Shame on us, the media, for thinking the Republican National Convention would pale in comparison to the Democrats' show in Denver last week. For bloggers on both sides of the aisle here in St. Paul, what the RNC has lacked in strawberry-lemonade smoothies, it has more than made up for with juicy stories.

While Hurricane Gustav may have stopped the convention activities on Monday, it didn't put a halt to the protests -- more than 15,000 strong by most counts -- that filled downtown St. Paul and continued in fits and starts throughout the week. The biggest bump for bloggers came from TheUptake.com, whose bloggers used Qik video streaming technology to broadcast live, while wearing shirts saying "I Am The Media."

Inside the Xcel Energy Center, Internet video is still treated as something most attendees aren't all that comfortable with. At the YouTube booth, set up so delegates could share their thoughts on the RNC directly with the YouChoose08 channel, there have been fewer videos submitted than at a similar setup in Denver. People working the booth said they are seeing some interest, but that there are about 60 to 70 videos coming in each night, compared with more than 100 at the DNC.

Blogging Conditions vs. DNC

While there was not a separate bloggers' tent at the RNC the way there was at the DNC in Denver, bloggers were encouraged to apply for credentials through the "special press" gallery, and when granted credentials, they were given the same limited access at the Xcel Center (all but the convention floor) that regular press were granted. On their site, the RNC notes, "We have a great appreciation for bloggers and the ever-increasing role new media has in providing real-time information and shaping public opinion."

But bloggers who attended were not thrilled with their workplace at the convention. Rick Moran, a conservative blogger who is a Pajamas Media editor, said the treatment of bloggers was really disrespectful to them:

The dungeon that the GOP has put bloggers in this time around would be familiar to Torquemada and his buddies who made the Spanish Inquisition such a great party. And the labyrinth one has to navigate to find the darn place would tax the abilities of a carrier pigeon. I honestly felt like leaving a trail of bread crumbs when I went out for a quick smoke. Not that it would do any good. The food on our level is so bad that I have no doubt some ravenously hungry media type would have preferred the bread crumbs to the greasy, tasteless crud they were serving at the kiosks. If I wanted the same stuff they serve at a hockey game, I would go to the Libertarian convention down the way.

While bloggers aren't getting the workspace that larger media organizations (like PBS) pay for, the areas I saw for daily press and bloggers were comparable to each other -- you can watch the action, but that's about it. Internet access was spotty and the seating area was to the side of the stage. The DNC went above and beyond in terms of having a special filing center for bloggers and a large media space, but on the other hand made actual access to the convention more challenging, with different passes for the arena, hall, and floor.

Coming to Palin's Defense

But really, the blog story (and every other story) of the week has been about Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, celebrated hockey mom and John McCain's pick for vice president. A quick Google blog search found over 62,000 mentions just in the past day! To counteract the reports about Palin's personal life from Daily Kos and the Huffington Post, some younger, right-leaning blogs got into the rebuttal act.

Hip-hop Republican Ryan Anderson noted:

Sarah Palin herself is going to sway dismayed Hillary voters that Obama threw to the curb...She's a very strong feminist role model...she rallies the base."

And Young Voices blogger Tamika Thompson found a number of younger voters who were all for the Palin pick, including Stephanie Hitt, a first-time delegate and blogger at Hitt to Right. Hitt said Palin "sealed her support in the Republican party and has demonstrated she can cross partisan lines."

Today, the Xcel Center will be quiet, but the arrested protesters will still be locked up, and Palin still has nine weeks for us to learn much more about her before the general election. And I'll head back to DC, ready to take a break from uncomfortable folding chairs and free Diet Coke.

Laura Hertzfeld is the producer for PBS' elections sites online, including PBS Vote 2008. She is credentialed as media through PBS to cover the conventions reported for MediaShift from both confabs. All photos here were taken by her; you can see all of them via her RNC Flickr set.

DENVER -- Even for members of the traditional media here in Denver, access to floor seating at the convention has been scarce, and talk time with politicians and celebrities at the Democratic National Convention is a game of persistence and luck. Some days you see all the newsmakers, other days you're stuck on the outside with the gawkers, watching Anderson Cooper do your job.

But for the bloggers who followed all the DNC rules and took advantage of never-before-seen opportunities to cover the convention in Denver, access has been unprecedented, and relationships between the party and the bloggers who cover it are improving.

"We're definitely being treated as press by the people that matter," Pam Pohly of EverydayCitizen.com told me. "The DNC has been fabulous."

Pohly added that the party even explained some journalism-lingo terms to her when they were unclear in memos to the press.

"They'll write back and explain," she said. "They've said they're honored to have us."

Floor Access Still Tricky

That said, like anything new, accessibility has not come without its challenges. State delegations control the floor access for the journalists that cover their local regions. So when a state isn't on board with helping out new media, the party can do little to enforce the rules. Pohly said her Internet connection and charging station weren't accessible at her embed with the Kansas delegation and that she had trouble getting information about delegate events outside the Pepsi Center.

"I'm a party person turned new media, not the other way around; that's why it was shocking to me," she said.

It takes about three tries to find the right place to go at the Pepsi Center to find the bloggers in their main filing space. It's not well marked, and many have complained about having trouble knowing where to go. Few of the security officials I spoke with had any clue where there "bloggers lounge" even was.

But in the Big Tent, with familiar logos like Digg and Google, the bloggers have a respite to themselves, away from the traditional media facilities in the Pepsi Center parking lot, complete with smoothie bar and massage chairs at the Google retreat. Is all this fueling jealousy between new and old media?

The old media bloggers "get it," said Sarah Burris, a blogger for Rock the Trail, Rock the Vote's blog. Burris said she respects bloggers for publications like Talking Points Memo and the Huffington Post because "they allow the opportunity to take a story and really report on it without being in fear of a crazy editor."

So who's reading what? Has all the work the party and the bloggers are putting in been worth it? An informal poll from MediaBistro's FishbowlDC found that most news junkies are following the conventions with C-SPAN on TV and Roll Call online.

Will the Republican National Convention be as responsive to the blog world as the DNC has been? We'll find out next week.

Laura Hertzfeld is the producer for PBS' elections sites online, including PBS Vote 2008. She is credentialed as media through PBS to cover the conventions and will be reporting for MediaShift from both confabs. All photos here were taken by her; you can see all of them via her Flickr stream.