Today, the RNC and the Xcel Energy Center officially began its buildout for the Republican National Convention.  The RNC will occupy the entire campus of the River Center for the next nine weeks, spending six weeks building the set, a week holding the convention, and a little over two weeks tearing it down.  The partners for the event held a press walkthrough today, giving interviews and touring the facility as the workers arrived to begin work.

During the day today, I’ll be putting together the extensive video I took, the interviews I got, and publishing it at Hot Air — most of it exclusive to the blogosphere.  In fact, I’m attending two events this morning, the other being a press conference with a Medal of Honor recipient in the Twin Cities who is announcing his support for John McCain.  I’ll have video of that as well, and we’ll show some of it today on the Ed Morrissey Show here at 3 pm ET.