Published: September 03, 2008 06:55 pm            

Kentucky delegates enjoying the attention in St. Paul

Grayson gets additional attention

FRANKFORT — Kentucky delegates to the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn., are enthusiastic about John McCain’s vice presidential pick, Sarah Palin, and Secretary of State Trey Grayson is getting attention from delegates and media outside of Kentucky.

“It’s amazing the enthusiasm out here,” said Laura Owens, former education secretary under Republican Gov. Ernie Fletcher. “It just grows every day.”

After a first day when most activities were suspended because of concerns about Hurricane Gustav in the Gulf Coast, the convention got back on track Tuesday and Wednesday, although some scheduled speakers, including Kentucky U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell, were bumped from their appointed speaking slots.

Tuesday night, the crowd heard from former presidential candidate and television actor on "Law and Order," Fred Thompson, and Joe Lieberman, an independent Democrat from Connecticut who is close to McCain.

Grayson said a lot of delegates liked Lieberman’s speech, but Owens, who spoke by phone while on her way to volunteer stuffing relief packages for victims of the hurricane, said Thompson’s speech was the more exciting.

“My gracious, if Fred Thompson could have been turned on that way when he was running, he might’ve won,” Owens said.

Both Grayson and Owens said convention delegates are excited and enthused about Palin, the Alaska governor who was McCain’s surprise pick for vice president.

“You just can’t imagine the excitement about (Wednesday) night,” said Owens, anticipating Palin’s nationally televised acceptance speech. She said she isn’t concerned that Palin might turn out to be too controversial a pick, saying she’d seen polls indicating Palin has a 52 percent favorable rating.

The Kentucky delegation has a front row seat, just to the right of the podium and delegates are getting a lot of face time on national television in roaming television shots during speeches. Both Owens and Grayson said they’d received calls from home about being seen on network television. Mike Duncan, of Inez, Ky., is chairman of the Republican National Committee and chairs the convention, giving Kentucky more clout than usual.

Owens said her daughter, Elizabeth, "called to tell me she hadn’t seen me, but her history teacher saw me on television and mentioned it in class, so she thought that was pretty cool.”

Grayson’s getting another kind of exposure. The RNC has asked him “to do a lot of media availability with the national media.”

He conceded such exposure might benefit him in future races. Viewed as a rising star in the Kentucky Republican Party, Grayson has been mentioned frequently as a potential candidate for the U.S. Senate or for governor. He isn’t likely to run for the Senate in 2010 if his friend, Jim Bunning, seeks re-election, but he might run if Bunning decides not to run in 2010 or he might run for governor in 2011.

During a conference call Wednesday with Kentucky reporters, Grayson was asked if he’s laying the groundwork at the convention for a future race.

“I’m networking and a lot of people are giving me their business cards,” Grayson said. “I’m finding some people who have heard of me and that’s flattering, but no, I’m not working on a future race.”

Grayson said Wednesday night would be the “Sarah Palin show.” He said he’s not concerned about her relative lack of time in high office or revelations about her family.

“The larger concern is she is new to this stage,” Grayson said. “She’s never run for national office. The biggest concern is the performance issue rather than some issue that’s taken place in the past.” He said Palin will have to adjust to tough questioning by the national press and this may determine how the pick is viewed.

If she doesn’t perform well under pressure, voters then might question McCain’s judgment.

Judgment and experience have been key weapons in Republican attacks on Democratic nominee Barack Obama. Palin’s relative short experience as governor takes the experience question “off the table,” according to Obama’s campaign. If she turns out to be viewed as an unwise choice by McCain, the same might be true of the judgment question.

But both Grayson and Owens were still enthused about Palin and said delegates in the convention hall were fired up about the pick. Owens said she hopes to have a chance to meet Palin.

RONNIE ELLIS writes for CNHI News Service and is based in Frankfort. He can be reached by e-mail at rellis@cnhi.com.

        

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