Shannon: ‘For us to sit in our room makes no sense'

MINNEAPOLIS -- Former state Sen. Marylin Shannon said Monday that she understood why Republican National Convention organizers felt the need to scale back events because of Hurricane Gustav, but she hoped these schedule changes would only affect the first day of the convention.

“I don’t think they should scale back anything but today,” Shannon said. “Minneapolis worked so hard to put on a show, and for us to sit in our room and do nothing makes no sense."

Convention organizers said Sunday that after stripping today’s convention events to the essential business minimum, they would take the rest of the week on a day-by-day basis. For the Oregon delegation that meant Monday’s convention would end around 6 p.m. CDT.

The convention was scaled back after Republican presidential candidate John McCain (R-Ariz.) ordered convention organizers to conduct nothing but essential business on the first day of the convention, out of respect to potential hurricane victims on the Gulf Coast.

If the rest of the week’s events continue as scheduled, Shannon said that she was excitedly looking forward to an event Tuesday with vice presidential nominee Gov. Sarah Palin (R-Alaska) on Tuesday.

“They talk about cracking the glass ceiling, but I just went right through the glass ceiling with happiness when they chose her,” Shannon said.

Shannon, who was a state senator from 1995-1998, is an at-large delegate for McCain. This is the sixth convention she has participated in.