This week student delegates, journalists, bloggers, protesters, and political junkies flocked to the Republican National Convention in St. Paul Minnesota. While the convention got off to a slow start due to hurricane Gustav, things finally picked up and the week has provided no shortage of political zeal. Last Friday marked the start of the weeklong GOP Youth Convention, which included grassroots organizing sessions and a forum featuring former House Speaker Newt Gingrich. On Monday, when the RNC began, several bipartisan student voter groups including the Young Republican National Federation and Campus Progress Action co-sponsored a youth vote luncheon at the Hard Rock Café. Drawing media attention is crucial for young conservatives, who were outnumbered by their more liberal peers in the primaries. The majority of the youth vote went to Senator Obama in the primaries, and many young conservatives say they felt outnumbered on campus and welcome the chance to spend time with like-minded peers. Outside the Xcel Energy Center protestors and journalists experienced the more controversial side of the convention. Hundreds of protestors and even some journalists, including two students from the University of Kentucky newspaper, The Kentucky Kernel, were arrested earlier this week. The students, along with their adviser, spent two nights in jail before being released on Wednesday.

More from the Michigan State student newspaper, The State News
More from the University of Georgia student newspaper, The Red and Black
More from News 4 Arizona
More on the RNC from the CBS News Youth Vote Blog
More on the conservative youth vote from the CBS News Youth Vote Blog
More from the University of Colorado's student newspaper,  The Campus Press
An Interview with a campus conservative from the CBS News Youth Vote Blog
More on the Kentucky journalists from Truthout.org
More from the University of Kentucky student newspaper, the Kentucky Kernel
More from the Associated Press
More from the Independent Weekly