Walt Handelsman

Well, I'm sitting in my Minneapolis hotel room basically tearing up a bunch of funny cartoon ideas that just don't work in light of Gustav bearing down on New Orleans. I spoke with my old editor and close friend, Jim Amoss, at The Times-Picayune in New Orleans last night. I asked what the feeling was down there and he summed it up this way: "Just pray for us, Walt."
The sting of Katrina will never leave the souls of New Orleanians who lived through the storm and suffered, and continue to suffer, through the unbelievably slow rebuilding of their city and their lives. The idea of another killer hurricane hitting almost three years to the day of Katrina must be brutal for them. Many of my friends have fled to Mississippi. Let's just hope that somehow the storm weakens.
Meanwhile...Up here, the delegates, the media and the event planners are in kind of a weird holding pattern. Will the convention be cut short. One rumor is that John McCain may not come at all. Bush and Cheney have cancelled and many of the delegates wandering around the hotel seem out of sorts. They came here to have a party and realize now that it will be a totally different deal.

More later---Walt

Well, after running around at the DNC for a week. I thought yesterday would be a relaxing sleep-in, eat, drink and rest day. But after McCain picked Sarah Palin as his running mate, I found myself sitting in my nasty Denver hotel room all day glued to the TV trying to make some sense of what it all meant.

My first reaction was that McCain had made the purely political pick of a woman to attract disenfranchised Hillary voters and middle-of-the-road soccer moms (er...hockey moms) rather than looking for the most qualified candidate who could step in on Day One if, God forbid, something should happen to him.

It's wonderful that he picked a woman, but is Sarah Palin really the most qualified woman in the GOP universe for the job? I mean, honestly.

Does McCain really think that the millions of women who supported Hillary will vote for him becuase of Palin, regardless of the fact that she is basically the polar opposite of Hillary on the issues that most democratic women supported Hillary for in the first place?

I just ran into a woman buying a paper at the Denver airport who was standing there just shaking her head as she looked at the Palin headlines in the paper. "This is an insult!,"she said. "He must think woman are so stupid"...OUCH!

More from the Twin Cities.

---Walt

I'm getting a bit freaked that a storm is blowing towards my old home town. I've watched the slow but steady rebuilding of New Orleans. Emphasis on slow. I call it a personal rebuilding. Everyone I know is really just doing what they can on their own. It would be a true disaster to have another big setback.
Speaking of disasters, let's see how George W. responds to this one.
Fingers crossed....

Obama is an awesome speaker and as I wrote yesterday, it's wonderful to be a part of American history. But it's important to stay objective and just cover the event. Period.

At political conventions wierd stuff is supposed to happen...and it does! Last night I shared a cab with two other folks leaving the convention. Turns out they are actually Hillary Clinton's hair and makeup team! It was an interesting ride. I learned a lot. Plus I scored a new haircut and pantsuit!

One of the great perks of working these conventions is getting to hang with my brother, Steve.

It's easy as a journalist to get jaded. As a cartoonist, I just naturally see everything in terms of humor or sarcasm...But just moments ago, watching Barack Obama officially become the first African-American nominee of a major American party, I know I just witnessed first hand a great moment in the history of our country and it's a privilege to be a part of it.

---Walt

The giant parking lot surrounded by gates for protesters is almost always empty

But last night, as I left to go out for a few drinks with friends, there was a lone guy in there doing this. Now there's a cause we can all get behind!

A funny thing happened on the way into the convention hall.

Outside the work tent, the national media is offered only the finest cuisine.