Final Scenes from St. Paul

Editor’s note: Allie Harrison is a former president of the UM College Republicans and former ASUM senator. She is volunteering at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn., working as an aide for CNN. This week, she will offer daily behind-the-scenes glimpses of the convention. 

They don’t call it the Grand Old Party for nothing. I’ve never seen more silver-haired party faithful in my life than at the 2008 Republican National Convention. Not that this is new. Looking back through the archives of history, you’ll find a lot of convention photos featuring old party leaders.
That’s a good thing.
As a conservative I believe in preserving the values that have made this nation great, and what better way to do that than to look up to past generations for wisdom and perspective on the challenges we face?
But it’s possible that having the oldest candidate ever as the Republican nominee for President contributes to the youth malaise, although Ronald Reagan did an excellent job reinvigorating a new generation of Americans despite his age.
Youthful Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin, a feisty Alaskan hockey mom, might inspire some young people to join the cause even if McCain doesn’t.
Not to say that there’s no youth presence at this convention. They’re just mostly on the other side of the security perimeter. More than 10,000 protesters, many of them young people, congregated outside of the convention center, waving signs that read “Down with George the Worst.” One lady’s shirt read, “Ghandi is my homeboy.”
The protest soon turned into a riot. Windows were smashed, pepper and bullets were sprayed and more than 65 arrests were made. For reasons yet unknown, even a member of our Washington Center program was arrested. All of us almost got our credentials revoked for the final day of the convention, but the situation was resolved before it came to that.