At the Presidency IV rally in Orlando this past Saturday, I interviewed several Republican ambassadors (or what the Republican party of Florida (RPOF) calls "activists") and three members of the Teenage Republicans delegation. Below are videos of the interviews along with some written commentary.
Saturday's schedule began with the governor's luncheon, at which I sat with a number of Republican ambassadors from all around the state of Florida. One of the most friendly and animated was Danny Sexton, a florist and longtime Republican party member from Kissimmee. We had an interesting chat about the growing sense of factionalism in the Republican party, and how the latest crop of candidates had strayed somewhat from the party's core beliefs. Despite that, he wasn't a big fan of the lesser-known candidates -- at least at the beginning of the event.
After the luncheon, there was a dessert reception on the other side of the convention center. It was pretty loud, and various Republican party officials were trying to give speeches near where the desserts and coffee were being served. Down a quiet side hallway, several groups of people escaped the crowd and silently enjoyed their coffee and confections. One of them was Dick Windle and his wife. Dick's actually the secretary of the Republican Executive Committee in Citrus county, and served for 16 years as an elected city councilman in Oregon before he moved to Florida, so he's about as die-hard a Republican as you'll find. Like many Republicans in attendance, Dick was most interested in nominating the candidate who would be most likely to defeat the Democratic opposition. Although he thought Mike Huckabee had some good ideas, he didn't think that Huckabee would win, so he will probably not cast his primary vote for the former governor.
An in email after this article published, Dick Windle said that he was disappointed in Fred Thompson's too-brief rally speech, but that the other top-tier candidates are still in the running. In a discussion with some sourthen Florida Presidency IV attendees after the below video clip was recorded, the group dreamed up an ideal Giuliani/Huckabee GOP ticket.
My next stop was a part of the convention hall where various Republican groups and candidate supporters had set up tables. Though several were interesting to me, I thought that the Teenage Republicans would provide the most compelling interview materials. Travis Clinger, Joshua Edson, and Devin Devenport had some very carefully worded things to say about the Republican party. 2008 will be the first presidential election that they will be able to vote in.
After the candidates' speeches, I found Christa Johnson, her husband Stephen Johnson, and their friend Meredith Mercer relaxing near the press room. I'd actually been standing behind them during the candidates' rally, too -- they had a nice front row spot. The Johnsons, being parents of two with another child on the way, were Republicans because of the party's stalwart position on family values. I learned something surprising from this interview: Mitt Romney's campaign had contacted the Johnsons via email and asked them to apply to be ambassadors for Presidency IV. Surely if Romney could flood the rally with vocal supporters, the visible show of strength would be enough to convince the party's die-hard core constituents that he was the most electable of the candidates. To me, this is dirty pool, but I suppose that's what politics is all about. The good news was, neither the Johnsons nor their guest were particularly in favor of Mitt Romney, and had not yet decided whom they would vote for in the primary or in the presidential election.
Other Presidency IV videos
It's hard to keep a camera still while you're holding it up above your head for a long period of time. If you don't mind a little shakiness, I have some video clips from Saturday's Presidency IV events:
Fred Thompson's rally speech:
The RPOF chairman's rally speech introduction:
Florida governor Charlie Crist's rally speech:
Most of Rudy Giuliani's rally speech (in three parts):
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