Republican National Convention

It was an unexpected burst of glory, and the 1,600 students at Walter Reed Middle School in North Hollywood were basking in it Friday. None of the youngsters knew for certain why a 50-foot-wide image of the front of their school was projected Thursday night behind Sen. John McCain as he accepted the Republican Party presidential nomination. But there were plenty of theories.

Financial giants and other large firms now being bailed out by the government spent millions underwriting the Democratic and Republican conventions last summer, just weeks before coming to Washington seeking multibillion-dollar handouts. The big donors included AIG, Ford Motor Co., Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and Freddie Mac.

Commuting from his downtown job at the Hennepin County Medical Center to his suburban home used to take Oge Alozie about 10 minutes. Now, it is often closer to 45. Like tens of thousands of others, the internal medicine intern crossed the Interstate 35W bridge twice a day before it collapsed one month ago. With the bridge gone, Alozie said life was more stressful as he experiments with side-street routes to get him to his daughter's day care on time in the evening.

A stalemate in Washington is holding up money for security at next year's Republican and Democratic conventions and could force Minneapolis-St. Paul and Denver to front tens of millions of dollars, lawmakers warned Monday. Led by Democratic Reps. Diana DeGette of Colorado and Betty McCollum of Minnesota, the congressional delegations from both states will ask Congress to appropriate money by year's end.

Anaheim has been invited to bid for the 2008 Republican and Democratic national conventions, a key step in the city's first-ever attempt to be host to one of the events. Anaheim is competing with 30 cities vying for the GOP convention and 10 cities hoping to play host to the Democrats. City officials began their lobbying effort at the 2004 national conventions, sending Councilman Richard Chavez to the Democratic convention in Boston and Mayor Curt Pringle to the GOP gathering in New York City.

Re "Governor Straddles Political Divide," Aug. 21 If the Democrats want to show the real Arnold Schwarzenegger, all they need to do is show the clip from the Republican National Convention in which he says he became a Republican because of Richard Nixon. That might sit well with his mentor, Pete Wilson, and the conservative right, but it would let the rest of us know the real Arnold. JACK SEIDMAN \o7Long Beach \f7 Re "Gov. Tries to Calm GOP Anger," Aug. 20 In urging opposition to the transportation bond (Proposition 1B)

An antiwar group planning a massive demonstration at the start of the Republican National Convention has been denied a permit to use Central Park because the crowd would be too large, officials said Wednesday. United for Peace and Justice said it planned to appeal. The city parks department denied the group's request to rally on the park's Great Lawn after a march through city streets. A permit request for the march, submitted separately to the police department, is pending.

A New York concert promoter has mounted an online campaign to "draft" Bruce Springsteen to headline a rock 'n' roll show to upstage the Republican National Convention, but the rock star appears to be uninterested. The "Concert for Change" would be held Sept. 1 at Giants Stadium, across the Hudson River from the Republicans' meeting at Madison Square Garden, said promoter and Democratic activist Andrew Rasiej, who has reserved the date at Springsteen's New Jersey home venue.

Georgia Sen. Zell Miller, the highest profile Democrat to endorse President Bush for re-election, will speak at the Republican National Convention this summer. According to a congressional aide who spoke on condition of anonymity, Miller will give his address on Wednesday night of the four-day convention in New York that begins Aug. 30. Twelve years ago he delivered the keynote address for Bill Clinton at the 1992 Democratic National Convention.

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, former New York City Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani and maverick Sen. John McCain -- three Republicans with proven appeal to swing voters -- topped the line-up of prime-time speakers announced Monday for the GOP's national convention in late August.