GOP rolls out hefty list of Denver party ‘crashers’

Republicans are planning quite the party crash at next week’s Democratic convention in Denver.

Traditionally a time for one party to own the spotlight and the opposition to linger in the shadows, Republicans are determined to steal as much thunder as possible from the Democrats during their week-long coronation of Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.), the party’s likely presidential nominee.

{mosads}To accomplish this, Republicans — in coordination with the presidential campaign of Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) — are set to bring to Denver a list of heavy-hitting surrogates, including two of McCain’s former presidential rivals and multiple members of Congress, who will do on-site media interviews all week long.

Leading the list of Republicans heading to Denver are former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani. Romney will anchor the GOP’s Tuesday press availability — the same day Obama’s former presidential rival, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), is scheduled to speak to the Democrats.

The heavy GOP presence at the Democratic convention is a sharp change from four years ago, when there was not much of a response team on the ground in Boston.

Romney, along with Republican Reps. Eric Cantor (Va.), Lincoln Diaz-Balart (Fla.) and Marsha Blackburn (Tenn.), will be camped out in the Republican war room, which houses its own television studio and is within “walking distance” of the Democratic convention floor, GOP officials said.

Republicans will also be working to book Romney and the members of Congress on the morning shows of the local network affiliates and local radio stations throughout the week, all in an attempt to divert as much news coverage as possible from the Democrats' show. Colorado is seen as a key state that will be fiercely contested in the general election.

Giuliani is scheduled to arrive on Wednesday — when former President Bill Clinton is set to take the stage — and join Romney for a day’s worth of local and national interviews.

And on Thursday, when Obama is slated to accept the nomination, Republicans will bring to Denver Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty and McCain’s Arizona Senate colleague Jon Kyl for as many media interviews as possible, according to officials.

High-ranking GOP communications staff will be rotating in and out of Denver throughout the week to supplement the bigger-name surrogates, in addition to preparing for their party’s own convention in Minneapolis-St. Paul the following week.