I know about Uff da because it is on numerous T-shirts throughout "Lake Wobegon USA," for sale alongside other such gems as "What do you call 40 guys watching the Super Bowl on TV? The Minnesota Vikings," and "When all else fails ... manipulate the data." (Lake Wobegon, by the way, is a lake that doesn't exist in the Land of 10,000 Lakes, a figment of the fertile imagination of Garrison Keillor, a pretty good local writer.)

I get the Vikings joke and the one about the data, but have to ask Carla Sand, the woman working the cash register, about Uff da.

I might as well put a sticker on my forehead that says I'm not from around here.

Carla cheerfully explains and points to a sign near the cash register that says "GOParty Participant." "If you're with the convention, you get 20 percent off," she says.

That deal's not too bad in a mall that has 520 stores, 81 places to eat, its own amusement park, a wedding chapel, mini golf putting course, teeth whitening and go-carts (but no bankruptcy court).

It sure beats some of the other economic incentive stuff they're coming up with in Washington.

I ask Carla how they tell if you're with the convention.

"Would you say you're a Republican if you weren't?" she asks.

Yeah, well, boy. They coulda picked worse places.

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Lee Benson is filing columns daily from the Republican National Convention. You can e-mail him at benson@desnews.com.