I arrived late Monday night, which meant I missed that day’s non-festivities. Just as well.

Today started out muggy and hot and soon turned gray and limpid, with drizzly rain and gusts of wind dotting downtown St. Paul. If it weren’t for the clusters of National Guard and police on corners surrounding the Xcel Center, you’d have no clue that thousands of people were in town to nominate the Republican candidate for president of the United States. The Xcel Center fills the window of the apartment where I am staying, yet I watched the proceedings  on TV. They might as well have been a million miles away.