First Congressional District candidate Charlie Summers of Scarborough is scheduled to address the Republican National Convention tonight around 7:15, his campaign announced today.

He will talk about his personal story of being called to active duty in Iraq -- his wife, Ruth, campaigning on his behalf until his return home just three weeks before the primary election -- as well as voice his support for Sen. John McCain's candidacy.

"Gov. Sarah Palin's speech last night has energized this delegation, and set the tone for what is sure to be an exciting evening here in St. Paul, as Sen. McCain steps up to the podium," Summers said in a statement. "I'm honored and thrilled at the opportunity to not only be a part of tonight's program and lend support to the Republican presidential ticket, but to represent the Maine delegation on a national stage."

You can catch him on C-SPAN.

Summers is running against Democrat Chellie Pingree of North Haven for the Congressional seat.

The Augusta City Republican Committee is inviting the public to come to party headquarters on Higgins Street around 7 p.m. Thursday to watch Sen. John McCain accept the party's presidential nomination.

"It will be exciting to see Sen. John McCain and Gov. Sarah Palin accept the party's nomination," said Augusta GOP Chairman Chuck Mahaleris, in a statement. "Plus we might be able to see some of our Augusta Republicans among the convention delegates on television."

Augusta residents Mark Ellis, Julie O'Brien and Pat Eisenhart are attending the convention.

Mahaleris said that one of the fun parts of the evening will be a conference call with the convention-goers from the floor in St. Paul.

"Who knows, maybe we will hear from some celebrities too," he said.

Elaine Bridge of Manchester said she's tired of living in a blue state.

A delegate to the Republican National Convention that begins on Monday, she said she's ready to get energized and hopes other Maine delegates are too.

She's hoping the momentum created by the convention will carry through to November to bring Sen. John McCain to victory.

U.S. Rep. Tom Allen, D-Maine, will address the Democratic National Convention tonight between 6:30 and 7, according to his campaign.

His remarks will be carried live on CSPAN.

Allen will be one of four Democratic Senate candidates to speak. He'll be joined by Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, Jeff Merkley of Oregon and Tom Udall of New Mexico.

Today's theme is Securing America's Future, and Allen's remarks are expected to reinforce that idea.

Allen faces Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, in the November election.

Kennebec County Democratic Committee Chairwoman Rita Moran of Winthrop, who leaves Saturday for the Democratic National Convention in Denver, took some time to record her thoughts before she heads West.

Here's (most of) what she wrote:

Democrats are expecting 288 delegates under the age of 21 to attend this weekend’s convention in Augusta.

Caroline Slymon, 17, of Pittsfield, is one of them.

Slymon is a Sen. Hillary Clinton delegate and has been a fan of the New York Senator since first grade. However, most of her friends favor Sen. Barack Obama.

“I try not to let myself get in fights or anything,” she said, noting that she has debated her friends on the subject.

Slymon will turn 18 in September, so she’ll be old enough to vote in the general election.

A junior at Maine Central Institute in Pittsfield, Slymon wants to be a prosecuting attorney when she gets older. She believes Clinton can still win the nomination.

“It really depends on what happens with Michigan and Florida, at the convention and with the superdelegates,” she said. “I think it’s going to be a lot harder than we thought it was going to be.”

Coming into the Republican State Convention, party leaders and other longtime party activists expressed concern that Ron Paul supporters would somehow take over the convention.

And while they did make their presence known, the Ron Paul fans didn’t disrupt the party business or dominate the convention.

When all was said and done, they got one delegate to the national convention. Patrick Eisenhart of Augusta is one of 21 Republicans from Maine who will go to the convention in early September.

Toward the end of Sen. Olympia Snowe’s speech on Saturday, more than a dozen Ron Paul supporters quietly circulated in the back of the room holding signs. At the lunch break, they asked to have a video of Paul played over the large TV screens, and walked to the front of the room for a mini-rally.

While walking back down the center aisle to leave, a female McCain supporter and a male Paul supporter got into a brief shouting match. I was too far away to hear much, but the McCain woman seemed to be saying she wanted the party to unify behind the presumptive nominee.

When it came to the platform, there were 21 possible amendments, many put forward by Paul supporters. Most of them failed.

What could have been a long platform fight was tamped down when convention chairwoman Ann Robinson limited debate to one person on each side, and gave them only one minute to speak.

Later, when that still took too long, the majority voted to forgo any debate and just vote on the amendments.

Among them was a proposal to adopt gold and silver as legal tender, abolish the IRS, conduct an audit of the gold at Fort Knox and repeal all federal firearm laws.

That one was soundly defeated.

And while fears of a Ron Paul takeover proved unfounded, the party did see a spike in attendance this year from people like Joseph Tilly of Albion. A Republican for only four months, Tilly said this is his first convention.

He’s not sure he’ll come back. He said he felt the convention was biased toward McCain and that it was disrespectful when organizers turned off the microphone while 1st Congressional District candidate Dean Scontras was speaking on Friday.

When asked if he will be active in the party in the future, he replied: “It depends on who the next candidate is.”

House Minority Leader Josh Tardy, R-Newport, told those gathered at the Republican State Convention this morning that although his party lost seats in the Maine House two years ago, they could win control this time around.

How?

Because control of the House was “determined by 1,358 votes” in 2006. That’s just nine per district, he said.

Democrats currently hold 90 seats in the House, with Republicans at 59.

If Republicans pull it off, it would be the first time in 36 years Republicans controlled the Maine House of Representatives.

House candidates each took a moment at the podium at the convention to introduce themselves, including former Senate Minority Leader Paul Davis, R-Sangerville. He’s running for the House this time around.

“When I served in the state Senate, the Democrats called me “Sen. No,” he said. “They haven’t seen anything yet.”

Coming up this afternoon, Congressional candidates John Frary and Dean Scontras will speak, along with Ruth Summers, who will give a speech on behalf of her husband Charlie Summers. Charlie Summers, who’s been serving in Iraq, is expected to be on the campaign trail later this month.

After that, the convention-goers will consider the platform, meet for county caucuses and gather this evening to hear a speech by former presidential candidate Mitt Romney.

Hundreds of people are filing into the Augusta Civic Center this morning for the Republican State Convention.

Political signs - complete with SUSAN (as in Collins) spelled out in the grass - greet the delegates, alternates and guests who traveled to Augusta for the two-day event.

There are women wearing matching American flag shirts, men in suits, and plenty of people handing out literature for their favorite candidate.

The official stuff begins at 9:30, with opening comments, a prayer, the national anthem and pledge of allegiance. Augusta Mayor Roger Katz is scheduled to speak, and at 10:30, there will be a presentation of the GOP legislative candidates.

More speeches this afternoon will be followed by the headliner tonight - former presidential candidate Mitt Romney.

Ron Paul supporter Charlotte Thomson Iserbyt of Dresden recently sent out a letter criticizing Sen. John McCain and urging Maine Republicans not to support his bid for the presidency.

Iserbyt, a delegate to the state convention that starts Friday, said she wants to stop what she sees as a Republican shift to the left. In the letter, she describes McCain as a “maniacal neoconservative war monger.”

She was less pointed in an interview.

“I don’t understand the good Republicans who don’t seem to understand you don’t just go along with a candidate because he’s selected by the people running the world,” she said in a phone interview.

Iserbyt, a former official in the Reagan administration’s Department of Education, said the letter has the support of others, but she volunteered to put her name on it because she can handle criticism.

“There are many people in Maine who feel John McCain doesn’t represent what we believe in,” she said.

In particular, she mentioned McCain’s stand on the war in Iraq and his comment that the U.S. might need to have a presence there for up to 100 years.

She said she’s worried Ron Paul supporters will be marginalized at the convention.

“We are a threat to the agenda supported by both parties,” she said. “We have a one party system now.”