So I've yet to see a summary of what went down in yesterday's business session. Anyone care to post a breakdown?
invocation, pledge, anthem
Boilerplate speeches by Justice Newby, Congresswoman Ellmers and Ag Commish Troxler
McCrory commercial on the vid screens. Cue "Won't Get Fooled Again" and about 45 seconds later, Mayor Fratboy comes in and does his thing. Loses points for not bringing his drum kit and ripping through that famous WGFA break. What a shock; they fade out the music before "Meet the new boss, same as the old boss". Note to the young'uns: this song was written before CSI:Miami came on the air.
Several other candidates were permitted to speak, notable only for very emotional remarks by Steve Royal (the anti-Fed Treasurer candidate who beat establishment hack Frank Roche in primary)
Candidates in runoffs get acknowledged but not allowed to speak: Hudson, Keadle, Goodwin, Gardner, etc.
Credentials chair attempts humor, fails. 1268 total delegates. I mention this for a reason.
Onward to the red meat...
David Lewis nominated, seconded, gives a nice speech. No hint of a challenge. Wins by acclamation. Also nice to see that he's whipped his stutter.
The Main Event: Dr. Ada vs. MFF, Round II. Rep. John Torbett nominates Mary Frances Forrester. Speech outlines her impressive party resume, gets a nice laugh by saying "she's a card-carrying member of the NRA, carries a concealed weapon, and drives a Ford Ranger truck. I'm 6'5" 240 and I don't mess with the lady". Then the fun begins: Ada nominates herself, which of course buys her the extra five minutes of floor time. Which she needs, because if there's an ox within a hundred miles of her, it's gonna get gored. "My first day on in Washington I told the chairman (the Michael Steele who does not play bass for the Bangles) 'This party's in debt! You gots ta GO!'" "I will be fair to ALL candidates (a nod to both the Paul crowd and to the primaries mentioned elsewhere in this thread)" "There's only two blacks in the RNC - does North Carolina want to kick one of those two out?" "My daddy was a Baptist preacher but I'm a Jew". Coin flip - MFF speaks. "I raised money". "I recruited candidates". "Jim & I did this and that and the other thing." "This is a volunteer position and I will not ask for my expenses to be paid." Ada returns fire: "I raised $25,000 my first event." "I encourage all candidates to run and I don't pick candidates and I don't support one against another in the primary". "I'm not ashamed of asking for reimbursement".
Secret ballot. 50 minutes later the numbers start coming in. Ada builds a slow lead, then when Mecklenburg tilts hard to Fisher it's over. Wake determines the final margin: ~650 Fisher, ~430 Mary Frances. Billy congratulates Ada and MFF is the first in the room to stand and applaud. Fisher delivers her victory speech from a floor mic rather than the podium. As has been pointed out, the Dr. is apparently not in the best of health and left the floor in a wheelchair. A third trip up and down the stage steps might have been difficult for her.
As we're still in shock over Ada's margin of victory, it's almost anti-climactic as Robin Hayes reads the Chairman's Slate of delegates. He starts with the Big Boys: Tillis, Berger, McCrory. For a split second the thought crosses my mind that maybe we've been screwed again, until the two final names are read: "Representative Glen GUNNY FREEDOM Bradley, and Ken Nelson" (please note: I added the "Gunny" part). Billy Miller intones "Are there any delegates wishing to nominate a slate from the floor?" I shift nervously in my seat. Eyes dart around the room. Is anyone gonna go rogue? "Seeing none the Chair declares nominations closed." Gavel. Vote. AYE. Gavel. Gunny and Ken are going to Tampa. Alternates slate goes down the same way, save for a point of information query: each alternate is "teamed" with a delegate, so if delegate #4 cannot perform his duties, he is replaced by alternate #4.
Jeremy rises for a point of personal privilege. Thanks Robin and the party for negotiating in good faith to give Paul's RNC slots to actual Paul supporters "unlike what happened in 2008". Closes with this delicious drop of gallows humor: "I got a few hundred of my friends here and most of us are under 40".
Presidential electors next. Four people have asked Ada (who else?!) to nominate them as an alternate to Robin's slate, and she does so. 15 minutes gets wasted as all the names get typed on the laptop that's hooked to the video screens. Someone wisely makes a motion to suspend the rules and vote by Division rather than secret ballot. Motion passes, as does the Chairman's slate of electors, by a ratio of better than 99:1.
On to Friday's unfinished business (most of the Platform and all of the Resolutions). A pro-midwifery plank had been added to Article I: Family on Friday. A motion is made to add a plank under Article III: Individual Liberty, "encouraging police departments to refuse to cooperate with Federal law enforcement efforts to implement provisions of NDAA". After some procedural wrangling the motion is voted down. More procedural wrangling and a motion to accept the entire Platform without any further amendment or debate passes.
First resolution, calling for the repeal of Obamacare, passes easily, after an amendment to change all instances of "Obamacare" to "Romneycare" also passes. Just kidding.
Second resolution: "Revamping Our Nation's Energy Policy". An amendment to strengthen anti-subsidy language passes. An amendment to add a plank to endorse expanded water testing in and around areas used for "fracking" is proposed. A delegate argues that the amendment is not germane to the Resolution, the Chair declares it "broadly germane" and allows debate to continue. Which it does. And does. And does. A half-hour later the vote is finally taken and the amendment loses, establishment mostly opposed, Paul contingent mostly in favor.
Third resolution: Opposition to Agenda 21. Surprisingly little debate. Passed by a comfortable vote. Big win for Paul nation. The fact that the United Nations is mentioned often in the resolution likely helped get some of the hearing-aid crowd to vote Aye.
Sensing that we're losing people and it's getting late, the Resolutions Chair jumps ahead to the honorary resolutions, which were originally going to be voted on last. Lee Teague makes a motion that all the honoraries be read and voted on at once, but as a motion has already been made on the Jim Forrester resolution, Lee is ruled out of order. Forrester resolution passes. Teague now moves that the remaining TWO resolutions (Bob Shaw and Sue Myrick) be read and voted on together. Lee's motion and the resolutions pass.
OK, back to issues-oriented resolutions. But wait. A motion to adjourn. Seconded. Privileged motion, no debate, no amendment. Voice vote is close so the chair calls for Division by teller counting. We're now past the scheduled start of the Perry dinner. Ayes stand. Nays stand. Miller: "May I please have all the delegates who did not vote on the motion to please stand?" WTF? "The motion having 205 votes in the affirmative (i.e. to adjourn), 251 votes in the negative (i.e. to keep going and vote on the remaining resolutions) and 15 delegates not voting, the convention is adjourned for lack of quorum."
He used a moment of personal privilege to ask that Charles Thomas step aside from the RNC slate. Which of course Charlie didn't do.
