Day Two

RNC 2008 - On Point, originally uploaded by WBUR.

And it’s Day Two of the Republican National Convention in St Paul, September 2nd. President Bush will address the convention after all. He’ll speak remotely tonight from the White House

Republicans haven’t always loved John McCain. Now, he’s out front. But the party’s still wrestling over what it means to be a good Republican now.

During On Point, Host Tom Ashbrook asked what it means to be Republican in the age of John McCain.

Massachusetts delegates to the GOP convention are looking forward to the resumption of a regular schedule. Yesterday’s abbreviated schedule gave them time to ponder the future of the party in their home state. WBUR's Fred Thys talked with Massachusetts delegates about where they see their party heading.

Jeff Beatty is hoping that Republicans retake Congress come November. The Harwich businessman is a GOP candidate for the US Senate, running against the longtime incumbent, Democrat John Kerry. Beatty is in Saint Paul to court supporters and donors from all over the country for his run.

WBUR's Bob Oakes spoke with Beatty about his party’s chances against one of the highest profile Democrats in the Senate.

The Republicans are meeting in the Twin Cities this week, in part because they have hopes this year of capturing the purple-hued upper Midwest.

Michigan, Wisconsin and Iowa regularly swing between the parties, but Minnesota may be a tougher fight. The state has voted Democratic in every presidential election since 1976, but people forget that the Republican Party started in Wisconsin or Michigan.

She may be the real maverick in the family - a mother of four who chose to stay in Phoenix away from Washington DC to bring up her children; a pilot who learned to drive race cars with her son; after the first Gulf war, she camped in the desert in Kuwait for days with her medical charity to bring aid to war refugees; and she won a show down with the Bangladeshi minister of health to bring back the girl the McCains adopted.

Here and Now Host Robin Young spoke with Newsweek White House correspondent Holly Bailey in St. Paul. Bailey has been traveling with the McCain campaign since the early primaries and wrote a profile of Cindy McCain for the magazine.

There are an estimated 23 million U.S. veterans, and around 400,000 of them experience homelessness at some point over the course of a year. We speak with Chad Lego, the Logistics Coordinator and Spokesman for the homeless veterans' advocacy group, Circle of Friends for American Veterans, which will hold an event at the RNC tonight. Lego also served in Iraq until he was honorably discharged earlier this year.