address some 75,000 supporters — all choreographed for a massive prime-time American television audience.

If the clean white columns were supposed to evoke Washington’s Capitol building or even the White House — some generic presidential-like setting — they have instead sparked a (Roman?) fountain of jokes about Greek Gods and Roman ruins.

A snarky memo from the McCain campaign betrayed the difficulty critics have when faced with such a juicy target — deciding on a single funny nickname for the venue seems as hard as picking a vice presidential nominee that won’t offend the Republican base.

“Today, workers at Invesco Field are putting the final touches on the newest wonder of the modern political world — The Temple of Obama (”The Barackopolis”),” Deputy Communications Director Brian Rogers noted in an e-mail to “interested parties”.

Rogers went on to advise a dress code for the event, complete with photos of various toga styles from “the Nobleman” to “The Senator”. Instructions on how to “wrap your toga” were included.

“Nothing says ‘out of touch with regular Americans’ like Greek columns,” lamented the Huffington Post, urging the Obama campaign to tear down the columns before it is too late.

With the speech just hours away, the columns will likely stay. Historically inaccurate jokes about togas, chariots and Icarus will flourish.

Meanwhile, the Democrats are scrambling to refocus reporter funnybones on the imminent celebration of John McCain’s 72nd birthday on Friday.

Invitations are out for a “More-of-the-Same Birthday Party” in Dayton and Youngstown, Ohio, to coincide with the expected announcement in that state on Friday of McCain’s vice presidential running mate.

The events will feature a “mobile billboard” of McCain, Bush and a birthday cake. And yes, they’re promising 72 candles. No word on the dress code, but flame-retardant clothing may be advised.

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- Photo credit: Reuters/Jim Bourg (Obama does a late-night walk through  at Invesco field where he will give his acceptance speech.)

DENVER - Democrat Barack Obama spent long hours crafting the speech in which he will make history by formally accepting his party’s presidential nomination.

The White House contender looked to past nominee acceptance speeches for ideas, including those of Bill Clinton in 1992, Ronald Reagan in 1980 and John F. Kennedy in 1960, according to Obama campaign strategist David Axelrod.

Obama worked largely by himself on the first draft, writing it out long-hand on legal pads and then typing it into a computer for review by his top aides.

Obama, the first black presidential nominee of a major U.S. party, will speak before 75,000 people at the huge Invesco football stadium in Denver. His speech coincides with the anniversary of Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech.

The Illinois senator, who is running neck-and-neck with Republican John McCain, will lay out his vision for change in his speech and also hopes to tie in his life story as the son of a single-mother to the struggles faced by ordinary Americans.

But Obama, known for his lofty rhetoric, may also show a scrappier side to himself in going after McCain more aggressively, in a nod to some Democrats who feel that up to now his attacks have been too tepid.

“I think he’s going to make a case about the choices people face. I mean he’s said he’ll make a respectful argument but I don’t think he’ll shy away from making those contrasts where there appropriate,” Axelrod told reporters as the candidate traveled to Denver on Wednesday.

Obama has said his upcoming speech may be more “workman-like” than the 2004 convention speech he gave in Boston that catapulted him to fame.

But it probably won’t lack the broad sweep that marks many of Obama’s speeches, including some he has delivered on topics from the war in Iraq to the U.S. financial crisis.

While many White House contenders — as well as U.S. presidents — rely on teams of speechwriters to prepare the early drafts of important address, Obama takes a much more hands-on approach.

As the author of two bestselling books, he is easily the best speechwriter on the campaign, Axelrod said.

“He knows what he wants to say and he generally says it better than anybody else would,” the Obama adviser said.

But Obama needs quiet to do his best work and during his time as an Illinois state senator, he sometimes had to resort to ducking into the men’s room to write. Over the past week, he worked late into the night at a Chicago hotel room.

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DENVER - John Kerry, the failed 2004 Democratic presidential nominee, took the stage at this year’s party convention on Wednesday to praise Illinois Sen. Barack Obama – whose career he helped launch — and lambaste John McCain.

Kerry, who said he had been friends with McCain for nearly 22 years, used tough words to criticize the Arizona senator’s evolution from a maverick legislator to a presidential candidate.

“Before he ever debates Barack Obama, John McCain should finish the debate with himself,” Kerry said, listing what he described as McCain’s shifts on tax cuts, immigration, and climate change.

“Candidate McCain says he would now vote against the immigration bill that Senator McCain wrote. Are you kidding?” Kerry said. “Talk about being for it before you’re against it!”

The last line was a send-up of a gaffe Kerry himself made about being in favor of funding for the Iraq war before he was against it.

Many felt the line, which Republicans used to mock him, helped cost the Massachusetts senator the election four years ago.

Kerry gave a big boost to Obama’s career by giving the then-state senator a prime-time speaking role at the ‘04 convention.

SEDONA, Arizona - Taking a few days off from the presidential race, Sen. John McCain nonetheless keeps the media on its toes with a daily, early morning trip for coffee.

The Republican presidential candidate, who is staying at his comfortable home in the hills near Sedona, has been driven with staff, Secret Service, reporters, photographer and a television crew in tow to a Starbucks.

There, he quickly gets a cup to go and returns home.

On Friday, the six-vehicle motorcade — four SUVS and two vans– drove him 19 miles roundtrip to a Starbucks in Sedona.

On Thursday, the entourage of nine vehicles made a similar trip to a Starbucks in Cottonwood and back.

Members of the media are kept well away, confined inside the two vans, where they occupy themselves determining what McCain ordered, whether Cindy McCain’s shorts were white or khaki, how much fuel the trips consumed or why the candidate doesn’t just send an aide out for the coffee instead. 

For the record, on Thursday McCain had a cappuccino. Mrs. McCain’s shorts were khaki on Friday. The questions of fuel consumption and why an aide doesn’t fetch the coffee remained unanswered.

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Photo credit: Reuters/Mark Avery (Make-up artist tends to McCain at forum in California)

When Republican presidential contender John McCain delivered a speech in front of a green backdrop in June, comedian Stephen Colbert decided the Arizona senator’s campaign could use a bit more excitement.

Colbert, of Comedy Central’s “The Colbert Report,” issued the “Green Screen Challenge” to his viewers, urging them to take stock footage of McCain’s speech and turn  it into something more exciting.

Since then videos portraying McCain have been piling up on the YouTube and ColbertNation Web sites. He’s seen as a pelvis-twisting Elvis, a character in Star Trek and a model in a Madonna video, among other things. He even appears as Colbert himself.

Here are a several, in case you missed them.

ST. LOUIS  - Republican presidential candidate John McCain, who prides himself on his national security expertise, has twice in two days referred to recent Russian activities against Czechoslovakia, a country that no longer exists.
 
“I was concerned about a couple of steps that the Russian government took in the last several days. One was reducing the energy supplies to Czechoslovakia,” McCain told reporters on Monday in Phoenix.
 
He went on to repeat similar language on Tuesday at a town hall meeting in Albuquerque.
 
He was clearly referring to the Czech Republic, citing that government’s agreement with the United States over missile defense, an action he said prompted Moscow’s retaliation.

Czechoslovakia split into two parts, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, in 1993 after the breakup of the Soviet Union.
 
McCain’s campaign headquarters in suburban Washington D.C. got the distinction correct, issuing a written statement under McCain’s name late on Monday saying that “Russia’s 50 percent cut in oil deliveries to the Czech Republic” was deeply disturbing.

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Photo credit: Reuters/Fredy Builes (McCain and wife Cindy arrive in Colombia on a recent visit)