Alyssa at the RNC Blog

Talk show row is (as the name suggests) where all of the talk shows and their hosts broadcast their shows. There are about three different rows lined with tables where each show broadcasts from. Politicians, celebrities, etc. go to talk show row often because it is easy to hop from table to table, station to station getting interviewed and getting facetime.

It is a good place to hang out because it gives you the chance to talk to a politican's/celebrity's assistant to pull them aside for an interview. For example, I saw Newt Gingrich, John Voight, and Mike Huckabee there over the course of the past two days and I don't even spend that much time in talk show row. CBS Radio got skybox interviews with Mike Huckabee and Newt Gingrich because we caught them on talk show row.

Apparently talk show row is also the place to find the Daily Show. Yesterday, two of the four CBS runners were in talk show row when approached by Daily Show correspondent Jason Jones's photographer. He told the two runners that Jason was going to do something funny and told them not to laugh. Jason came running up to them and hugged the female runner. He then let go and said something along the lines of "Maybe it would be funnier if I hugged a guy," so he hugged the other runner. I also saw Samantha Bee in talk show row today interviewing a woman. Maybe the Daily Show frequents talk show row because it does not have access to the larger part of the convention. Who knows...But I am hoping to run into someone from the Daily Show by the time the convention ends.

Today was a bit slower than yesterday, and it was freezing up on the Press level of the Xcel too. But today was also exciting because I watched Mike Huckabee and Bob Schieffer being interview in the CBS Radio skybox, which was cool. I am opting out of the main convention tonight because I was done at 3pm. However, tomorrow and Thurday I am coming in later and will be staying until closing time both nights. That way I can see all of the speeches the last two nights, which is what I was hoping for, so hopefully I'll have some good pics!

As one can imagine, security is insane. It increases as the convention events near: Guards are placed around every corner so that every spot is being watched. There are also dozens of check points where you have to show your credentials in order to get by, even after you have already passed the main security checkpoints. The guards are tough, but some of them can be sweetened a bit, which is nice.

More later, I am not sure when because I am working until close tomorrow, which is around 10pm. About the protests, I have not seen any of them because I have been inside, but I have heard all of the coverage and have read and watched stories about it on tv.

Here is a link to my RNC photos on my facebook profile:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2547218&l=d5c6e&id=13963335