Republican Convention

Carmen Amedori, 52, is a resident of Westminster and was a state delegate representing Carroll County from 1999 until 2004, when she was appointed to serve on the Maryland Parole Commission during the Ehrlich administration. A Baltimore native and a graduate of Villa Julie College (now Stevenson University), Amedori worked as a paralegal and journalist while raising two daughters before entering the world of politics. She was one of the few elected officials in Maryland who supported John McCain when he ran for president in 2000 and was an alternate delegate at that year's convention.

Carmen Amedori, 52, is a resident of Westminster and was a state delegate representing Carroll County from 1998 until 2004, when she was appointed to serve on the Maryland Parole Commission during the Ehrlich administration. A Baltimore native and a graduate of Villa Julie College, Amedori worked as a paralegal and journalist while raising two daughters before entering the world of politics. She was one of the few elected officials in Maryland who supported John McCain when he ran for president in 2000 and was an alternate delegate at that year's convention.

ST. PAUL, Minn. - Fearful of celebratory images as a hurricane headed for the Gulf Coast, Republicans scrapped an opening night convention program that was to have featured speeches by President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney. "This is a time when we do away with our party politics," the presumptive Republican nominee, John McCain, said yesterday, shortly after Bush announced he would not travel to Minnesota for his planned convention address tonight. The national convention would open on schedule with an "abbreviated" session of routine business but no prime-time speeches, McCain's campaign manager, Rick Davis, said.

Emil B. Pielke, a former state legislator who was to serve as a delegate at this year's Republican National Convention, died of pancreatic cancer Friday at Greater Baltimore Medical Center. He was 66. Mr. Pielke had lived in Towson for two decades and had been active in the Maryland Republican Party since the 1970 legislative session. He took over the seat of Del. James M. Kelly when Mr. Kelly left for a job in the Bush administration in August 2001. Mr. Pielke was appointed to the position in January 2002.

The NFL's Thursday night season opener will match the Super Bowl-champion New York Giants and the Washington Redskins, with the game possibly starting 1 1/2 hours earlier to avoid clashing with the Republican National Convention. The game is scheduled for 8:30 p.m. Sept. 4 - the concluding night of the Republican convention - and will be televised by NBC. League spokesman Greg Aiello said yesterday that the NFL is talking with the network about changing the game's starting time to 7 p.m. The Redskins' participation was confirmed to the Associated Press by a person familiar with the NFL schedule who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the league has not announced it. Seahawks -- Pro Bowl cornerback Marcus Trufant and Seattle have agreed to a six-year, $50.2 million contract that runs through 2013.

NEW YORK -- The signs literally seemed to foreshadow Fox News Channel's ratings success at the Republican National Convention last week. One of them, a 30-foot-high banner across from Madison Square Garden, boasted that the top-rated cable news station was "powerful" -- a claim that is at once bold and incomprehensible. I don't even know what that means for a news organization. If you find power in numbers, however, maybe the boast wasn't misplaced. Throughout the week, Fox News consistently attracted more viewers to its convention coverage than either of its main cable competitors -- or any of the broadcast networks.

ON THE day before George W. Bush's address to the nation, Baltimore County Executive Jim Smith sits in a Towson restaurant and mulls over the curious Alice in Wonderland disconnect between the Republican convention as it preens before its fun-house mirror and life as it is actually lived in the rest of America. The tone of the convention could not be more self-congratulatory unless it were Democratic. That's the nature of political conventions. Everybody at the Republican convention talks about the president's great leadership abilities.

NEW YORK - For a Texas politician, George W. Bush has had some of his best, most indelible presidential moments in New York City. Three days after the Sept. 11 attacks, in the smoldering ruins of the twin towers, he foreshadowed the retaliatory strike on Afghanistan by grabbing a bullhorn and vowing that "the people who knocked these buildings down will hear from all of us soon." The next month, he threw out the ceremonial first pitch when the World Series came to Yankee Stadium. It was a strike.

NEW YORK - President Bush presented himself last night as a battle-tested commander in chief with the strength and will to protect the country against terrorism. But he also sought to portray himself as a man on an unyielding mission to turn the hurt of the Sept. 11 attacks into a period of hope for democracy in oppressed corners of the world and for empowerment and prosperity for more Americans. In a speech that mixed messages of optimism with ominous warnings for terrorists plotting around the world, the president told flag-waving delegates at his party's convention that he has guided the country through immensely difficult times - making decisions that were not always popular - and that they should not give up on him midway.

The following are excerpts from President Bush's remarks last night: AFTER SEPT. 11 Since 2001, Americans have been given hills to climb and found the strength to climb them. Now, because we have made the hard journey, we can see the valley below. Now, because we have faced challenges with resolve, we have historic goals within our reach and greatness in our future. We will build a safer world and a more hopeful America, and nothing will hold us back. EMPLOYMENT My plan begins with providing the security and opportunity of a growing economy.