Innovative thinking on the morning beat at RNC

A national political convention is about four things -- the nominee's coronation ceremony, parties, speeches, and protests. That covers about 99.5 percent of what you'll see reported in the media.

All these things are highly staged. Even the protests are carefully choreographed for the TV cameras waiting at every corner.

But if you're willing to crawl out of bed early, you'll discover a less scripted side of the convention -- along with a boisterous debate.

When I dropped in on two morning policy forums Wednesday, the ideas I heard were far from a rehash of the party platform.

At a forum on retirement security, for example, comedian and economist Ben Stein outlined the challenge posed by "77 million baby boomers racing to retirement, 40 percent with no savings at all."

Stein was a gutsy choice as emcee. Last month in the New York Times he called for raising taxes -- a heresy at a Republican convention. Other panelists included a representative of AARP -- hardly a Republican stronghold -- and Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, who laid out a bold plan to keep entitlement spending from bankrupting the country.

The audience was eager to hear conflicting views. "We're paying our own way to be here, like the other delegates," said Aaron Hood of Texas. "We're kissing a week of vacation good-bye."

John Iorio, a College Republican from Washington D.C. agrees.

So far at the convention, he says, he has volunteered to fill relief bags for Hurricane Gustav's victims, taken a paddle-boat ride, seen Fox News star Sean Hannity, and shaken John McCain's hand.

Merrymaking

On Monday night, he and his friends partied until 4:00 a.m., and they called it quits at 1:30 a.m. Wednesday morning.

But Iorio says that late-night merrymaking won't stop them from lapping up all the new ideas they can.

Meanwhile, at an energy and commerce forum down the hall, the pro-drilling crowd is ready to bore through the floor of the conference room if there's a chance to find oil there.

But the discussion ranges far beyond the need for more oil. The audience hears about cars that run on natural gas. They also hear about methane hydrates -- energy trapped in under-water ice and elsewhere, which may prove an important future source of fuel.

Tonight, you'll hear lots of speeches in the prime-time convention lineup.

But remember that the ideas you hear in prime-time coverage at the GOP convention in 2012 may have first gotten a hearing over morning coffee here.