Friday May 30, 2008

There were long lines to get into the Convention and lots of security. Everyone had to show a photo ID along with their Convention credentials to get into the Convention, even if leaving to use the restroom or to attend to personal business. The Ron Paul supporters (e.g., "Paulies") have a huge presence here and wear "Dino" stickers and buttons as a way of identification. Rumors are that there will be a staged upset during today's Convention and it will have to do with trying to disqualify delegates from one or more counties.

While in line to get into the Convention, some in the running for public office handed out materials and asked for votes. We were, at that point, a captive audience. Terry Bergeson, Washington Superindendent of Public Instruction, approached me to shake my hand and ask for my vote. Preempting her, I said: "I think you have done a bad job, Terry. I will not be voting for you." And I moved on.

The convention kicked off about a half hour late. Candidates and politicians introduced themselves and had five to ten minutes each to address the Convention delegates and alternates. Here are some notable points they made:

Cathy McMorris Rogers (Congress)
(Some of the) Top 10 Great Reasons to be a Republican in 2008:
10) We believe that Federal Judges should follow the rule of the law
9) With regard to change: Be careful what you wish for
7) Compared to Democrats, we look like fiscal conservatives
6) Unlike Democrats, we don't have to worry what our presidential candidate is doing at 3 a.m.
1) We are the only group that Governor Christine Gregoire can't unionize!

Doc Hastings (Congress)
Doc asked how many were attending the Republican State Convention for the first time. There was a great show of hands, to which Doc said: "That goes to show we are continuously bringing new people into the party."

Dave Reichert (Congress)
Dave asked: "What is change?" And, he also questioned our own Washington State Republican Party slogan: "Change you deserve." What is that? What does that mean?

Dino Rossi (Governor)
Dino was great. At one point, he said: "I have two words for Olympia."

"So do I," I muttered under my breath.

"Control Spending," Dino continued. "Control spending." Dino pointed out a lot of differences between himself and Gov. Gregoire and gave some good illustrations to back his points. I could not write fast enough to get them all, but one that did stick in my mind was this: Gregoire raised taxes by $500 million. Part of that was the death tax. "How cruel is that?" Dino asked. "We need to eliminate the death tax." He also pointed out that Gregoire favors the State Income Tax. "Get rid of her!" someone in the audience called out. "We're working on that," Dino quipped, without missing a beat.

Dino mentioned Barack Obama's book, "The Audacity of Hope." Pointing out Gregoire's "Can't Do" attitude, he speculated that if she were to ever write a book, in should be called: "The Audacity of Nope." Nope, can't do.

"This election is not about Gov. Gregoire," Dino said. "It's not about me. It's about changing the culture and direction of state government for a whole generation."

Rob McKenna - Attorney General
"Our country was founded on the revolutionary preceptf that we can govern ourselves. We will decide. It will be one of us who leads our country into the future." Addressing the McCain and Ron Paul camps both, he encouraged everyone to "stay involved in this election" - regardless of who the presidential nominee is. Stay involved.

As anticipated, the Paulies came out of the closet during the reading of the Credentials Report, read by Suellen Roche, who gave a county by county list of automatic delegates, seated elected delegates and how many alternates (if any) were to be promoted. The list, though not final, was totalled as such:
110 automatically seated delegates
1079 elected delegates
134 promoted alternate delegates
1323 total delegates

The Revenge of the Paulies
The Paulies took the microphone from the floor, asking that Skagit County delegates be unseated and escorted from the Convention room due to alleged violation of rules at the County Convention level.

A standing vote defeated the motion but for the next hour, there were repeated challenges, including many frivolous motions from the floor. At one point, Chairman Luke Esser was verbally attacked, but he shut that down quickly. The highlight of the day was when Chairman Esser invoked a Supreme Court ruling about State and Federal rules regarding voting on rules adoption. A very vocal Paulie took the microphone and challenged Esser: "Mr. Chairman, can you read for us that exact Supreme Court challenge?" Without missing a beat, Chairman Esser directed the audio/visual people to: "Please put slide number 8 up so we can read that ruling." The whistles and applause were deafening as delegates exchanged high-fives and celebrated. The Paulies, of course, were subdued at this point, though not for long. Finally, and at long last, the motion to adopt proposed rules passed.

Kirby Wilbur, morning talk show host from Seattle Fox News affiliate KVI Radio, was easily nominated as Permanent Chair, giving Luke Esser a much-needed break. Kirby Wilbur then introduced John Carlson, another KVI Radio personality (and former nominee for Washington State Governor) as the keynote speaker.

Though I personally don't care for John Carlson, he did give a good speech. Last night, over dinner, I explained it as such: John Carlson and Ken Schramm (KOMO television) both host a radio program called "The Commentators." While I do not like Schramm's liberal politics, I do like Ken Schramm. And while I like John Carlson's politics, I do not like John Carlson. I have blogged about this before, so I don't want to beat that dead horse.

Speaking of beating dead horses ...

The Paulies returned in force during Congressional Caucusing.
While working to elect delegates and alternate delegates to the national convention, the Paulies made motion after motion to disrupt the proceedings. Despite having two police officers stationed at the door, they were worried that people were sneaking in and out, getting more than one ballot. Another told the Chair that he could vote twice if he wanted to. It was just one thing after another and, as in the main convention, it seemed the Paulies insisted in actual counts rather than standing votes, and offered different interpretations of "Robert's Rules of Order."

At one point, a Paulie addressed the chair about the possibility of duplicate votes. At which point someone else said: "I'm sure there are more than enough Ron Paul supporters in this group to make sure that the McCain people play by the rules."

Someone else stood up and with a very angry tone accused that person of attempting to smear or discredit McCainn supporters. At which point the other person yelled, "Sit your ass down!" From there, things happened fast. It became a verbal sparring match at which point the person who had been offended started across the room with his fists clenched. After being subdued by others, the Chair told him that he would be removed if there were more outbursts. That alone triggered another outburst and the man was warned again. Finally, things calmed down.

That was an hour ago, and no progress has been made. I will update more later as we are awaiting the results of the first ballot count. This is going to be a long afternoon.