politics

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Cindy McCain looks like fear never dares enter her mind, but there she was telling about a hundred people that she had been scared to death.

The soap opera around the family life of Republican vice presidential pick Sarah Palin's has proved fertile for late-night talk-show monologues this week, although the hosts have occasionally taken a bipartisan theme.

Here is the Scripps Howard News Service budget of stories and opinion pieces on the REPUBLICAN NATIONAL CONVENTION for Wednesday, Sept. 3, 2008. If you have questions or comments, SHNS editors can be reached at 202-408-1484. For all SHNS content and archives visit our Web site at www.shns.com.NEWS ... PROFILES ... NOTES:

The "Mommy Wars" -- the seemingly endless debate over whether mothers should work or stay home with their kids -- erupted into a new arena this week: the Xcel Center in Minneapolis, where Republicans were preparing to nominate Sen. John McCain and his running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Snapshots from the Republican National Convention:"Welcome," "Welcome to Minnesota," "Welcome to Minneapolis" chanted the dozens of greeters at the Minneapolis Convention Center at the Republican National Convention's Welcome Party.

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- John McCain's brother, Joe, and his Hanoi Hilton cell mate, Tom Moe, sketched a portrait of a heroic man of character running for president at the Republican National Convention.

Ever since John McCain caught the Grand Old Party elephants with their trunks down by announcing Alaska's Gov. Sarah Palin as his vice president choice, his desperate apparatchiks have been frantically flacking two kinds of information: "mis-" and "dis-."

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- The Republican Party platform adopted this week is about half the size of the 40,000-word version it replaced.But something's been added that will be of interest to Floridians and others.The party platform for the first time endorses the concept of a national catastrophic insurance program.

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- When the off-and-on Republican convention got down to business, the de facto theme became who is the real John McCain? The answers have proved to be conflicting, provoking more questions.

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- While most Americans will be paying attention to what happens on the stage, Mike Miller will be closely watching what happens behind the scenes at the Republican National Convention.Miller is responsible for making sure everything runs smoothly at the four-day gathering in which Republicans will nominate John McCain as their candidate for president.