Convention schedule

MONDAY

Monday, June 9, 2008

12:00 p.m. Temporary Rules & Platform Committees

TUESDAY

Tuesday, June 10, 2008

9:00 a.m. Temporary Rules & Platform Committees

WEDNESDAY

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

9:00 a.m. Temporary Rules & Platform Committees

11:00 a.m. Temporary Credentials Committee

­5:00 p.m. Grassroots Training

4:00 p.m. Temporary Organization Committee

4:00 p.m. SREC Meeting

THURSDAY

Thursday, June 12, 2008

9:00 a.m. Registration and Tradeshow Open

9:00 a.m. Temporary Credentials Committee

12:00 p.m. First General Session3:00 p.m. First Senatorial District Caucus Meeting - elect caucus chair andpermanent convention committee members.

8:00 p.m. Permanent Committee Meetings

FRIDAY

Friday, June 13, 2008

6:45 a.m. Registration Opens

7:00 a.m. Tradeshow Opens

7:00 a.m. Prayer Rally

9:00 a.m. Second SD Caucus Meetings - elect SREC members and nominate state chair and vice chair

11:00 a.m. State Nominations Committee Meeting

1:00 p.m. Second General Session

4:00 p.m. First CD Caucus Meeting - elect caucus chair and nationaldelegates/alternates and national nominations committee members

5:30 p.m. American Solutions and the Texas Federation of Black Republicans Symposium. (It's on immigration, I understand -- you can RSVP at 1-832-746-1239).

6:00 p.m. National Nominations Committee Meeting

7:00 p.m. RPT Banquet (you have to have a ticket for this one -- MittRomney's speaking)

SATURDAY

Saturday, June 14, 2008

8:00 a.m. Registration and Tradeshow Open

8:00 a.m. Second CD Caucus Meeting - nominate national committeewoman, national committeeman, nominate national presidential elector

10:00 a.m. National Nominations Committee Meeting

1:00 p.m. Third General Session

SREC Meeting (upon adjournment)

National Delegate Meeting (upon adjournment)

Stay tuned for updates.

Renewed interest in delegate process

When I first became a delegate to the Republican convention in 1996, people I told about my selection asked "What's a delegate?" "huh?" or (to my amusement) "Does it pay?"

It was a process of which many were ignorant, perhaps due to the relative political apathy of the 1990s. But today things are starting to change. With heated primary races in both major U.S. parties, much attention has been given to the delegate selection process, and the state parties' role in selecting presidential electors.

Ron Paul supporters in the GOP have brought in scores of new voters to our ranks, and have shaken things up on precinct, county and senatorial district levels. The neck and neck Hillary vs. Obama contest in the other party has resulted in national press attention -- so much that "superdelegate" has become a household word.

(Sidenote: It used to be fun telling Democrats they're with the party that encourages you to "vote early and often," and watching them get offended! But now the joke's not as funny, as everyone knows that the Democrats have a way for voters to vote twice: during the precinct election and at the precinct caucuses!)

With all this added attention, we are most likely going to see a new mix of delegates and alternates that what we've seen in previous years.

Three factors to consider:

Carole Keeton Strayhorn's independent run for governor narrowed down delegate counts in counties across Texas (as the number of delegates allotted is based on the number of voters who voted for the GOP candidate for governor in the last election) and many who signed Strayhorn's petiton to run were surprised to find that they were ineligible to serve.

Ron Paul's run for president has drawn in many delegates who were attracted by his "lower-case l libertarian" views and opposition to the Iraq War. There's certain to be some ideological conflict between anti-war Paul supporters and Iraq War supporters. Many chairmanships were challenged at the precinct and county/senatorial district conventions by Paul supporters.

My opinion: Many would be supporters or Mike Huckabee, Mitt Romney, John McCain, Rudy Giuliani, Duncan Hunter, Fred Thompson, Paul or other candidates, left the Republican Party to vote in the Democrat primary to keep Hillary Clinton from getting/not getting the nomination. Conservatives who jumped parties were ineligible to serve as delegates. This also shaved down our numbers a bit.

To review:

Faithful GOP stalwarts + Ron Paul supporters - Republicans who switched parties to keep Hillary out/in - Strayhorn petition signers from the 2006 gubernatorial race = One interesting convention.

We'll keep you informed on how it all pans out.

Houston or bust!

Welcome, delegates, alternates, guests, pages, sergeant-at-arms, journalists, political junkies, armchair analysts, and anyone interested to a blog about what has in previous years been the biggest gathering of Republicans in the U.S!

Feel free to leave your thoughts, suggestions, questions and complaints here. The creators of this blog -- delegates from several counties in North Texas -- hope this blog can serve as a valuable tool in the often-complex/usually interesting/always worthwhile convention process. With the advent of laptops and wifi technology, we can provide up-to-the-minute commentary on the issues before the convention that the press may not have the time (or the interest) to report.

We felt an independent, grassroots voice could help in many other ways, too, such as keeping delegates informed on upcoming votes and listing last-minute convention activities. So let's see how this goes.

Note: This blog is in no way meant to favor one particular candidate, support a list of platform issues, nor is it meant to circumvent the leadership of the Republican Party of Texas (who are certain to have their hands full during the convention). It's simply a forum for observers at the convention to comment. If you'd like to help report, please respond to this blog or to the moderator.

The opinions of the blog posters are solely those of the posters, and not that of the Republican Party of Texas or its affiliates.

God bless Texas.