MMA: Minnesota GOP will perform offstage: Locals can benefit from national exposure, buzz.

Byline: Bill Salisbury

Oct. 2--The Minnesota Republican Party will be a player, but just a bit player, in the 2008 Republican national convention in St. Paul.

The Republican National Committee and the bipartisan Minnesota Host Committee, made up of civic leaders, elected officials and party activists, will be the leading actors in organizing and funding the convention, while the state GOP will play a small but important supporting role. It is likely to provide many of the paid staffers, volunteers and home-state connections needed to pull off the massive undertaking.

The convention, in turn, should be a big net plus for Minnesota Republicans. Although the event will require a lot of their time, energy and money, it likely will generate enough public attention, partisan enthusiasm and fundraising opportunities to more than offset the costs to the state party.

"The convention will focus a lot of attention on our party and what we stand for," Minnesota Republican Chairman Ron Carey said. "I think we'll have some political conversions as a result."

It also will provide a platform for state Republicans, such as Sen. Norm Coleman and, if he is re-elected, Gov. Tim Pawlenty, to gain national attention.

Carleton College political science professor Steven Schier predicted Minnesota GOP partisans would be energized by the event. That should translate into more volunteers and financial contributions to both the party and Coleman, who plans to run for re-election in 2008, he said.

This week's announcement that the convention is coming to the Twin Cities already has provided a tonic for state Republicans, Schier said. It produced favorable news coverage for Pawlenty, who is locked in a tight election race, and it likely boosted the morale of party activists who have been disheartened by polls showing low public approval ratings for President Bush and the Republican Congress.

"I guess you could think of it as a political anti-depressant," Schier said.

The choice was a national vote of confidence in the state GOP.

"Ken Mehlman (the Republican national party chairman) said they would not have chosen Minnesota if they did not have confidence in our state party apparatus, structure and leadership," Carey said.

If there's a downside to hosting the convention, it's that it will be a "tremendous distraction in '08, when the Republicans have to fight to keep Coleman's Senate seat" and that the state GOP will have to compete with the convention for donations, said state Democratic-Farmer-Labor Chairman Brian Melendez. But he acknowledged it probably would be a net gain for the state Republicans.

The convention isn't just a Republican event; it will be a community attraction for the Twin Cities and the rest of Minnesota, said Jeff Larson, the host committee's acting executive director.

Carey agreed. "This is a Minnesota event with Republican gift wrapping on it," he said.

The key players in landing the convention, Larson said, were Sen. Coleman, Pawlenty, mayors Chris Coleman of St. Paul and R.T. Rybak of Minneapolis and host committee co-chairmen Stanley Hubbard and Vance Opperman.

"The person singly most responsible for the convention coming here is Norm Coleman," said Opperman, a prominent Democratic strategist and financial contributor. Others said it was the behind-the-scenes influence of Larson, who is closely connected to the White House and the Republican National Committee.

Minnesota GOP leaders also played a small but key role in landing the event. They knew and personally lobbied members of the Republican National Committee's nine-member site selection committee that recommended the Twin Cities.

Convention organizers are just starting to plan the Sept. 1-4, 2008, event and don't yet know what role Minnesota Republicans will play. But the host committee will need 8,000 to 10,000 volunteers, and the state party most likely will supply its share.

Republican National Committeewoman Evie Axdahl, of Maplewood, who has been a delegate to the past seven national GOP conventions, said she already is fielding calls from GOP activists offering to help.

"Everybody is excited about it," Axdahl said. "They've been a little apprehensive, wondering if we're up to it. But we are up to it."

She said volunteers will perform such tasks as hosting state delegations, serving as bus captains, guiding groups around the cities, staffing information booths and leading convention delegates on "volunteer day," when they traditionally perform charitable works around the host cities.

National GOP convention organizers are expected to arrive here as early as next week, and they likely will hire dozens of local Republicans as office managers, information technologists, motor vehicle fleet specialists and other support service providers.

For now, however, the convention is on state GOP leaders' back burner, Carey said.

"First things first. Right now we've got to make sure we stay laser-focused on the (Nov. 7) election," he said.

"On Nov. 8, we can get a little more serious about understanding our role in the 2008 convention."

Bill Salisbury can be reached at bsalisbury@pioneerpress.com or 651-228-5538.

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business

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Minnesota GOP will perform offstage: Locals can benefit from national exposure, buzz.