Day 3, Palin Power and Doug Wright
Its 230 am and i cant get my laptop wifi to logon with the dumb hotel internet even though i should be paid for through Thursday. I ditched Rob who was still up watching convention coverage so I could come blog since I have neglected my duties all Wednesday. So here i am in the business center in the basement of the hotel all by myself….that’s commitment to my loyal readers (all 4 of you). By the way, for you bacon lovers…i am on 8 consecutive meals with some form of bacon (i didn’t have lunch today).
Today started out great with a breakfast with Gov Huntsman and some war heros. One Colonel talked about being in the Hanoi Hilton with John McCain and the circumstances that dictated their stay. While I have not always agreed with John McCain on every issue…every time I see him raise his arms to wave, I am again reminded that he has sacrificed so much along with so many others in service to his nation. He is a true American hero.
After breakfast there was a small break and then a bus took most of the delegation to tour St. Paul. I had the option of going to a congressional luncheon with Rob but I missed where he disappeared to after doing an interview with channel 5. Its hilarious because the other day i posted that youtube video of our service project and in the video called Todd Weilers wife Elizabeth “Palin Hot,” as in attractive. In doing so i coined a phrase as she looks eerily similar to Sarah Palin, specifically when she has her glasses on. As such, ksl did an interview with her right after mine and then they asked us to mingle together as a group for some casual footage. I am straight up silly and started hugging on her trying to make her laugh. It was the news this evening and i got a sharp rebuttal from one of my bro in laws.
DOUG WRIGHT
After the interview, i couldn’t find Rob and Scott Parker so I wandered out in the parking lot to see where everyone was. Most of the delegation had left on the bus so i saw Gary Herbert, John Valentine, Todd Weiler and Marco Diaz getting in a van. I went and asked what they were up to. Turns out, they were headed downtown to go be on the Doug Wright broadcast and invited me along. 
Todd is a crazy driver but I went along anyway. By the way, State Senate President John Valentine is a whiz on directions and maps…he knew exactly where we were when i didn’t know where up was? We got downtown and walked 3 blocks to the convention hall where radio row was but Todd totally forgot his delegate pass to get into the hall. Anyway, Gary and John go over to a secret service agent (as explained below in todds post) and work some magic. Despite all the security, on these two gentleman’s word alone…todd totally got in. Once we got over to Dougs show, he borrowed HIS media credential so we wouldn’t get busted. Anyway, John and Gary sit down and do a segment with Doug and then Doug invites Todd to do the next segment and talk about our blogging efforts. Well, let me tell you…im a nobody and who cares who i am? But Todd is a stud and has my back all the way. He would have been fine to sit down and do the interview but he explains to Doug who I am and how i am helping out with the blogging and asks if i can sit in on the segment as well. Doug was gracious and that was my first crack at radio. I was a little nervous at first and all i could say when Doug asked what I was blogging about was, “my bacon intake since I got to Minnesota.” But I calmed down quickly and hopefully we got some more traffic for the blog (hey, your here!). After we are done, former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum comes up and does a segment as well. Very Cool Conservative Hero of mine…who stood up for principle despite losing his seat in 2006. Then Marco does a segment. While he is doing his thing, I walk down to a restroom and while i am washing my hands I was talking to a cook who was asking about the convention. I don’t remember what we were talking about but I mentioned something about how hot Sarah Palin was and a photographer for a NY public radio station asked me if i would come do an interview for their show. I dried my hands and said sure. The link is www.wnyc.org/shows/bl/. Obviously a totally liberal station and Brian the host kept asking me leading questions trying to get me to bash on Bush or anyone. The audio should be up by tomorrow afternoon so tell me how i did fending off the MSM and their agenda driven attacks. Anyways, I make my way back and Doug Wright is wrapping up his show. We tell him we are headed over to the Union Pacific event and that is totally his ball of wax….you know….old stuff. He and Randall Jeppesen jump in the van with us and we go tailing back to hotel to catch the bus to the event. Eventful discussion ensued but we did pass some protesters and I will get some photos up tomorrow once i get off the public computer in the business center.
UNION PACIFIC
…was cool…old trains, lots of food and lots of fun. They gave these cool wooden trail whistles i know my boys are going to love to drive my wife insane with.
CONVENTION
So, after a brief respite back at the hotel Rob and I got on the bus to the convention hall with the Weiler Fam and Sean Reyes. Elizabeth Weiler/Sarah Palin look alike got approached by a ron paul supporter who asked her to pass out some “top secret” packets to our delegation members…he was cooky enough she decided to do it just for fun. Obviously the packets contained ron paul propaganda. We got to the convention hall and were walking in the xcel center and Rob and I run into Doug Wright. He is just hanging out by himself so I ask him…”do you wanna come down to the floor?” For some background (and you can’t tell anyone…i mean it dangit!), Todd and I have been borrowing other delegates credentials and taking them up to our guests and alternates so they can then get on the floor, because once you are down there…nobody is checking. So I offer my services up to Doug who was way pumped. I ditch rob and doug, run down to borrow a credential and bring down doug. Now, I don’t know doug that well but he is one of those guys who is really easy to get along with (obviously) and easy to like…and as i found out, easily impressed. By the time I got Doug down to the floor, Todd had already been busy for quite some time and had almost our entire delegation down there in front of the CNN booth hanging out. So Doug was quite excited to see so many familiar faces and quickly got engaged. He is full of gratitude and very humble and came up to me several times stating that he didn’t want to overstay his welcome…i rebuffed him in return telling him we were glad to host him. In the end, he stayed through Romney’s speech. He was great and a lot of fun. But I am sucker for people who will laugh at my lame jokes…ask my wife.
SPEECHES
Great speakers tonight. I am sure you were watching to some extent but I will say that RUDY rocked the house as did ROMNEY. When Romney spoke, Todd and I walked up the aisle to the front and kneeled down behind the photographers so we were only 40 or so feet away…man i love that guy! However, Palin brought the house down. There was definitive sass and spitfire that makes me giddy….she had a few one liners that absolutely killed. Of course, I can’t remember any of them anymore and need to reread her speech (which by the way is posted below). However, at the end, I was particularly touched when her family came out and that is when the extended applause was deafening. Thinking that was the pinnacle experience…John McCain then steps out and waves to the crowd. For those of you that know me…im totally a sensi and I was tearing up for the magic that was in that arena at that point. I am bewildered and speechless to describe the patriotic emotions that i felt tonight. I hope that it was half as good as it was in person on tv so you can understand those feelings that stirred inside me.
In the end, they finished the roll call and Rob and Gary did a great job. Apparently, a bunch of you saw the two ksl interviews (watch here… ksl.com) that i did as i started getting a bunch of text messages commenting on my 20lbs gained on camera at this point which was right around the 10 oclock newstime back in SL.
Back to Elizabeth Weiler…aka Sarah Palin look alike…everytime i came over to our delegation I would yell….GOVERNOR PALIN and everyone would freak out….it was hilarious.
We had funny bus ride home talking about anderson cooper…a discussion i will only further in person (so ask me later). When we got back to the hotel around midnight, another group was waiting for us to head over to TGI Fridays for the afterparty. Really, we would go somewhere else but there are no other restaurants around us cept the DQ and they aren’t open until 2 am. Stan bugged out first with his family…he’s kind of a late night featherweight. Don Guymon even joined us and we all had a blast. But right now at 315am…i can’t remember what was so funny. It was obviously that punch drunk late night everythings funny kind of party….good times.
Another stellar day in Minnesota with the best delegation in the nation…UTAH! One last thing, and I haven’t said this to Stan yet but he is outstanding as our chair. While this is my first national convention…i have heard from other past delegates who are here this time who have indicated how much comradery (the non-obama/communist kind….this is a glenn beck joke) exists with our delegation this convention. I would second that entirely. Where else would little ole me hang out extensively with John Valentine and Gary Herbert to the point where we are all laughing and joking around. We have great down to earth elected officials and a great delegation along with our great leader (stan) who has made extra efforts to ensure that everyone…including George Zinn, is having a good time. That caring attitude along with all the service projects we have done along the way has built up quite the team.
Ok…i lied….one more thing. Our delegation breakfasts have all been sponsored by our statewide and congressional elected officials (Bennett on Monday, etc). Anyways, Rob Bishop is sponsoring tomorrows breakfast where the start time has been pushed back to 9 am (compared to 8 am the rest of the week). Needless to say…as his roomate, I will not be suprised if we don’t make it down on time since he and I have been late to all the rest. WE NEED A SNOOZE BUTTON ON THE WAKE UP CALL!
Davis GOP Chair out!
Ben Horsley