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The Republican National Convention is cautiously moving forward as participants carefully watch what's been happening to the Gulf Coast.
Here's a look at what the beginning of the convention has been like among the big names linked to Utah.
The Xcel Energy Center, where the convention is being held, is barricaded from the general public. If you don't have credentials, you won't be getting anywhere near it. But the convention is not the excited party mood many had expected. Utah Governor Jon Huntsman says that's because their focus is the aftermath of Hurricane Gustav.
"I think that's the only thing that people are worried about right now," he said.
Huntsman says the way the convention has been toned down will show the public McCain is about taking care of business.
"This is the real world we are in. And people get to see John McCain in the real world as opposed to more of the artifice around a convention. So here we are," he said.
Mitt Romney has also been making the political rounds. His very first convention stop: the Utah delegates, where he wanted to make a few things clear.
"There are a couple of you in this room, most of them my relatives, who would like to vote for me when the delegates get counted. Please don't do that," he said.
And as for him not being chosen as McCain's running mate, he said, "I wasn't in it for me. I was in it for the party and for the views of our party and for the perspective that our party brings to America at a critical time. And so it is not at all a leap to get on the McCain-Palin team. I'm very much a part of that team."
Sen. Orrin Hatch also has been a sought-after interview among the national media. He's pushing the point that he likes McCain's choice for vice president.
"I actually got tears in my eyes when she was announced, to think the Republican Party has a woman for vice president who has this many dimensions. She has more knowledge of energy and the needs of our country, the number-one issue of this country, than the other three put together," he said.
But the word that Gov. Sarah Palin's teenage daughter is pregnant spread like wildfire around the convention, and Hatch was one of the first to come to her defense.
"Every family has some difficulties, and they have to resolve those difficulties. Give the family a chance to do that. The daughter is not running for anything. Frankly, I think it's hitting below the belt to bring that up," Hatch said.
Many Republicans here are hoping the hurricane damage isn't too terrible so they can ramp things up to finish off their convention.
E-mail: rjeppesen@ksl.com
