1) The Paulies, of course, and their delay/disruption tactics. As the day grew longer, these tactics increased, and I will write more on that later. To be fair, it came to my attention that the McCain camp may have played some tactics in the end. I realize that this is politics and that we may have been responding to the Paulies by bringing the game to their level, but I still was disappointed to hear this.

2) Most delegates had not taken the time to read through the submitted resolutions before the day's activities started. Again, to be fair, those resolutions were not distributed until well into the proceedings today but when they were, very few delegates took the time to read through them. There were many amendments to the party platform submitted, argued and debated, and a great many of them had already been submitted as resolutions. Now, as resolutions are not posted on the Washington State Republican Party website, many of these amendments were made to have a special interest promoted for greater visibility, but some of it was ridiculous: changing the emphasis in one sentence, changing one word in one sentence, and the like. I did vote to amend some lines based on one word but there were cases where it bordered on the absurd.

Highlight of the day: To help McCain delegates vote "yay" or "nay" with the majority, there were team captains who would hold up large YES (green) or NO (red) signs when a vote was called. Though no one challenged the use of these signs yesterday, they were repeatedly challenged today. On one case, someone stood to speak in favor of banning the signs and a clever McCain delegate held up a huge red NO sign so that it totally blocked out the face of the speaker on the large, overhead screens. It was a great stress-reliever.

At another point, a delegate made a motion that we "adjourn for 20 minutes as tempers are rising and it would give us all a chance to cool off." That motion failed by a huge majority. Later, another delegate made the following motion: "As we are running ahead of schedule, I move that we break for lunch and resume following lunch." Kirby Wilbur (KVI Radio), the Chair, said, "Lunch is scheduled in five minutes. Your motion calls for five minutes of debate. Does anyone wish to speak for or against the motion on the floor, which is changing the agenda to break five minutes early for lunch." By then, we all were chuckling and heading for the door. :)

At lunch, I went to Azteca across the street and made some new friends. Throughout this entire conference, I've intentionally approached delegates from other areas and asked if I could join them at their table. I met some really great people. And, more often than not, I approached Paulies. By sharing a beer and a meal, I learned much about other delegates and learned about Ron Paul and his supporters. One, Matthew, apologized on behalf of the Paulies for the disruptions and stall tactics. "We have our fringe element," he said. "Please don't paint us all with that broad brush." (He was referring partly to one who constantly yelled out "WAR WAR WAR" whenever McCain's name was spoken from the platform.) Another Paulie, though very nice and articulate, didn't seem to have much of a clue about what was going on, and denied knowledge of any tactics. "We feel unfairly treated, that Ron Paul does not get the respect McCain, Thompson and others get. Ron Paul does have a delegate count and the media is ignoring that." I reminded him that Ron Paul's successes in most markets were single digit, and low single digit at that. I also told him that I'm a moderate Republican - the type of person who might be inclined to pay attention to Ron Paul. If they're not getting my attention, they are doing something wrong.

I have a lot of respect for Ron Paul. He has motivated the party at the grass roots level and brought hundreds if not thousands of new faces, mostly young faces, into the party. They are organized and they are getting involved. I would just caution them that if it's credibility they seek, then play by the rules. Delay and disruption may get you noticed, but it might not be the type of attention that will do you any good. As a point of illustration: there are good Pro-Life people, and their are Pro-Life people who blow up abortion clinics. To the Paulies - play within the bounds of the system, don't intentionally try to disrupt the system, be quietly persistent (but not overbearing) and give it time. You have an excellent chance to "make the bed" for the next go around. But from what I saw, their was little more than a lot of jumping on the bed and messing up the covers. We had a saying about the Paulies and their delay tactics and it had to do with how they "object to the objection which is the object of their next objection."

From the local caucus level on up to the convention, it seemed their tactic of choice was to disrupt, delay and drag things out to the point where everyone else left (either in frustration or exhaustion) so they could then have a larger presence and a quorum. This happened late today ... I had to fly out at 5 so I left the conference a bit early to get my bags and take a break. I told some lady vendor friends of mine that I would be across the street at Azteca's if needed. An hour later, I was summoned back. "The Paulies are calling for a quorum - we need all the seated delegates we can get." I rushed back to the conference, cast an important vote, and then had to leave for good.

On the flight home, I met MORE wonderful people, including a delightful young lady named Jessica and her husband (whose name escapes me ... regrettably ...). We had a very good, enlightened discussion about Ron Paul, as they are Ron Paul supporters (as opposed to Paulies - the term reserved for the jibber-jabber fringe side of that movement). They told me that while I was out, McCain captains with microphones and headsets were having entired groups of delegates (Thurston County) leave the room, only to have to call them back later (at about the same time I was called back in.) If this is true I was sorry to hear about it but also realize that this is politics and if your opponent wants to play in the muck, you got to get down into it, too.

I referred to the Ron Paul camps as the "opponent." And that's what was very sad and regrettable about this conference. It reminded me of being in the seventh grade. There were insults, barely averted fist fights, people escorted away by police, scare tactics and games. And there was enough division to almost make our party look like the current state of the Democratic party.

We all are on the same bus, and we need to keep moving in that direction. Realistically, Ron Paul will not be President this time around. Realistically, McCain might not be either if we don't get our act together and work as a team. Realistically, Ron Paul may be sworn in as Commander-in-Chief in the future. Just remember this: we have long memories. Years from now, we will remember how neatly you made that bed, or how you just threw it all together and then jumped all over it in a tantrum.

I had a wonderful time. I met great people from both camps, McCain and Ron Paul. We really CAN do this. So now that the convention is over ... can't we all just get along?

(Sorry, I know. Weak ending. But I'm tired and it works. :)