Palin To Take RNC Center Stage With Family

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Sarah Palin's family will join her on stage at the Republican Convention Wednesday night, and the group may include the teenager who may soon become her son-in-law.

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Levi Johnston is the boyfriend of Palin's pregnant daughter.

Johnston's mother said her son left Alaska Tuesday to be with the Palins at the convention in St. Paul, Minnesota. Sherry Johnston said her 18-year-old son isn't being pressured to marry 17-year-old Bristol Palin and the two teens made plans to wed before it was known she was pregnant. Johnston said "this is just a bonus."

The young man's presence could set off a media frenzy, even as the family has asked the media to respect the young couple's privacy as has been the tradition with children of candidates.

Republicans hope that Palin's speech will help the nation get to know the nearly unknown Alaskan governor -- especially after a slip of the tongue Tuesday night.

Republican National Committee co-chair Jo Ann Davidson was trying to fire up the convention crowd when she accidentally blended the name of Sarah Palin with that of Tim Pawlenty -- and yelled out "Governor Sarah Pawlenty."

Tim Pawlenty is Minnesota's governor and was seen as one of the front runners to be McCain's running mate before McCain settled on Palin.

Despite the slip, delegates clearly knew who Davidson was referring to and cheered anyway.

Republicans Take Aim At Obama

On the attack Tuesday night, Republicans assailed Sen. Barack Obama as the most liberal, least experienced White House nominee in history and President George W. Bush, from a distance, led a convention chorus of praise for GOP candidate John McCain.

Some of the loudest cheers were reserved for McCain supporter Sen. Joe Lieberman, the Independent senator from Connecticut who was Vice President Al Gore's Democratic running mate in 2000.

"God only made one John McCain, and he is his own man," Lieberman declared from the podium. (Full Text)

"Sen. Barack Obama is a gifted and eloquent young man who can do great things for our country in the years ahead," Lieberman said. "But my friends, eloquence is no substitute for a record -- not in these tough times for America."

"Country matters more than party," Lieberman said. Delegates booed heartily when he said Obama had voted to cut off funding "for our troops on the ground" in Iraq.

Thompson Scoffs

Obama criticism came again when former Sen. Fred Thompson scoffed at the 47-year-old Illinois senator, who is seeking to become the first black president. (Full Text)

"Democrats present a history-making nominee for president. History making in that he is the most liberal, most inexperienced nominee ever to run for president," Thompson asserted as delegates roared their agreement.

Delegates rallied behind McCain's vice presidential running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, in the face of another day of headlines focused on her past political dealings.

The governor of Alaska is "from a small town, with small town values, but that's not good enough for those folks who are attacking her and her family," former Sen. Fred Thompson said.

Palin announced Monday that her unwed teenage daughter, Bristol, was pregnant. On Tuesday it was revealed that she had hired a lawyer in the wake of an investigation into whether she abused her power as governor in the firing of a state trooper.

Thompson said McCain's decision to place Palin on the ticket "has the other side and their friends in the media in a state of panic."

Speaking to Bristol Palin's decision to keep her baby and marry the baby's father, and to both Palin's and McCain's opposition to abortion rights, Thompson said, "We need a president who doesn't think that the protection of the unborn or a newly born baby is above his pay grade."

The remarks were also a swipe at Obama. Conservative Christians in the Republican Party base hold hard to the view that life begins at the point of conception. Obama has said definitions about when human life begins "are above my pay grade."

President Stays Away

Bush's remarks reprised the national security themes that propelled him to re-election in 2004. (Full Text)

"We live in a dangerous world," he said, "And we need a president who understands the lessons of Sept. 11, 2001: that to protect America, we must stay on the offense, stop attacks before they happen and not wait to be hit again."

President Bush's eight-minute appearance was highly unusual for a two-term president addressing his own party's convention as he prepared to leave office. His aides suggested the sequence of events flowed naturally from his decision to travel to Louisiana on Wednesday to see the damage caused by Hurricane Gustav.

But his approval ratings are in the 30 percent range, and with polls making it clear the nation is ready for a change, the McCain campaign indicated there was no need for him to travel to the convention city.

Still, Bush defended his unpopular war in Iraq and said that McCain's independence and character had changed history last year at a time Democrats were seeking to "cut off funds for our troops, when he endorsed the decision to deploy thousands of additional troops to Iraq."

"Some told him that his early and consistent call for more troops would put his presidential campaign at risk," Bush said. "He told them he would rather lose an election than see his country lose a war."

With little more than two months remaining in the White House campaign, national polls show a close race between McCain and Obama, although Obama appears to be enjoying a post-convention bounce after the Democrats met last week in Denver.

Rasmussen Reports said Obama attracted 48 percent of the vote while Sen. John McCain earns 43 percent in its daily tracking poll released Tuesday. When "leaners" are included in the findings, Obama has 51 percent and McCain has 45 percent.

CBS News said that in its latest poll, Obama?s lead over McCain has grown to 48 percent to 40 percent. The eight-point lead is up from Obama?s three-point lead before the convention.

The latest USA Today/Gallup poll gives Obama a 50-43 percent lead among registered voters. McCain's advantage in handling terrorism was dramatically reduced, and his "unfavorable" rating ticked up, the poll said.

Delegates Hear McCain Adoption Story

Amid all the political talk and protests came a personal story from a confidant of Sen. John McCain of how his family and the McCains each adopted a girl from Mother Teresa's orphanage in Bangladesh. (Full Text)

Wes Gullett, a McCain organizer in Arizona and a former state director for McCain's senate office, said the two 10-week-old girls were brought to Arizona in 1991 by Cindy McCain, who traveled to Bangladesh with a group of medical volunteers and was so taken by the pair that she brought them home.

The girls, both in need of medical care that they wouldn't likely get in Bangladesh, were brought back to health and were adopted by the McCains and Gulletts.

Gullett described the senator's reaction when first seeing his daughter.

"That day he was not the tough war-hero senator. No. He was like every other new father, full of love and emotion," Gullett said. "That day my friend John McCain and his wife answered a call for help with love and I know they will always answer the call of those in need because they have done so time and time again throughout their lives."

Second Day Of Protests Turn Violent

While the delegates cheered speakers inside, a four-hour anti-poverty protest outside the Xcel Center ended with police using flash grenades, smoke bombs and tear gas to disperse the crowd. (First-Person Account.)

More than 2,000 protesters rallied with the event organizers, the Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign. Police reported three arrests before the crowd was forced away from the downtown area. They have not reported the number of additional arrests in the clash that followed.

The national organizer for the group, Cheri Honkala, told the protesters she would "march to the steps of the Xcel Center to serve the Republicans with a 'citizen?s arrest,'" but she never got far enough to do that.

The group marched a winding four and a half mile path through St. Paul to the convention site, gathering supporters along the way. But the march ended outside two panels of high steel fencing that surround the facility.

Honkala challenged the protesters to remain peaceful as she tried to deliver the citizen?s arrest. A small group of supporters lifted her to their shoulders as they tried unsuccessfully to enter the fenced area.

Other protesters then started a standoff with about 20 police in riot gear who stood arm to arm to form a route away from St Paul?s downtown. Police issued a final warning to leave the area before firing the smoke bombs and grenades.