Refreshing viepoints

"Everything you do, whether perceived to be good or bad, is good because it's an experience" - Eugene Alpert, Senior Vice President of The Washington Center

Today the National Co-Chairman of the Republican National Convention Jo Ann Davidson, from Ohio I might add, spoke to us for an hour and was followed up by former Congressman Tim Penny of Minnesota. Jo Ann Davidson gave us a very interesting perspective of the Convention including why it is in Minneapolis-St. Paul and an insiders viewpoint. Tim Penny gave a refreshing look at Congress as an Independent, former Democrat, who represented a mostly Republican district of Minnesota.

Congresswomen Jo Ann Davidson helped us to understand that the selection of the location for the RNC was more of a business decision than a political one. It was explained that had the site for the Convention been a political decision, Minneapolis-St. Paul probably never would have been in the running because of its traditional Democratic and Independent leanings. However, being a business decision, Minneapolis was picked because of a good public transportation, two great sites to hold large events, (the Excel Energy Center and The Convention Center in St. Paul), and the amount of help from the citizens and politicians of Minneapolis-St. Paul. Also, the ability to house the approximately 15,000 media personnel and all the delegates definitely comes into play, which Minneapolis-St. Paul can do extremely well with it's multiple hotels. She also talked about the Rules Committee, Platform Committee, and the Committee of Arrangements as well as their roles within the Convention.

Tim Penny talked about the current Presidential race with the obvious view of an Independent, but also as an outsider looking in. He made the point that America today has signaled its want for a change in Washington D.C. with the selection of Barak Obama, a man too young to be truly tied to Democratic interest groups, and John McCain, a man who has been seen as a Maverick in Congress for all 25 years he has served in Congress, as the Presidential hopefuls. Something Penny said that was the most impactful was that young people must be the ones to repair the political system, a system that Penny said was messed up by his generation of Congressmen. Tim Penny also said that although social issues are what commonly help a candidate be nominated and elected, once President those same candidates barely touch on those issues. Penny also stated that he believes what makes Congress so polarized is the lack of an informal culture amongst the members of Congress, because Congress has become a career and no longer a public service, because of redistricting of states, the closed rules and acrimony, and because of the use of interest groups in fundraising. Fundraising, Penny said, should be disclosed in real-time, not as it is currently. Real-time disclosure will help to increase accountability and decrease the amount of fake name and loophole donations.

Also today we went to the Minnesota State Fair where I was immersed in a new culture, including almost everything on a stick. That includes pork chops, meatballs, eggs, cheese curds, foot long corn dogs, pickels, and almost every other food you can think of. They even had boulders "on a stick" in a landscape by the sheep barn at the fair. The best part about it was Sweet Martha's fresh baked and warm chocolate chip cookies and the German root beer.

As I was writing this, I was watching Gov. Brian Schweitzer of Montana give his speech at the DNC and I am currently watching Hillary speak at the DNC and I must say, the speeches tonight, and last night, have been very motivational, although in different ways. Last night's speeches were emotional and showed the emotional side of the party, starting out on a softer note, (something I agree with, although the pundits do not), and tonight with true policy statements and rallying of the Democrats against the Republicans. Schweitzer truly motivated the Democratic National Convention with his statistics and policy statements about energy, and within the first three minutes of Hillary's speech, it was refreshing to hear her say that Obama is her candidate. This is a very smart move by Hillary to get the Democrats truly united, as Obama and Clinton have said they wanted to do, and will hopefully finally bring closure to the race between Obama and Clinton. Also, with this perhaps the Democrats will finally think about Democrats for a Democrat, instead of Obama supporters for Obama and Hillary supporters for Hillary.

The new language that I learned today was the "redefinition" of a Convention to an insider as a business decision with a political undertone versus a truly political decision as I thought it was.

That's about it for today.

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