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...

Breakfast Meeting - Monday

Star Studded Breakfast Speakers

Our morning breakfast speakers list was outstanding.  We had State Party Chairman Bobby Schostak who fired up the crowd.  Bobby asked us all to work hard as if we are behind in this race.  He was followed by Governor Snyder. The Governor said that Washington is a mess and that Michigan is a roll model for what Washington needs to do.  He also has been telling the media that we ARE a battleground state.  He reminds them that Republicans basically won every race in 2010.  If that does not make us a battleground state...he said I don't know what does!

He also shared with us the new Free Press poll that shows the race is tied in Michigan.

The next speaker was Newt Gingrich.  Newt told us a story about working on the Jack Kemp race when he ran for President.  His driver during that race was our own Saul Anuzis! 

Newt has created a new website for everyone to help educate themselves on the issues: www.newtuniversity.com  

Newt said there was a public survey done that shows that the people prefer a smaller government and bigger economy to a larger government and more services by a 72% to 16% margin. 

He would like to see every person who receives unemployment benefits to be required to take retraining classes.  He indicated that energy should be a topic that works for us in this election cycle. He mentioned the huge deposits of natural gas that are being recovered using fracking techniques.

No surprise that he took his shots at both Obama and the Dems.  "No American President should bow to a Saudi King".  He challenged us all to go out and tell the truth...better than Obama can tell his lies :)

The next speaker was Congressman Dan Benisheck.  He talked about why he ran for Congress: "I was tired of throwing things at the TV!"  He is confident that with a lot of hard work, we can win.  He will be speaking Tuesday afternoon at the convention.  When he asked his wife if he should go...she told him to go because she needs a break from driving the RV around the district for him!

We also heard from Neil Newhouse who is a pollster for the Romney campaign. 

He should some interesting stats:

People who say the country is on the wrong track are supporting Romney 68% to 22%

46% say the country has changed for the worse in the last 4 years.

65% say the economy right now is poor

"Will you be better off in 4 years if Obama wins": 40% say better, 54% say worse

They also have stats to show that the enthusiasm on our side of the isle is ahead of the Democrats for the first time in 3 Presidential election cycles.

He indicated that the race is a dead heat despite the fact that Obama has outspent Romney in the swing states by $60 Million!  Michigan he said, "Can put us over the top!"

Bill Schuette's Endless Summer Party

Endless Summer??

Attorney General Bill Schuette chose a great location for his party: Oystercatchers At Grand Hyatt Tampa Bay.  It is right on the water, has a nice beach area with fire pits and lounge chairs.  Only problem: Rain.

On your way in everyone got a lay and a beach towel :)

One of the fun items that people enjoyed was getting their caricature made (as Laurie McHugh demonstrates!)

Delegation Meeting

Team Meeting 

At 4 PM there was a meeting for Delegates and Alternates only.  There are nearly 600 members in our delegation, but only 59 Delegates + 59 Alternates.  Bobby Schostak (State Party Chairman) got the crowd fired up.

Our special guest was RNC Chairman Reince Priebus.  He made it clear that Bobby is doing a fantastic job and is one of the top state party chairman in the country. 

Reince stressed to all of us that "this presidents priorities are NOT Americas priorities".   That the Romney campaign clearly sees Michigan as an important state that they can win.

One of the final speakers was our own Ronna Romney McDaniel. With her dad Scott Romney sitting in the front row, she spoke of how important Michigan is and thanked us for all the work we have done to this point.  She will make a great candidate herself one day :)

About an hour after the meeting, the revised schedule was released via email:

Monday, August 27, 2012

 

2:00 p.m.         Chairman of the RNC Reince Priebus

                        Call to Order/Start Debt Clocks

2:10 p.m.         Announcement of Recess

 

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

 

2:00 p.m.         Chairman of the RNC Reince Priebus

            Color Guard Knights of Columbus

            Pledge of Allegiance by Former Governor Tim Babcock (MT)/ Tom Hogan (FL)

            National Anthem sung by Philip Alongi

            Invocation by Rabbi Meir Soloveichik

            Opening procedural steps, appointment of convention committees

            Welcoming remarks, and House and Senate candidates and RNC auxiliaries

                        RNC Chairman Priebus

                        RNC Co-Chairman Sharon Day

                        Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn

                        Convention Chief Executive Officer William Harris

                        Chairman of Tampa Bay Host Committee Al Austin

                        Republican Congressional Candidates

                        State Delegate Barbara Comstock (VA)

                        Representative Tim Griffin (AR)

                        Republican Senate Candidates

                        Republican National Committee auxiliaries

            Consideration of convention committee reports

                        RNC Chairman Reince Priebus

                        Committee on Credentials Chairman Mike Duncan

                        Committee on Permanent Organization Chairwoman Zoraida Fonalledas

                        Convention Permanent Chairman Speaker John Boehner, Presiding

                        Official Convention Photograph

                        Committee on Rules Chairman John Sununu

                        Committee on Resolutions Chairman Governor Bob McDonnell

                        Committee on Resolutions Co-Chairman U.S. Senator John Hoeven

                        Committee on Resolutions Co-Chairman U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn

            Roll Call for Nomination of President of the United States

            Roll Call for Nomination of Vice President of the United States

 

6:40 p.m.         Recess

 

7:00 p.m.         Reconvene

            Remarks by Speaker John Boehner

            Remarks by RNC Chairman Reince Priebus

Video and remarks by Mayor Mia Love (Saratoga Springs, UT), U.S. congressional candidate

Remarks by Janine Turner

            Remarks by former U.S. Senator Rick Santorum

            Remarks by Host, U.S. Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers

8:00 p.m.         Remarks by U.S. Senator Kelly Ayotte (NH), accompanied by Jack Gilchrist

Remarks by Governor John Kasich (OH)

Remarks by Governor Mary Fallin (OK)

Remarks by Governor Bob McDonnell (VA), accompanied by Bev Gray

Remarks by Governor Scott Walker (WI)

9:00 p.m.         Remarks by Governor Brian Sandoval (NV)

Remarks by Sher Valenzuela (small business owner, candidate for DE Lt. Governor)

Remarks by Senate Republican Candidate Ted Cruz (TX)

Remarks by Artur Davis

Remarks by Governor Nikki Haley (SC)

10:00 p.m.       Remarks by Mrs. Luce' Vela Fortuño

            Remarks by Mrs. Ann Romney

Remarks by Governor Chris Christie (NJ)

Benediction by Sammy Rodriguez

Adjournment

 

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

 

7:00 p.m.         Convention convenes

Call to order

Introduction of Colors by Amputee Veterans of America Support Team (AVAST)

Pledge of Allegiance by Brigadier General Patrick E. Rea, US Army (Ret.)

National Anthem sung by Ayla Brown

Invocation by Ishwar Singh

Ron Paul Video

Remarks by Senate Republican Leader and Convention Temporary Chairman Mitch McConnell (KY)

Remarks by Senator Rand Paul (KY)

            Remarks by Christopher Devlin-Young and Jeanine McDonnell

8:00 p.m.         Remarks by Senator John McCain (AZ)

Remarks by Attorney General Pam Bondi (FL) and Attorney General Sam Olens (GA)

Remarks by Governor Bobby Jindal (LA)

Remarks by Senator John Thune (SD)

                        Remarks by Senator Rob Portman (OH)

9:00 p.m.         Remarks by Governor Luis Fortuño (PR) 

Remarks by Governor Tim Pawlenty (MN)

Bush 41, 43 Film

Remarks by Mike Huckabee

10:00 p.m.       Remarks by Condoleezza Rice

Remarks by Governor Susana Martinez (NM)

Remarks by vice presidential nominee Rep. Paul Ryan

Benediction by Archbishop Demetrios

Adjournment

 

Thursday, August 30, 2012

 

7:00 p.m.         Convention convenes

Call to order

Introduction of Colors US Central Command Joint Forces Color Guard Team

Pledge of Allegiance by Dylan Nonaka

National Anthem sung by SEVEN

Invocation by Ken and Priscilla Hutchins

            Remarks by U.S. Rep. Connie Mack (FL)

Reagan Legacy Video

Remarks by Newt and Callista Gingrich

Remarks by Craig Romney

8:00 p.m.         Remarks by Governor former Jeb Bush (FL)

Remarks by Bob White, chairman of Romney for President campaign

Remarks by Grant Bennett

Remarks by Tom Stemberg

9:00 p.m.         Remarks by former Massachusetts Lt. Governor Kerry Healey

Remarks by Jane Edmonds, former Massachusetts Secretary of Workforce

Remarks by Olympians Michael Eruzione, Derek Parra and Kim Rhode

10:00 p.m.       Remarks by U.S. Senator Marco Rubio (FL)

Remarks by presidential nominee Mitt Romney

Benediction by Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan

Speaker Boehner declares convention adjourned