First, Congress was caught off guard by news that the Fed would bail out insurance giant AIG.  Barely 24 hours later, an even bigger bailout: A cool trillion to shore up the entire lending system.  A couple days ago, lawmakers were talking about taking corrective action next year. Suddenly it’s more like right now. And the financial hurricane is blowing away all that talk of lipstick and "drill baby drill". 

Back to business: After the partisan "infomercials" otherwise known as Conventions, Democrats and Republicans are back on Capitol Hill. Don't expect the partisan bickering to stop anytime soon. CNC's Elizabeth Wynne Johnson on the fight over energy policy and more.  

After seven years of delays, the Pentagon announced it is willing to wait even longer to award its Tanker contract. Alabama lawmakers worry the delay hurts the military and Northrop Grumman’s chances of winning. The Air Force needs new refueling tankers. Northrop Grumman originally won the contract. Boeing protested the decision and won. Then Secretary of Defense Robert Gates stepped in and said his office would have the final say. Now Gates is passing the decision on to the next administration.

The Republican National Convention took centerstage in St. Paul, Minnesota. Like the Democratic convention before it, the place looked a lot like Sunday morning at a church of the already converted. At times, protesters popped up like dissident whack-a-mole – and were ejected from the convention center swiftly.

Texas Republicans have led their party one way or another for decades. This week’s National Convention has been their last hurrah- for now.

Wyoming delegates don’t understand why John McCain is distancing himself from the Bush and Cheney administration. They are more excited about Sarah Palin than McCain himself.

North Carolina delegates cheered wildly for Sarah Palin at the national convention. Now her conservative supporters are energized for the Republican quest for the White House.

When Senator Barack Obama accepted the Democratic nomination last week in Denver on the 45th anniversary of Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” speech, African Americans gathered there wept with joy. Here in St. Paul it’s hard to find an African American face in the crowd. Republicans gathered in St. Paul for their national convention have the lowest turnout of African American delegates for 40 years - perhaps not surprising when an African American is the Democratic Presidential nominee.

Of the 28 Vermont Republicans meeting this week in St. Paul, eight of them are married couples. Matt Laslo talked to several of them about why politics is such a big part of their personal lives.

This week Capitol News Connection has been checking in with Sacramento-area delegates at the Republican National Convention. Melinda Wittstock caught up with a few shortly before Palin's speech.