As I begin to write about the California Republican Party Convention that I attended this weekend at the Fairmont Hotel in San Jose, I should start out by saying that as the week goes by, I (along with many other FR weblog contributors who attended the convention) will be following this piece with other thoughts, observations, stories and vignettes on things that happened in the hallways, backrooms, and hospitality suites at the convention. Of course, the highlight of our review of the CRP convention will come late in the week when the FlashReport releases our latest version of the Winners & Losers of the CRP convention. For the last ten convention (going back five years), the W&L edition of the FR has looked back over the weekend, from just about every imaginable angle, and tried to figure out how people fared, from topics as varied as political elections to personal attire. We really encourage input as we figure this all out, as the FR and our team couldn’t be everywhere, so please submit your ideas here.
My first observation from the convention is that Republicans are excited and energized coming out of this convention to score some major victories this November. Enthusiasm for Governor Schwarzenegger’s re-election chances was high (despite some concerns on some policies, which I will talk about further down in this column), and there was a lot of energy on the down-ticket races — especially for our Lieutenant Governor candidate, State Senator Tom McClintock.
With over a thousand registered participants at the convention, it was noticable how focused attendees were on maximizing their convention experience in terms of taking home information, and receiving training. On Friday, the party conducted a top-notch campaign school that was filled to over-capacity, and on Saturday there were a ton of workshops, mostly filling to the brim. Lorelei Kinder, the State GOP’s convention content manager (or something like that) told me that over 60% of registrants participated in the workshops (which is great).
The series of meal speakers ranging from the Governor, Senator Tom McClintock and Secretary of State Bruce McPherson were well received.
Of course, I have to take an opportunity to thank convention attendees on behalf of the FlashReport. Not only did me and my fellow FR contributors get deluged with positive feedback about the site, but our Saturday afternoon workshop was well attended, and Congressman Darrell Issa’s Saturday evening hospitality suite celebrating the FR’s first successful 5 month as a website was a smashing success!
**There is much more – click the link**
March 1st, 2006 at 12:00 am
Jon – I think you wrote a very accurate analysis of the Convention. Thanks for reporting on it.