Final Day

Last day of the convention

I chose to skip the morning breakfast and speakers.  I was just too tired to drag myself out of bed.  Too bad, I missed Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker (who I met a few months ago) and the official picture of the Michigan Delegation.

Cindy and I borrowed two delegate badges and visited the convention center in the afternoon.  I wanted her to see the floor and get a few pictures.

We stopped by Ambassador Ron Weiser's suite (556) before the convention started.  His suite was right about Fox News as you can see in this view of Brett Baier.

As you can see the suite had a great view of the floor.

We only stuck around for about 30 minutes.  Had a nice conversation with David Trott & his wife.  Looking forward to playing golf with him at Oakland Hills in a couple of weeks :)

In order to sit with Cindy this night, I chose to give up my Alternate credential and the MRP staff (Henri) was able to find me two seats together.  They turned out to be in the 2nd to last row of the stadium! 

I think in the end I was doing the staff a favor.  They had a very hard time this week trying to accommodate a lot of requests for access.  By giving up my credential on the final night when Romney would be speaking, someone else would get an excellent seat for the final night.

I will admit that I "put a little guilt trip" on the staff which got Cindy and I passes for the Journey concert later in the evening.  (Thanks to Sarah Prues Hecker)

We heard from Tom Stemberg who is one of the founders of Staples.  He talked about how Bain Capital was instrumental in getting them started.

We also had a dozen Olympians come out on stage.  One of the speakers in this group was Mike Eruzione (Captain of the Miracle On Ice 1980 Hockey Team).  The theme was to emphasize the great job Mitt did in the 2002 Salt Lake Olympic Games.  It was a mess when Mitt took over and rescued the games from complete disaster.

One of the interesting stories leading into tonight's session was the "mystery speaker" that was on the schedule.  Turns out the surprise speaker was Clint Eastwood!  His speech was very unusual.  He placed an empty chair next to the podium and pretended to have a conversation with President Obama.  The speech kind of sputtered between some funny lines.  It was not one of his finer moments.  But there were a few moments I enjoyed.  When he said when Obama as not getting the job done "its time to let you go" the crowd went nuts.

Here is the entire speech that I found on Youtube:

Kid Rock !!

The Detroit Connection

After the convention closed on Wednesday, Cindy and I were fortunate enough to get 2 tickets to Kid Rock.  The concert was at Liberty Plaza which was little more than a couple of large tents set up in the plaza.  The concert was standing room only and had maybe 1000 people.  

We ran into my friend Ronna Romney McDaniel with several other family members at the concert. (sorry for the poor quality of this picture - I had the flash turned off by mistake)

Cindy and I are not big Kid Rock fans...but Ronna was having a great time (on the left with her husband behind her and her brother in the center of this picture)

My Day On The Floor

Right Up Front!

Ronna Romney McDaniel was very kind to let me use her Delegate credential all day on Wednesday.  So I arrived early to get down on the floor and get my picture taken :)

Everyone gets an assigned seat.  I was using Ronna's badge, so I sat in the front row as the convention got under way.  We have a few Ron Paul supporters in our delegation and they went crazy when the video of Ron Paul was played and then his son Senator Rand Paul addressed the convention.

There was a very touching video from Bush 41 & Bush 43.

There was a lot of shuffling of seats on this night.  As people would be brought down, they would try and move people around.  I slid back to the 2nd row part way thru the night.  I got this neat shot of our delegation:

Condoleezza Rice gave an excellent speech.  She has such a remarkable personal story.  Doubt she would serve in a Romney Ryan administration...she wants to be NFL Commissioner :)

I told the staff if they needed a seat, I was willing to get give mine up.  When Congressman Mike Rogers showed up, I gave up my seat.  I posted to Facebook: "Just gave up my seat to the Chairman of the Intelligence Committee.  Now there is a story :) "

I spent the rest of the night standing in the isle.  I moved back when security complained, but managed to work back along side Ohio (right behind Michigan and The Northern Marianas Islands) for the Paul Ryan speech.

He gave a fantastic speech.  Very well received.  Spelled out the problems America has and that the Romney Ryan team will work to fix them.  They have a plan (unlike the current administration).

We did have a few Code Pink protesters removed during his speech.  (sorry...its not a great picture)

I could not tell what they were chanting...

Lone Protester

Where are the protests?

One of my disappointments so far on this trip is the protesters.  Where are they?  Here is a picture of the only one I could find when we were riding on a bus to an event.

I wanted to stop and remind this guy that Obama has added 5.2 Trillion to that debt while he has been in office.  But somehow I don't think he will believe me.

Wednesday Breakfast Speakers

Star Studded Lineup

I was glad I dragged myself out of bed for the Wednesday morning breakfast meeting.  I knew we would have Congressman Eric Cantor and Jeff Sessions.  But we also had some surprises.

 He discussed how he comes to Michigan often.  In fact he had just come to Tampa from Detroit.  His daughter is a Junior at U of M - Ann Arbor.  He complimented the Michigan delegation to congress as one of the most effective.  He believes we can win Michigan.  He thinks it may only be 6% of the electorate that will decide this election.

Matt Romney also came to speak.  He mentioned that he heard his brother Craig had spoken the day before so "the bar has been set pretty low" :)

He told a touching story about when he was 16 and had a surfing accident.  He was pinned under the water in some rocks near shore and his dad reached him and pulled him out.  It was very touching.

Jeff Sessions (according to Bobby Schostak) was one of the first people to call after Thad McCotter's resignation.  He was calling to offer his help. 

He also described Bobby as a "Rock Star" state party chairman and said he had to wear sunglasses around him :)

Jeff has 2 boys: Bill is in Med School and at the top of his class.  Alex is 18 and has downs syndrome.  He can not read.  He participates in the Special Olympics.  But he loves them both and described how Alex is very special to him.

Jeff talked about how the CBO just announced that if taxes go up at the end of the year (as it is currently scheduled to do), the economy will lose another 1.2 Million jobs.  The CBO also said if we follow the Democrat plan to raise taxes only on the "rich", we will still lose 800,000 jobs.

Our first surprise speaker was Senator Mitch McConnell.  He talked about Ann Romney's speech the night before.  He said the convention floor was the quietest he had heard in the 9 conventions he has been to.

We also heard from Michigan Congressman Bill Heiszinga.  Who is one of those congressman that works out with Paul Ryan (P90X).

...and from Senator John Thune from South Dakota.

An Emotional Moment

A Moment I Will Never Forget

This was one of those moments that I will always remember from this trip.  Governor Snyder yields the microphone to Mitt's brother Scott Romney.  And with his daughter Ronna standing next to him, he gives the vote totals from Michigan.  Everyone in our delegation had a tear in their eye as he spoke..

This was the culmination of many years of hard work.  The campaign in 2008 that fell short to the race in 2012.  It puts a very personal touch on this experience.  I am so happy for them...now we need to go home and work our tails off to make sure we cross the finish line with a victory. 

A long day

The First Full Day 

Tuesday was a remarkable day.  I arrived at about 2:20 PM and the convention was already underway.  The first few hours was procedural with committee reports.  There was some controversy when a rule change was proposed.  The Ron Paul contingent went crazy.

I have an Alternate Delegate badge and we have an assigned location.  They are very nice seats to the right of the stage.

Early in the schedule Congressman Dan Benishek from the 1st District in Michigan had a chance to make some remarks.  His district is one of the top 5 targets for the Democrats in 2012.

Speaker of the House John Boehner of Ohio got a very warm welcome.

You may notice the great camera angle on that shot.  Well...that is a story in itself.  I was sitting in the Alternate section and just before the roll call of states our MRP Executive Director Kim Jorns comes up the stairs and points to me.  I followed her down to the floor where I stopped on the last step and got myself into the official convention picture. (not sure when we will get to see that)  Then our National Committeeman Saul Anuzis came over and motioned to the security guard "He's with me" and they took me over to our delegation seats.  I grabbed an open seat in the 2nd row...where I stayed for what seemed like 2 hours.

I later learned that we had a delegate missing and when they could not find an alternate from that congressional district to fill the spot...I got picked! 

Here you can see Governor Rick Snyder as he gets ready to announce our votes during the roll call of states. His daughter is standing next to him.  Behind and to the left is John Rakolta Jr. (CEO of Walbridge and an Alternate from our 11th Congressional District).  To the right of the Governor's daughter is Ronna Romney McDainel (Mitt's Niece and I am her Alternate from the 11th Congressional District) and our National Committeewoman Holly Hughes.

Raymond James Stadium

Strolling Lunch Reception

On Tuesday afternoon we had lunch at Raymond James Stadium.  This is where the Tampa Bay Buccaneers play their home games.

We did not stay very long due to the timing.  We wanted to make sure we got back for the opening of the convention.  So we missed former Governor John Engler speaking.  We also missed going down on the field.  Bummer.  As it turned out, I also did not make it to the convention center until 2:20 PM so I missed the RNC Chair opening the convention.

This event (like most of them) has a large number of corporate sponsors.  As you can see in the photo above, PHRMA is one of them.  Some of the others include AMGEN, GE, Dow, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Exxon Mobile, John Hancock, Motorola Solutions and Altria.

I also found it interesting that one of the sponsors was AARP.  Not what I would call a very conservative group in my mind...

Congressman Dave Camp was also scheduled to speak, but due to his cancer treatment, he did not make the trip to convention.  We are all keeping him and his family in our prayers.

The Oak Ridge Boys

Surprise Reception

With the change in the convention schedule, we were invited to a reception across the street at the Marriott Waterside Hotel.  This is where the Romney family is staying.  We had a few remarks from Governor Snyder and Walbridge CEO John Rakolta Jr.

The entertainment was provided by The Oak Ridge Boys.

In this photo below are some of our Michigan delegation: (from left to right) Marco & Sharon Lollio, Diane Ruhlandt, Krista Hartounian and Harry Sawicki (Candidate for Congress in the 13th Congressional District)

Convention Floor

First visit to the convention floor...

I decided to walk over to the convention center (Tampa Bay Times Forum) and see the floor and where the Michigan delegation would be sitting.

They relaxed the rules today since there is essentially no official activity, delegates and alternates could walk down on the floor.

Michigan by the way has the BEST seats in the house.  Right in front of the stage.  Anyone want to second guess how important we are in this process?  :)

The gift shop had a lot of items for sale, but an interesting checkout procedure.  If you bought something with the official convention logo, you would use one set of registers.  If you bought anything with the Romney Ryan on it....you had to fill out a campaign finance form!  (Thank you McCain Feingold!)  Not that I was going to buy much...an iPhone case was $40 !!!

In this picture below, one of our State Committee members (Mike Mitchell) is checking out all the "swag"

President Gerald R. Ford

Tribute to President Gerald R. Ford

Monday's luncheon was a tribute to the 38th President of the United States: Our own Gerald R. Ford. It was held at T. Pepin's Hospitality Center.  It is a small convention hall that is a part of a large beer distributor facility in Tampa.

The honorary chairman was former Ambassador to Italy Peter Secchia and his wife Joan.  (Introduced by AG Bill Schuette)

I have never met Mr. Secchia or heard him speak before, but he was shall we say...entertaining!  He opened with this: "I asked Bill where is Thad McCotter?...Oh that's right, he is at home counting signatures"  You should have heard the ohhs and ahhs from that one.  As you might imagine the eyes at my table turned to me :)

For those who do not know the background of President Ford, he was a captain of the Michigan Football team.  Everyone one had a Michigan Jersey laying on their chair when we arrived.  All paid for by MRP Chairman Bobby Schostak :)

Ambassador Secchia is a Spartan and said he did not wear Green and White, just something "Rick Snyder Neutral".  He also said that U of M could have used Gerald Ford the last 4 years.  (I can't wait for that game this season...time to end this streak!)

Governor Snyder spoke next about his first Republican National Convention.  He was 17 when he got a letter to be a part of Gerald Ford's youth group.  He attended the convention in 1976 and even showed everyone his program, credentials and name tag from the convention.  In this picture he is holding the name tag :)

They showed a fantastic video titled "A Profile of Integrity: Remembering Gerald R. Ford"  A copy was provided to everyone when we left the luncheon.  I hope to "convert" the DVD and upload it to the blog in the next few days if possible.  It includes interviews with Ambassador Secchia, Donald Rumesfeld, Dick Cheney &  Brent Schocroft.  Very well done.

The keynote speech was given by former Michigan Governor John Engler.  Engler told the story of how in 1964 Gerald Ford gave the nominating speech for Governor George Romney.  Sitting in the audience that day was 17 year old Mitt Romney. 

He went on to tell how Ford vetoed 66 bills in less then 4 years.  He submitted his budget to Congress personally (we will never see a President do that again).  He was a man of character.  He was someone you could trust.  He never put himself before the country.  He was the right man at the right time in history.

The special guest was supposed to be Ford's son Steven Ford, but he had to cancel because of weather concerns in Tampa.  Too bad, it would have been nice to hear some personal stories about his father...