My Experience at the Republican National Convention: Day 2

Day 2: Welcome to Florida: The Cubans Have Taken Over

When we woke up on Treasure Island Monday morning, it was already looking like a pretty nice day. The sun was breaking through the clouds. Good news for us, but later this would be horrible news for the people of Louisiana, as Hurricane Isaac had not turned towards the Florida peninsula, but rather, towards them.

Joe, Amar, and I had originally planned to go to some events that were supposed to be hosted by the Heritage Foundation – but given the earlier weather reports, they had already canceled their events for the day. So, we changed gears and went to see some online live television tapings hosted by FrontRowTampaBay.com, the Associated Industries of Florida (AIF), and the Sayfie Review.

Much of the discussions we witnessed from various panels included a look at the economic development here in Florida and the capital opportunities to invest here to help entrepreneurs grow their businesses. This all took place at the Stageworks Theatre in the revitalized Channelside distict of Tampa. As we were there, we also ran into so many notables including Florida’s Chief Financial Jeff Atwater, Speaker of the House Designate Will Weatherford, former Congressman and current chairman of AIF, Tom Feeney, and Justin Sayfie. They even provided food and beverages so we were able to grab some lunch there.

From there, we headed to the Sheraton in East Tampa for a session conducted jointly by the Franklin Center and the Heritage Foundation, where they showcased the need for citizen journalism and how everyday citizens are now breaking news the mainstream media refuses (or doesn’t have time) to cover. This time, Joe, Amar and I linked back up with our JMI colleagues Scott Sholl as well as with Bill Mattox, who just arrived into Tampa and would be joining us in town for two days due to the illness of one of our other employees, Will Patrick, who was still at home recovering.

After the session at the Sheraton ended, we waded through another afternoon squall from a very outer band of Isaac as we headed back to Channelside.  We arrived at the  where we met up with two more of our colleagues, our President Bob McClure and our Public Affairs Director Thomas Perrin, at Stump’s Supper Club to take part in a Washington Post Politics & Pints trivia game. So we were now up to seven.

While walking over there, we walked by the MSNBC outdoor studios, where we saw Chris Matthews on the air doing his thing. While observing this, we also ran into former Maryland Lt. Governor Michael Steele and we were able to have a nice conversation with him. I reminded him I had once volunteered for his campaign while a grad student at the University of Maryland.

Once inside Stump’s Supper Club, we noticed the trivia game was getting off to a slow start. It wouldn’t start until an hour after it was advertised. But this gave us a nice place to stop and relax and catch up with each other. Since the big deal of the night was the American Conservative Union’s (ACU) “Nuestra Noche” party at the Cuban Club in Ybor City, we left the Pints & Politics trivia (we were doing pretty good after two rounds). It’s a good thing we left early, because the Cuban Club was packed! The party had started at 8:00 PM and we arrived shortly thereafter (it was billed as an 8PM – Midnight deal). By 9:00 PM it was so packed they weren’t letting anyone else in. Whew!

The Cuban Club is an historic club that dates back to the late 1800s. Many patriots gathered here while hoping their homeland would be free from the rule of the Spanish Empire. This was a place Jose Marti came to speak to the many tobacco workers about freedom. Just over a century later, many other patriots would gather here on this night. As we walked in, the salsa music was playing and I said to one of my friends visiting from from DC: “Welcome to Florida: The Cubans Have Taken Over.”

Indeed, it feels that way. Al Cardenas, a former Chairman of the Republican Party of Florida, is now Chairman of the ACU, the host of the party. Towards the end of the evening, Marco Rubio showed up to deliver some remarks to the packed crowd. Cardenas himself was born in Cuba and by now we all know Marco Rubio’s story, born to Cuban parents. Between Al Cardenas who spoke earlier in the evening from the stage and Marco Rubio, who spoke late in the evening, we heard from New Mexico Governor Susana Martinez, as well as several of Mitt Romney’s sons.

I ran into so many friends from across Florida and many more from across the country, some who I have not seen in quite a while. The conservatives knew where to come and Ybor City was throwing quite the party for them during their visit in Tampa Bay.

Near midnight, we decided to head back on our 45-minute commute to Treasure Island. But before we did, we ran into Vermin Supreme, who is a big act on YouTube. He is “running” a “campaign” for President against both Obama and Romney. So we snapped a picture with this guy. But we headed on our way back to the hotel, as we still had three more days ahead and we needed to get some rest. It wouldn’t be much.