WASHINGTON - Later this winter, Mitt Romney will strike out on a national book tour, but unlike his party’s most successful recent author he does not expect to make headlines with bits of fresh gossip from the 2008 campaign, see his fans camp overnight outside bookstores, or chat with Oprah Winfrey about his family.
“Inevitably there are going to be comparisons with the Sarah Palin book,’’ said Eric Fehrnstrom, a Romney spokesman. “We’re not going to match her crowd size or sales. These are two different people with different ways of expressing themselves.’’
We were talking about this in the chat room, and we getting chuckles out of it. Which is funny given that Chuck Norris endorsed the Huckster, HA.
Anyway, remember the famous attack ad that wasn’t? That Huckleberry Hound played for the press in Iowa, and said I’m above all this.
Here’s the video, pay special attention to the “No Executions” (funny as all get out considering Massachusetts doesn’t have executions) and the $50 co-pay for Abortions is state mandated too, nothing Romney could do about that (the Huck didn’t do his homework).
Wouldn’t it be cosmic karma if Huckabee and Palin fought each other to a second place tie in Iowa in 2012, while Mitt Romney cruised to a win without even breaking a sweat?
Former John McCain pollster Bill McInturff said Thursday that in a potential 2012 GOP primary, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin would have a leg up on her rivals because she is “well-suited” to campaign in Iowa.
McInturff pointed to the fact that despite a bruising presidential campaign, Palin’s favorability ratings among Republican voters is still extremely high. While Palin comes with some baggage among the general electorate, for Iowa, where former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee successfully drew a large number of social conservatives to his winning bid, she has strong prospects.
“She’s a candidate that would be well-suited to doing well in Iowa,” McInturff told reporters at a breakfast in Washington hosted by the Christian Science Monitor. He conceded that Palin creates “a sharply different reaction with swing voters and core primary voters” but said the latter “are not anywhere close to the center.”
If Palin is weighing a potential run, McInturff said that difference and the advantage it gives here is something she is keenly aware of. “She has a very strong political instinct,” he said. “She has a sharp and calculated instinct.”
Reflecting back on the presidential campaign, the pollster said that the McCain campaign had a brief window where they believed victory over President-elect Barack Obama was possible. But that hope was dashed when the campaign’s back was broken by the financial crisis.
“If we had to collapse America’s economy, I wish it had been on Dec. 15 instead of Sept. 15,” he said. Leading up to the financial crisis, he said, the campaign was prepared to launch an offensive to exploit the lingering uncertainties voters had about Obama, but that when the markets crashed, “You didn’t have a presidential campaign anymore, you just had the two campaigns reacting to this.”
“People had substantial and serious concerns about this guy,” McInturff said of Obama. “But if you give people a choice between a proven failure and an uncertain future, they will always choose the uncertain future,” he added, referring to the contrast between Obama and the damaged GOP brand.
The pollster also said the crisis changed McCain’s normal instincts as he tried to demonstrate a presidential level of leadership. For instance, he said, “If John McCain was just a U.S. senator, I cannot imagine him supporting the bailout. . . But you’re not going to be a senator, you are going to be president of the United States.”
Even after the financial crisis, McInturff said the Arizona senator was still within striking distance of Obama until former Secretary of State Colin Powell endorsed the Democrat. “We had three days where after the Powell endorsement the bottom just fell out,” he said.
Early into the afternoon on Election Day, McInturff said the McCain campaign knew that Obama’s victory was imminent as it read exit poll data. He said, though, that nobody was mourning the loss like they were “sappy volunteers.”
“Your job is to fight like hell, even if you’re getting beat with a baseball bat on the way out,” McInturff said.
Until last night, I’d never been on Pastor Mike’s PAC site. It was interesting to see how active he intends to be, starting right after the first of the year. I’m glad Gov. Romney’s as active as he has been. IMHO, MR has been a much more effective campaigner for Congressional Republicans than MH, who was noticeable by his absence in this past election.
BTW, there was a figure that is quoted in the article on his PAC site that stated that his volunteers made 4,000 over several days. When we were is Des Moines in January of this year, we made 20,000 calls in one day!!
~~John Cronin~~
What’s Next For Huck PAC?
By: Mike Huckabee
Many of you are asking me online and in line at my book tour stops what’s next for Huck PAC. Sarah and the team have been working hard on the next phase of development and I wanted to tell you about some of it today.
First, during Saxby Chambliss’ runoff campaign we saw that Huck PAC supporters were able to make a real difference on the ground. With over 4,000 calls made in a period of days by a few hundred volunteers we made a real difference turning out the vote for Senator Chambliss. Moving forward we want to build on this effort and grow it nationally.
In the coming days we will form a National Volunteer Team for Huck PAC Our goal is to identify volunteers nationwide, organize into local groups and then assist Huck PAC endorsed candidates.
We will also begin asking for volunteers to serve as group leaders willing to take a leadership role in their community. These leaders will setup events, distribute literature, make calls, knock on doors and much more. Our goal is to have at least one Huck PAC group leader in every county in the nation by the end of 2009.
This is one part of our plans but is a very important part. We want to make a difference locally in the races of the candidates we are supporting (as we did with Saxby) and we believe having a volunteer team in place will make a big difference. I will blog about much more very soon.
It remains an open question whether McCain’s pick of Gov. Palin is a net benefit for his campaign. But of one thing there is no doubt. She is certainly turning into a cultural icon, inspiring changes in women’s fashions and skits on SNL.
On this site’s chatbox, we have been having fun with a couple of phrases from Thursday’s VP debate: “Doggone it, there you go again” and “You betcha.”
But however much fun Gov. Palin has inspired, there are also some hard political facts we must consider. Namely, McCain is behind in the polls with a month left in the campaign and he has recently pulled the plug on his Michigan campaign. Michigan, with 17 electoral votes and a state that Gov. Romney could have delivered to McCain on a silver platter.
We are getting word from several sources that the move is controversial within the Republican Party. It strikes me as politically tin-eared to make a move that high profile operatives within your own party second guess you on. This stuff all goes back to one of the many reasons Sen. McCain was not my first pick. He just seems to be out of touch with his own party. He is certainly out of touch with the conservative base. His only conservative policies have Mitt Romney’s fingerprints all over them!
For the sake of the country, I hope he gets it right by Nov. 4. Otherwise, Obama gets a chance to complete Jimmy Carter’s second term in office.
~~John Cronin~~
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa – The road to victory for John McCain has gotten tougher in the past week: He has given up on Michigan, struggled to deal with a financial crisis many voters blame on Republicans and faced skepticism about his vice-presidential pick.
All of that raises pressure on Sen. McCain’s field generals in the battleground states where he is still competing — people like Gentry Collins. The Iowan’s success or failure, and that of his boss, hinges on the rapid-fire decisions Mr. Collins needs to make every day, from appeasing local political leaders to keeping tally sheets on daily phone calls.
Mr. Collins’s territory is rocky terrain. As one of Sen. McCain’s 11 regional campaign managers, he is responsible for Iowa, where Sen. Barack Obama holds a solid lead, and Missouri, a state Sen. McCain has to win but where polls show a close race. At least one of the presidential candidates, and usually both, are in Mr. Collins’s states every week. Voters see those events, though they don’t see the last-minute scrambles by his staff that makes them possible.
Behind the scenes, Mr. Collins’s task is complex. In Iowa, he must contend with a fractured party where most active Republicans wanted someone else for president. In Missouri, a classic swing state that has gone with the winner in 24 of the last 25 elections, Mr. Collins is outgunned by a better-funded Obama campaign that has been on the ground longer.
I am currently reading a very interesting and informative book written by the LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS, published by THE LYONS PRESS, “CHOOSING THE PRESIDENT 2004″.
They have a study they refer to in the book that was done by the PEW RESEARCH CENTER FOR THE PEOPLE AND THE PRESS; “2002 MEDIA CONSUMPTION SURVEY.”
Here’s a look at what they found.
“As recently as 1990, the major television networks—ABC,CBS and NBC—had a dominant role in delivering news to the American people. In 1992, the nightly network news shows with Dan Rather, Tom Brokaw and Peter Jennings regularly reached 60 percent of the adult population. By 2002, that number had declined to 32 percent—almost cut in half.
Newspapers, the most traditional of the major media, faced the same trend. While 58% of people polled in 1994 said that they had read a newspaper in the last day, by 2002 that figure was down to 41%. In addition, older Americans are much more likely to be newspaper readers than people in their twenties—a trend that has the newspapers very worried.
Local TV news and radio also reach lots of people, and both of these news media have also lost viewers or listeners in the past ten years. Cable TV news, the most influential of the new media, has held steady in recent years. In 2002, it was regularly watched by 33% of Americans.
When you take into account all their news programing, including the morning shows and news magazines, the major networks still receive some attention from a majority of Americans. As a result, their coverage of the issues and the candidates can have considerable influence on the course of a presidential campaign. But campaign planners are very much aware that the way America gets it’s news is changing fast, and new strategies are needed.”
For most of our readers, the above is probably old news. I quote it to point out the need for utilizing a very basic, but very effective grassroots organizing technique, neighborhood canvassing. My experience with door-to-door canvassing earlier this year was very positive. It reinforced my belief that one way to help overcome the MSM’s effect on the campaigns of conservatives is to get in front of voters and deliver a message to them that they haven’t heard before. My experience both in Des Moines and in St. Louis was that most people still rely on the newspapers and broadcast TV for their impressions of the candidates, and everyone on this site knows from bitter experience what the Huckabee network of churches and pastors and the MSM propaganda machine did to Gov. Romney’s run for the nomination.
If you have not tried it before, I’d like to encourage you to team up with a friend and to start to organize your own neighborhoods for a conservative Republican Congressional candidate or incumbent. Make sure you are up to speed on your candidate’s positions and very importantly, keep good records of your contacts. Get them on an emailing list where possible and hand out literature for those voters who don’t have internet access. Ask for permission to place a sign in their yards and be sure to recontact everyone you talked to the weekend before the election in order to “get out the vote.”
It’s hard work and time consuming. It’s also very effective. Here’s a look at how Gov. Romney did in the areas that had the highest concentrations of grassroots volunteers. To a great degree, the results were influenced by these area’s favorable demographics, having a higher percentage of college educated and upscale voters (patterns we saw very plainly in Des Moines as well), but, according to the national campaign office in Boston, the results were also influenced by the volunteer organization’s co-ordinated efforts.
According to the MSM……If Romney doesn’t win Iowa, he’s toast………If Romney doesn’t win Wyoming, he’s toast……..If Romney doesn’t win New Hampshire, he’s toast……..If Romney doesn’t win Michigan, he’s toast………If Romney doesn’t win Nevada, he’s toast……If Romney doesn’t win,…… oh, never mind, but you just wait until he has to face the Democrats in the Fall.
Here’s another example of why Rush Limbaugh is the undisputed King Of Talk Radio. Rush has the platform to say to 20,000,000 people what we conservatives talk about with friends and family.
This is Disa in Redmond, Oregon, I’m glad you waited. Nice to have you on the EIB Network. Hello.
CALLER: Hi. I’m glad to be on. Hey, I am livid over that comment I just heard that guy say. First of all, Romney is a sincere guy, and, you know, the media hates him, and that is clear. It is a miracle he is doing as good as he’s doing right now. I have heard over and over again, “He didn’t win Iowa, he’s out. He didn’t win New Hampshire, he’s out.” It is a miracle. He has gotten first and second in everything. It is a miracle he’s doing what he does with them against him like that. Okay, he can turn things around. He is one of the sharpest guys I’ve ever known. This man can analyze — he goes to a company, what does he do? He analyzes it, he says, “Okay, what’s going wrong, why isn’t this company working?” He sees what’s wrong. He cuts the waste and he increases productivity. Okay, this guy is amazing. If this guy wins the Republican nomination, he’ll take us to the White House, and no one else will, because, you know what, McCain is not a conservative. Huckabee, he should be a vice presidential candidate for the Democrats, okay? He’s a nice guy, but he is a liberal, okay, they can get some of the religious vote if they take him as a vice presidential candidate. I’m sorry. Am I getting too excited?
RUSH: No. I love women who are excited, especially when they’re talking to me.
Below is an example of Rush cutting through the liberal fog to call them out on their attempts to manipulate this election.
CALLER: — the real thing is, I like him.
RUSH: Disa.
CALLER: Yes. Sorry.
RUSH: No, no, no, no, no. Don’t apologize. Your instincts here are exactly right. I want to go further. I want to tell you what this is really all about to help your blood pressure levels. The media, in propping up Huckabee and McCain, I don’t care if they’re Republicans or Democrat Drive-Bys, they’re trying to destroy the conservative movement. This is why they are salivating over the possibility that Huckabee might have gotten the nomination. They think they could take out two of their biggest enemies in one election, conservative Christians and the evangelical vote, and they would love that. I’ve had a number of these Drive-Bys confirm that to me. Same thing with McCain. They just despise conservatives, period. They despise conservative leaders, people that have a chance to lead and govern with conservative policies, because the big target of conservatives is Big Government, and that’s God to these people! We’re going after their savior. Liberalism, if you look at it like a religion, God is their temple, abortion is their sacrament. And conservatives go after both of those things. And they’ve got to be destroyed. So, of course, they’re going to prop up a guy like McCain. Of course, McCain’s gone out and tried to make the Drive-By Media his base, not Republican voters. It’s no surprise to me McCain didn’t win Michigan. Republicans aren’t going to vote for him. The two primaries where he came close and won, independents and Democrats are voting.
This just in, more dirty tricks from Romney opponents desperate to stop the leader in delegate count and the candidate at the top of the national polls.
POLITICO.COM
By: Jonathan Martin
From Romney’s Michigan state Director Jason McBride in an e-mail to state supporters:
Dear Michigan Voter,
The focus of this election has now turned to Michigan. In the coming days, each Republican campaign will be engaged in an intense effort to make contact with each potential voter. Yet, while some will engage in an effort to turn out their vote, third party groups will be engaged in a campaign to discourage the supporters of their opponents. Based upon reports from Iowa and New Hampshire, you should expect:
Anonymous E-Mails Or Fake E-Mails: In both Iowa and New Hampshire, voters received emails that appeared to be coming from Romney for President but were actually meant to suppress support for Gov. Romney. In both states, voters received email messages from “Team Romney” touting the endorsement of the Log Cabin Republicans. The truth is that the Log Cabin Republicans have launched attack ads against Gov. Romney. They do not support the governor and oppose his strong defense of traditional marriage in America.
Nuisance Calls: In New Hampshire, Romney supporters received calls from California numbers late at night. The callers claim to be Romney staffers. These “staffers” will call back time and again late at night. These calls are intended to reflect poorly upon Gov. Romney and his campaign. We are committed to nothing but professionalism.
Push Polling: In both Iowa and New Hampshire, voters received out-of-state calls from supporters of Gov. Mike Huckabee claiming to run an impartial survey. However, once a voter identified themselves as a Romney supporter, they were subjected to negative information about the governor. The information received is patently false.
Remember an earlier post, and what Mitt said this morning on the Sunday shows: Mitt’s original strategy was created to deal with one front runner (Rudy G) who had all kinds of name recognition and appeared to be a juggernaut. Rudy’s slid back now with all the attention on tight races in IA and NH (and he could be back later), but that same attention has focused quite a few cameras on Mitt, who now has name recognition, is always either the story or the “other guy” in the story, and is not currently fighting any one clear front runner. While the press may try to make hay if Mitt takes a 2d silver in NH, Mitt would still be the guy with the football (and the delegates). To draw on my particular field, as a successful venture capitalist and CEO Mitt knows there are different phases in a company’s life, and each require a different focus. Mitt’s strategy and focus will also morph as his campaign moves from stage I to stage II. But as of now, the original Iowa and New Hampshire strategies have already worked and given Mitt the “IRR” he was looking for. But of course we also want that home run investment out of New Hampshire!
I was in the process of getting caught up on the site, after spending the week in Iowa, when I came across this excellent comment from one of our readers.
Linda on 02 Jan 2008 at 2:54 am edit this #6
Boy are you optimistic. I still see Romney getting the nomination, but through a more complicated route. Huck will squeeze past Romney in Iowa, and McCain will take New Hampshire, because both are so full of momentum right now, united against Romney, and getting a free pass from the MSM. Then Romney will take Michigan, his home state, because he will still be strong coming in 2nd in the first two states. Then it will come down to Huck vs. Romney in South Carolina. By this time, Huckabee has been stopped by the conservative press (Will, Limbaugh, Ingraham, Hannity, Coulter, Hewitt, etc.), who have all joined forces, for the sake of the party, to kill a Huckabee nomination. (They would have done it earlier, but they were all on Christmas break) Romney will then squeeze past Huck in South Carolina, due to Huck’s bad press. McCain will have since been out of contention, because he was only viable in NewHampshire anyway. That leaves only Giuliani and Romney to fight it out for Florida. I can’t predict that, but I think it will be a Romney/Giuliani race from then on, with Romney the victor, due to momentum, and the republican establishment on his side.
One of the things I have observed over the last year at this site is the reasoned analysis that goes on here, from both contributors and readers. We don’t have screaming contests with each other, there isn’t any of the sophomoric arguments that go on at other sites and, with the exception of the occasional “wing nut eruption”, our readers post comments that have real value in the ongoing process of selecting the next President. Thats why I posted Linda’s excellent analysis above. Kudos to Linda on a fine job!
Well, after spending all day in airplanes and airports yesterday, I made it back to wet California. I can say I definitely prefer wet over arctic. Finally, I was able to see the photos I had taken in Iowa and decided to do a quick post on the trip. I have not been able to read every post on our blog yet, so if I post information or photos similar to those of Jeff, Nate, Paul, or Jason, I apologize.
First though, I am posting information that I found interesting. I did not see these YouTubes posted in this blog, so I am posting them now. Many of you may have seen these, and if so, skip them to the photos below.
On caucus day, Jeff Fuller and I, along with Jason Bonham (MMM) and Steven Tylicki, were with the press pool that attended every event at which Governor Romney gave a speech (five as I recall). As we boarded the Romney media bus for our last round of stops and waited for others to join, Jeff was reviewing news and came across Amanda Carpenters blog post at Townhall.com in which she recounts details from a conversation she overheard of Ed Rollins. Right after reading the post on the bus, Amanda boarded the bus and received a number of congratulations and high fives. Later that night, her post hit the national news as Christ Wallace grilled Rollins. I love how Rollins does everything he can to evade and distract. I also love the reaction of Brit Hume at the end. CLASSIC! What is it about this Ed Rollins guy?
And then this from Glenn Beck. Apparently Beck had some kind of surgery and was at home recovering when he made this recording. You have to watch this all the way to the end. He is quite funny. I love his facial expressions and sarcasm:
As mentioned at other times in this blog, my favorite hobby since my youth is photography. In Iowa, I took around 300 photographs. These are among my favorites. I may post more later.
This first one was at our second campaign stop on caucus day. We stopped at what we were told is a Fortune 500 company (the only one in Iowa?), Krause Gentle. It was refreshing for the president of the company to come out and introduce Governor Romney and tell all his employees that he and his company endorse him for President.
This first shot is during the company president’s introduction of Governor Romney. I believe the Governor is holding Craig’s and Mary’s son, one of his grandsons.
This photograph includes Mary Romney and Dan Jantzen:
Right after the speech, Governor Romney spotted these two little girls with a microphone. One looked like she was 7 years old and the other 6 years old. Their teacher held the video cam. They were from the “Scholastic News Network” and had also interviewed Jeff Fuller as we entered the building:
Jeff Fuller and I were literally about six feet from Governor Romney during this speech. Immediately following the speech, Governor Romney stepped off the platform and walked over to Jeff standing beside me. I did not catch the whole exchange, but Governor Romney said something like, “Hey Jeff, good to see you! I didn’t know you were here in Iowa! Thanks for being here and for the support. I heard you recently moved to Louisiana. . . “ As many of you know, Jeff was instrumental in laying the organizational groundwork for the campaign in Iowa over a year ago and had several meetings with Governor Romney then. Knowing that the Governor meets thousands of people a week and that he had not seen Jeff in quite some time, it was most impressive to experience Governor Romney’s perfect memory. This photograph below is of Jeff standing at the flag that was the backdrop to the speech:
The following was taken at the end of the caucuses. Incidentally, I saw or heard some report that indicated that reporters outnumbered caucus goers and other Iowans at the Romney campaign stops that day. ANY REPORT YOU SEE TO THAT EFFECT IS FALSE. Every event we attended in the press pool had anywhere from 200 to 800 people with no more than 50 members of the media. The first stop, Principle Financial, one of the largest employers in the state, had the most media set up and did not exceed 50 people. There were at least 500 employees in attendance.
If any of you ever have the opportunity to go to a primary state to volunteer in the campaign, do it. That was a wonderful experience all the way around. Governor Romney has the best people working in his organization!
Turn Rich Lowry’s numbers around and you’d see something very interesting - if Utah was the first caucus and 60% of caucusers were Mormons and Mitt only got 1/3 of the vote and only won by 9 points, you’d say he lost. You’d say that even if his opponent had spent millions more. I hate to sound like a sore loser, but the media response doesn’t make sense to me. Given the favorable circumstances, I think Huckabee lost and Mitt won.
It doesn’t change the outcome, but it really brings out the media bias we are up against. (if you have the stomach for it, there’s many heated (and revealing) comments down the thread which make it eminently clear what else we are up against)
Many of the founders and readers of this blog have been around from the very beginning when Mitt Romney was polling in the low single digits. You could argue that it required courage to believe in Mitt back then, and it did. It was a different kind of courage, however. Expectations were not only low, they were non-existent. Mitt was all potential, all upside, and for the more politically “entrepreneurial” an exhilarating candidate to back.
Then came the fundraising results. Mitt was running the table on the Republican side, and it was so fun to watch and be a part of! Validation of our chosen candidate! Easy to be a Romney supporter.
Then came the first of the debates. Mitt showed that he could brawl with the big boys and in fact was considered so good that people came to expect it…Again, easy to be a Romney supporter.
Then came Ames. Wow! That was a real victory and so sweet to us Romney supporters! Again, easy to be a Romney supporter.
And came the Value Voters summit, and yet again Mitt won! (despite the mini-controversy about the online vs. in person vote…is it our fault that Romney supporters are more internet-savvy?) Again, easy to be a Romney supporter.
Then came the Huckabee surge, followed by the McCain surge. Through it all, Romney’s support stayed pretty firm. The surges were being funded out of Giuliani and Fred Thompson’s hides, not Mitt’s. It was frustrating to see, but still we could take solace in the strength of Mitt’s support and his organization. Easy to be a Romney supporter.
This brings us to today. Iowa spoke, and it said “Huckabee.”
For the first time, Mitt is not winning. He is not exceeding expectations, because expectations were too high. Mitt’s candidacy has been hurt, no two ways about it. Romney’s opponents on the Left, in the MSM, and in the Republican Party are exalting in the result.
Nothing in the world can take the place of Persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan ‘Press On’ has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race.” — Calvin Coolidge, 30th President of the United States
Mitt is pressing on with optimism and energy. How about you? Let’s “press on” and get ready for New Hampshire! This is nowhere close to being over. It will only make ultimate victory that much sweeter.
I’m just now getting to posting on yesterday’s events which were quite exciting.
When we arrived at the campaign headquarters the first thing we noticed is how packed it was. Parking overflowed the available lots and continued down the street. We saw many, many license plates from all around the country, the furthest being from Oregon. Inside the building was rather full as well. We grabbed a couple of ‘walking books’ drove to the city of Ankeny to knock some doors. The temperature was not any higher than the day before, but the lack of wind made it infinitely more pleasant to be outside.
First our wheel got stuck in the snow. There are no shoulder on the roads here. We have to park in snow banks because the roads are so narrow. Here it looked like there was a shoulder because the snow was even with the road, but as soon as I drove off the asphalt we sunk about 10 inches.
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Our vehicle and supplies.
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Our first neighborhood of the day.
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A Biden sign next to a deflated Santa Claus (kind of like Biden’s campaign). On my way back to the car a huge dog from this house tried to assault me. I think it’s owners trained it to recognize Republicans.
When we got back to HQ in the afternoon we hit the phones again. We missed a visit by Ann Romney while we were out.
Senator Bob Bennett (Utah) just arrived and we took an opportunity to get a photo with him, so I’ll interject that here.
(I’ll mention now that Senator DeMint of South Carolina is also here and is speaking right now, as well as Senator Wayne Allard of Colorado. I couldn’t get good photos of them.)
While doing phone calls I stopped to talk to a reporter I recognized from local Utah news. He interviewed us a small portion of the that was played on the 2 News at 10 in Salt Lake. The video is embedded below (after a short commercial, bleh). The quote they show of the rotund-ish guy with a beard and glasses is my brother Aaron. They show a guy just before that who says he’s from Houston but the caption says ‘Aaron Gunderson - Spanish Fork resident’, was not Aaron but someone I don’t know. Oops. Also visible in the video is at 1:41 is John Cronin wearing a green sweater.
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The highlight of yesterday was certainly going to the rally which was held at the HyVee Convention Center in West Des Moines. Pictures of that are below. My brothers were interviewed by a German Newspaper while I was running out to the car to get the camera. We were glad to get a chance to see Governor Romney after being here a few days already. He hasn’t been able to come the HQ because of the numerous events he is holding all across the state. At the rally (after Romney’s remarks) my brothers start a ‘ROMNEY’ chant (in Paulian style) that made a lot of the camera crews start swarming around us - so there might be some photos and short video clips in Wisconsin news, Germany and MTV. My parents said they did see us on C-Span. Twice on the news in one day. That’s two times more than the rest of my whole life. (Congressman Buck McKeon of CA is now making the rounds, and he’s now chatting with us about the show 24.) Photos from the rally:
Only part of the camera crews that were there.
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Carl Cameron of Fox News. I also saw David Brody of CBN. He did an interview with Ann Romney.
Here are some other random pictures from today:
John Cronin taking an Ice Cream break
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Me with the ‘Soul’ of the campaign. I don’t actually know his name, but i do know that he was an Evangelical Minister.
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Me, Jason Bonham of MMM and R408, and Vic Lundquist.
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New ERin2008 blogger Paul Johnson working at his laptop.
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..and Vic, who is also hard at work.
As for todays activities. More calling, lots of visitors, not much press surprisingly. Sitting next to me on the floor now is a cute little 9 year old from Ohio here making calls to caucuses - she’s speaking with gusto and conviction. My brothers and I (as well as several others) are going to be sent to some remote precincts where the campaign does not have a precinct leader. We will each actually attend separate caucuses, and be there to represent to campaign: hand out stickers, speak to the group about why they should support Romney, and supervise the count tally and reporting. I’m nervous and excited at the same time. I hope that we are not sent out too far as we would like attend the celebration afterwards. BTW I am told the results should come in very rapidly - we should know who won by 8:30 or so.
My brothers are telling me that Jeff Fuller just arrived. I have not yet met him in person so I’m gonna go see him now.
