My first day at the Xcel Center

Tuesday was my first chance to visit the convention center. I took the time during the early presentations to take a walk around the ground floor and the upper level of the building.

Just as I arrived House Minority Leader John Boehner was on stage giving a speech where he made reference to Congressman Thad McCotter. That got a nice cheer from the Michigan Delegation.

I must admit that our delegates have been treated very well. We are right up front just to the right of Ohio (who is right in front of the stage). I did not get a chance to visit the floor, I hope to do that on Wednesday long enough to get my picture taken.

My guest pass gets me to section 224 which is almost the worst seat in the house (except for behind the stage). I guess that is part of our punishment for moving our primary up early...

The balloons are all tied up in the ceiling ready to go for Thursday night. The club level is circled by the news media (including Aljezeera!)

I took a few pictures of the Fox News Channel booth where Bill O'Reilly was doing his live program.

Where are they taking us??

One of the interesting things about this event is the level of security present. Each bus has a police officer riding with us. Each hotel has a police officer stationed outside (except for my hotel...I guess they are not worried about protecting a hotel that has ABC News and the FBI !)

On the bus ride over to the Xcel Energy Center we were stopped and checked by bomb sniffing dogs.

On the way back to the hotel after the convention session we passed a large number of National Guard members that were ready with riot gear for whatever the protesters had in mind.

The protesters have been kept a distance from us...which disapoints me. I wanted some interesting pictures of these lunatics and clueless people. I heard one of the TV crews went out and showed them a bunch of pictues to see if they could identify the person in them. I was not surprised when they did not know who Mitt Romney was or Cindy McCain...but Vice President Dick Cheney?? Sounds like they should stop protesting and get an education!

What a view!

At 4:30 I attended a reception hosted by State Senators Jason Allen and Alan Cropsey. The event was held in the penthouse of a 25 story building next to the Xcel Energy Center. As you can see from the pictures, it has an amazing view of the surrounding area.

The owner, Lowell Hellervik, gave us a tour of his home. Several people commented on the view from his Master Bedroom and the amazing Master Bath...but I happened to ask just the right question that made his day.

As we walked towards the bedrooms we passed a map on the wall. I could not read the map (it was not in English) and I could not identify where it was. My best guess was that it was part of Sweden.

Mr. Hellervik explained that the map is his most prized possession in his home. It is a map of northern Norway and it includes a little town (now vacant) called HELLERVIK. He went on to show us 3 x 5 pictures he had hiding behind the map of his trip to Hellervik Norway. Lets just say I was glad I asked...because he loved telling the story of where his family is orignally from.

Breakfast with the First Lady

Tuesday my alarm went off at 6:30 AM (after 5 hours of sleep) and I debated if I wanted to get up and make the 20 mile trek to the Michigan Delegation hotel for breakfast. The host was Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land and her orignally scheduled guest was Governor Halley Barbour of Mississippi.

As we all know, Barbour stayed in Mississippi to assess the damage by Gustav. So I did now know who the 'sub' would be. As you can see from the pictures, I am glad I made the trip.

One of the guests at my table for breakfast said "I will bet it is the first lady" I had left my camera in the car and at that point I decided it might be smart for me to go get it. As I walked back from the car I could see what appeared to be 6 secret service members...it was at that point that I knew my friend was right!

She came in and gave a short speech that fired up the audience. I spoke to Terri afterwords and she hinted that Governor Barbour was helpful in setting up Laura to join us.

Monday Night Party

After spending a few hours at the Civic Fest, I returned to the Michigan Delegation Hotel...got my credentials situation straightened out and then joined a group of friends for dinner at a nice restaurant called M & S Cafe. It turned out to be right next door to the restaurant we had lunch at!

Since I had a car...I drove and took with me State Senator Nancy Cassis and her husband Victor. It turned out my decision to follow the taxi (that had the rest of our group) was a mistake. He drove around in a circle when he could not find where he was going. It was quite an adventure. He finally stopped (where he shouldn't have) and let our group out. I pulled in front and did the same with Nancy & Victor. I only mention this because I got nervous when a Minnesota Police Officer passed around us. I had visions of ticket number 2 on this trip!

I have noticed a very large contingent of security everywhere we go. It seems there are 2 officers on almost every street corner. I even noticed one in his car keeping an eye out at the hotel the Michigan delegation is in. I think they are very fearful of the protesters causing problems. I was told today most of them were down at the Xcel Center. I can't wait to check them out tomorrow and get some pictures!

After a long dinner we stopped at the party hosted by Oakland County Sheriff Mike Bouchard and Michigan Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop. Bishop is not very popular with some of our group considering his 'inactivity' on the annexation issue that was recently resolved between Livonia and Northville Township.

As you can see...we had a good time and the live band was very good.

Civic Fest

Since I did not attend the convention during the afternoon on Monday, I decided to got back to the Civic Fest at the Minnesota Convention Center.

Today the hall was very quiet and I got to see all of the presentations in about 4 hours. Here is a quick list of what was on display:

A mockup of an Air Force One

• A couple of Presidential automobiles



• A display of historical American Flags dating all the way back to the 1760's



• A display of replica gowns from first lady's



• Sets of China Patterns from a variety of Presidents

And as you can see from the picture...I even posed for the camera in a mockup of the Oval Office. It was very interesting and educational. I am a bit of a history buff...so I enjoyed walking around checking out everything...

A quiet Labor Day

Due to hurricane Gustav...it was a quiet day in Minneapolis. I had a 'snafu' with my credentials, so I decided to skip the Xcel Center and the mostly 'procedural' items that were handled today.

I was looking forward to many of the speakers. I heard that Laura Bush and Cindy McCain were there...but it sounds like I did not miss much.

I did join the Michigan delegation for lunch at Murray's. It is a nice steak house in Minneapolis. Saul gave a quick speach as did Congressman Pete Hoekstra (a really sharp guy and possible next Governor of Michigan). We also heard from Frank Luntz. He is a polster who does a lot of interviews on the Fox News Channel. He gave his insight to the race and said if McCain wins Michigan he guarantees he will win the Presidency.

The only problem with the lunch event was that the restaurant was not big enough for everyone. They had planned to have us arrive in 2 shifts, but the change in the convention schedule made that impossible.

I will also note that I had a nice conversation with Terri Lynn Land today. Our Secretary of State and I discussed the court case that may put the recall of Michigan House Speaker Andy Dillon on the ballot in November. She brought me up to speed on where it stands and said she will know more in the next 1-2 weeks. It looks like the voters in Redford may get to vote on recalling him AND re-electing him on the same ballot. Hopefully it will be on the ballot...it can only help his opponent Sandra Eggers who has a difficult uproad battle to unseat our House Speaker who has a lot of cash in the bank. I have had the opportunity to meet Sandra several times and I have been very impressed. She has a vision of where we need to take Michigan that I certainly agree with.