Is there a Pawlenty on the ticket after all?

Is there a Pawlenty on the ticket after all? Republican National Committee co-chair Jo Ann Davidson gave an early, opening speech talking about the significance of women in the party. It was at the party's 1892 convention, also in Minnesota, when two female delegates were seated for the first time.

"How fitting," she said, to be back in Minnesota as we nominate "Sarah Pawlenty, our next vice president."

The crowd went wild. She got it right on a subsequent reference: Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.

State Republican Party chairman Ron Carey attributed the malapropism to the pressure of being in the spotlight when "your tongue and your brain don't mesh."

"It's one of those humorous YouTube moments, but certainly nothing should be read into it," he said.

ROCHELLE OLSON

Friend of hunters? Gov. Pawlenty told conservation, hunting, fishing and gun-rights advocates that John McCain is the clear choice for them over Barack Obama.

Meeting informally at the Gander Mountain store in Woodbury with a group called Sportsmen for McCain and its supporters, Pawlenty said hunters and anglers "are such a large group that in a close election" they could decide who gains the White House.

"John McCain needs you," Pawlenty said, adding that McCain's choice of vice-presidential nominee demonstrated his commitment to their interests. "She [Palin] hunts, she fishes," Pawlenty said. "She is fully committed to the outdoors."

DENNIS ANDERSON

Bridge rescuer speaks As Shanna Hanson, the face of the Interstate 35W bridge rescue effort, took center stage, she was greeted by thunderous applause. The decibel level increased as thousands in the arena gave a standing ovation and the Texas delegation began waving cowboy hats.

But the attention was not on Hanson, but on the arrival of former President George H.W. Bush and former First Lady Barbara Bush.

"Looking back after a year, what strikes me most about that tragic day is how, in between the chunks of broken concrete, we got to see the best of the human spirit in action," she said. "I have never been more proud to serve as a Minneapolis firefighter."

Hanson, a captain at Minneapolis Fire Station 14, became a prominent image of the bridge rescue effort after photographs and TV footage captured her chin-deep in the Mississippi, tethered by just a life preserver and a rope, trying to locate survivors.

RODRIGO ZAMITH

Business as usual That's how many downtown St. Paul employees described the atmosphere on Day 2 of the convention. An estimated 68,000 people work in the city's center, and 45,000 or so are expected to join them during the four-day event.

Patrick Schneeman, who commutes from Minneapolis, said his drive to work was a breeze. Other workers eating their lunches in downtown skyways agreed.

"We're a tech company. A laptop, Internet connection and cup of coffee and we're set," said Joe Thornton, Lawson Software spokesman.