Republican State Convention

My 3 month old daughter (Claire) and I attended the Minnesota Republican State Convention. I was running for Alternate Delegate to the National Convention.

In general it was a fun experience. I enjoy having a part in the process and meeting other people who are active in political events. I met some interesting people.

I arrived Thursday in order to interview with the Nominating Committee. Claire and I drove about 2 1/2 hours from Maple Grove. They asked me several questions regarding why I thought I was qualified to run for an alternate delegate position, who I intended to support in the general election, how old was the baby, did I intend to stay with the Delegation in the hotel and did I have the funds to pay. I was aware from the proceedings in the 3rd district that I needed to be deemed qualified in the Nominating Committee process to be placed on the ballot. The Nominating Committee were professional and kind.

Let's see, the convention was fairly interesting. I was deemed "qualified" by the National Committee and placed on the ballot. Those that were not deemed qualified were fairly upset. Those that had interviews had to arrive a day early to the event. I wish they would have deemed some of those unqualified by the application and interviewed second round candidates in person. From what I hear, there were a great majority of candidates that would not have passed the application process. This step would have saved them the expense and the disappointment. Because they were new to the process (or not paying attention to the start of the proceedings), they did not get their act together to not pass the rules at the start of the Convention (Yes, this means you Ron Paul supporters). Had they organized to not pass the rules or amend the proposed rules, they could have solved their heartache later in the day.

I gave my speech and I felt it was well received. (Will post a copy later) I received over 66% of the vote (over 1100 votes). I received many supporting comments from those that talked to me after the convention.

My general thoughts regarding the Paul-ites and how they were handled. I felt that they were generally hard-headed regarding their positions. I tried to talk to some of them about their positions and what they were trying to accomplish. Several of them were determined to yell and were very angry. I tried to get them to see a different perspective. It was very difficult.

I understood their position that they felt pushed out by the party and were not respected during the process. They felt the rules were set specifically to leave them out of the process. They were correct in that regard. We have a presumptive nominee. I think the Paul-ites are still trying to argue this point and are not going to rally behind McCain.

I understand that the party did not want to be embarrassed by the situation. I do think they were a little heavy handed during the process and annoyed McCain supporters with some of the tactics. Why treat everyone as if we were the enemy? The Paul-ites were in the minority. Let them have their say and then vote them down. Would it have really been horrible to let them have a write-in vote. Numerically, they could not have sent any more delegates. They would have felt more respected during the process and your slate still would have won (just as what happened in the 3rd District).

The whole situation was difficult. I also thought it made us look a little foolish. Why make this the story? I thought it could have been handled in a less confrontational way.
.
Fun parts of the convention:

- I liked the McCain hats.
- I thought the Yes/No signs were silly.
- I thought that being on two jumbo-trons was amazing! I was basically two huge talking heads!
- I managed to not fall off the stage!
- I met Karl R. and he was very nice. He took a picture with me and Claire. He also laughed at my joke.
- I met some great people.