Sunday, May 17, 2009

Republican Convention

Yesterday, I had a rather unique experience. I volunteered for Andre Bauer at a state Republican Convention. He is South Carolina's Lieutenant Governor and is going to run for Governor in 2010. He is genuinely a good guy, which is unusual in politics. Having been around politicians most of my life, I have seen a lot of people who are pretty phony, and are just in it for the money or the power. Andre is not like that. He truly wants to help people and make their lives better. So, when he asked for volunteers last week, I said yes. Besides, I got a free t-shirt, but that is not why I said yes. I said yes, because he is my friend. So, I got there around 7am to begin my day. I was assigned to give out stickers and shirts. I stood at the top of the escalator and greeted delegates, as they entered the hall. I gave away a lot of shirts and stickers. So many that I had to go back to our table a few times and beg for more. Some delegates weren't interested, but most were. I also got to see our two US senators and shake hands with our governor. There was a lot of power in that hall, and some fake people, but I have to say that I did see some caring going on. There were also some floor fights, but that is to be expected. After all, with all of those Baptist conventions I went to growing up, I saw a lot of fights there, too, and those were supposedly religious people. I have found that some folks just want to be heard and have their names in the minutes. Most folks don't really care. But, this convention yesterday was for the party activists. Those folks who work in their local counties, motivitating others to vote. So, their words mean something on the local level. We gave out of Andre shirts. We had to resort to stickers, booklets, and pens. Of course, there were those who just wanted something free, but it was nice to see how many people seemed to care about the candidate. Another candidate's booth was next to ours. He had doughnuts and coffee, so his booth was popular for a while, but not after the food was gone. I must say Andre had the largest group of volunteers and the most organized. He even gave me a delegate badge, so I could go into the hall and listen to the speeches. I didn't agree with a lot of the philosphies being presented, but it was very interesting. As a political junkie, I was in a good place yesterday. I stayed until the end. It was a long day, but I was glad I went and look forward to helping Andre win next year.

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