Veep pick the talk of St. Paul

Hurricane Gustav put a damper on the opening of the Republican National Convention, but Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has since taken the convention by storm, according to a Kalispell husband-and-wife team attending the event.

"I think Sen. McCain probably pulled off one of the most ingenious, dynamic choices in his vice presidential selection," said state Sen. Greg Barkus, R-Kalispell, who is attending the St. Paul, Minn., convention as an alternate delegate.

His wife, Kathy, is one of 25 Montana delegates.

"I haven't seen this much energy out of a vice presidential pick in all my years," Greg Barkus said Wednesday. "This is my third convention and this is totally different. People are energized, they are enthusiastic."

Hurricane Gustav hit the Gulf Coast on Monday "and the concern we had for the people in the Gulf kind of torpedoed" the first day of the convention, Barkus said.

"We did recover. We all respected it and then we got down to business," said Kathy Barkus, adding that the Palin pick has been the talk of the convention.

"As a woman, I love seeing this happen," she said. "It's not just that she's a woman, I think we needed to bring in something totally different from Washington. Whether it was a man or a woman, we needed a change in that area, instead of just the same old, same old."

The Barkuses said there was great anticipation at the convention to hear Palin speak Wednesday night, in a lineup that included former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee.

"We're going to hear her tonight and I am very excited about it," Kathy Barkus said. "I think she's energized the campaign. She has more experience in her short life than Obama does, and [Democrats] have him up for president."

"I think the level of expectation has probably been built higher than it should be," Greg Barkus said. "But I think she's going to dazzle them. I think she will hit it out of the park."

Both were surprised by some of Tuesday's speakers.

For Greg Barkus, Joe Lieberman stole the show. The independent senator from Connecticut, who was the Democratic vice presidential candidate eight years ago, bluntly told the convention that Barack Obama is not ready to be president.

"I had no idea that Joe Lieberman would be so strong," Barkus said. "When he turned from the crowd and looked directly into the camera and addressed his fellow Democrats and independents and said some words to the effect that Barack Obama is not ready to lead this country … I was taken by it."

For Kathy Barkus, the best speaker was actor and former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson.

"I thought Fred Thompson was outstanding. First of all, he told us things that I had no idea about John McCain," she said, referring to Thompson's detailed accounts of McCain's experiences as a Navy pilot, including his 5 1/2 years as a prisoner of war in North Vietnam.

"That was very enlightening. He jabbed the Democrats every once in a while and he did a good job of that. He energized the crowd."

Reporter Jim Mann may be reached at 758-4407 or by e-mail at jmann@dailyinterlake.com