The show ends

MINNEAPOLIS - If the Democratic National Convention provided a simple conflict-resolution storyline, the Republican counterpart took the shape of a Quentin Tarentino script in comparison, with a hurricane threatening to throw everything off and the New Jersey delegation heading out on a river boat cruise anyway and doing relief work in the morning, and protest actions punctuating the streets.

All against the backdrop of McCain/Palin.

Despite a gaffe-filled Tuesday production, with Jo Ann Davidson, co chair of the Republican National Committee, referring to Alaska Gov. Sarah "Pawlenty," and a trio of gray or white-haired prime time speech-makers, including an unpopular sitting president and a former Democrat, hardly igniting the New Jersey delegates.

Tear gas cartridges hit the pavement outside the Xcel Center

"The protesters are all in here fighting with police," said the cabby on the way out of the downtown.

But the GOP took heart.

"Joe Lieberman was very helpful to us," assured state Sen. Bill Baroni (R-Mercer) of the 2000 Democratic vice presidential nominee and Tuesday night anchor leg.

The convention was still trying to find itself, however, after the hurricane and in the context of question marks about the obscure Sarah Palin who was having a bad news week, and for a party that prides itself on laconic strength, that wasn’t a good narrative heading into midweek.

Then Palin showed up on Wednesday night.

"She had about a 50 to 1 shot to succeed," observed former Gov. Thomas Kean. "She did very well. Now, if she hadn’t, the whole convention would have been a disaster."

"She did very well, I was very impressed," said state Sen. Joseph Kyrillos (R-Monmouth), who when he first heard about the pick had his doubts.

Both men concede that the more critical test for Palin will come when she finally, personally, faces the media. Since she entered the spotlight, the campaign has bought her time by complaining about the biases of a liberal press, and used ensuing, conservative base outrage to keep her cocooned.

A lot of the breakfast speakers and interviewees this week admitted discomfort and disappointment with the way the press has in one week handled the Alaska governor.  

But for Palin, a more formal reckoning is imminent, according to Kean.

"My understanding is she will campaign the rest of this week with McCain and then next week they'll let her out on her own," the former governor told PolitickerNJ.com.

For some of the Republican women in the New Jersey delegation and for conservatives roused by Rush Limbaugh’s call for Palin’s presence on the ticket, the Alaska governor’s Wednesday night appearance represented the convention’s red meat climax.

"Rudy was so good," former Summit Councilwoman Kelly Hatfield said of the keynote remarks by former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani. "And they didn’t worry about putting him right before Sarah Palin because they knew she was going to nail it."

By the time presidential nominee Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) took the stage on Thursday, some of those Republicans who didn’t support him from the start, and some in the GOP who were just tired, shrugged off the performance.

It was a let down, a big come down from Palin - that was one steady critique on Thursday night at the old movie motif farewell party on the second floor of the Hilton Hotel.

Maybe it wasn’t McCain’s fault.

"The speakers who led up to McCain weren’t very good," said Jeff Booker, former Camden County Republican Party executive director. "Maybe if they had spread around some of the speakers from Wednesday - Huckabee or Romney - that would have helped him tonight."

Or maybe it was.

"I would have trimmed the speech a bit," said Hunterdon County GOP Chairman Henry Kuhl. "Some of the things he said in there. I don’t think it’s wise to go after some of those special interests he targeted. That just gives the opponent ammunition."

But State GOP chair Tom Wilson disagreed. He’s a McCain supporter going back nine year snow.

The band was playing an old Cheap Trick standard. Jimmy Stewart’s face from "It’s a Wonderful Life" was on one screen behind the milling guests and waiters bearing trays with champagne glasses balanced on them, and Clint Eastwood’s face was on another screen, and those were reinforcing iconic images as Wilson talked about McCain.

"McCain needed to be the grownup tonight, and he did that," he said. "After the attack speech by Palin, McCain had to bring it back down."

The American story - sprinkled with some slams of the Bush administration and Washington D.C. leadership - broadened the appeal to Independents and Democrats, Wilson argued.

"We lost their (the people’s) trust when we valued our power over or principles," McCain had said.

Seeking to quell the idea that they’d be responsive to even the most casual of McCain’s observations, Richard McGrath, spokesman for the State Democratic Committee, fired off a statement, which contained the following shot:

"Tonight, John McCain said that his party was elected to change Washington, but that they let Washington change them. He's right. He admonished the ‘old, do-nothing crowd’ in Washington, but ignored the fact that he's been part of that crowd for twenty-six years, opposing solutions on health care, energy, and education."

However bewildering the dramatic highs and lows of the convention as pure theater, the GOP pulled off a success this week, according to at least one New Jersey political expert - and as Kean said, it mostly hinged on the excitement factor created by McCain’s vice presidential choice.

"John McCain entered this convention week hoping to accomplish several tasks," said Ben Dworkin, director of the Rider University Institute for New Jersey Politics. "Just as Obama needed to rally his base, including those who supported Hillary Clinton in the primaries, McCain’s primary objective was to excite the GOP base, namely strong social conservatives who had not yet rallied around his candidacy. He clearly did so with his selection of Palin as his vice-presidential running mate. In that sense, this was a very successful Republican convention."

People enjoyed the New Jersey party on the closing night of the convention, and someone congratulated Wilson, who all week had steered this group of fewer than 250 people, not many compared to a N.J. Democratic contingent in Denver that ballooned to 700 people.

"Thank God Minneapolis is cheap," said the state chair.