Convention Characters: more Dems announced

[M]

Three weeks ago, I was lucky enough to attend the Texas GOP convention in San Antonio. (My dad was a delegate, and I got snuck in with a Sergeant-at-Arms badge... long story.) Anyway, there is this really great speaker you all need to know about. His name is Sgt Eric Alva. He was the first man wounded in Iraq, lost his trigger finger and left leg above the knee three hours into the fighting. He's thirtyish, signed up for the Gulf War but it ended during his basic training. His first overseas deployment was Mogadishu... before leaving, he met George Bush. After being wounded ten years later, he met another president named George Bush. A former marathon runner, he plans to run again this year on his prosthetic leg. A Hispanic, he talks with that interesting Spanish-Southern crossed accent that is so common down here. Actually a very good speaker, and very pro-Bush. I hope he runs for something some day. Bringing him out in the Big Apple would be gold. Another hit at the Texas convention: playing Darryl Worley's MTV video on giant screen. Everyone loved it. Other interesting characters are Congresssman Henry Bonilla, another good GOP Hispanic, Senator Hutchison, a well-recognized and popular woman, and possibly Perry, an old Bush ally (much less umph though... him as governor is like the understudy filling in), and Tom DeLay (not my favorite, someone needs to whisper to him to stick to Security and Prosperity and avoid Family Values).

Aside from these, good GOP speakers could include:

Rudy, make him keynote as possible.

The gavehnuh, vat a fahntahstic idea.

Bill Frist.

Respected Senior Senators- Hatch, Warner, Cochrane.

Conservative Senators- Talent, Allen, Sununu, maybe Santorum (approach with extreme caution).

Moderate Senators-  Coleman, McCain (I wish... not likely), Snowe, Specter.

Governors I haven't mentioned- Pataki, Romney, JEB (maybe), Taft .

Cabinet oficials- Powell, Ashcroft, Rice, Rumsfeld, Wofowitz.

Guest Democrats- Koch, Miller, Griffin Bell, Rep. Hall (recently switched to the GOP).

[M]

Ben, those ideas make pratical sense, but I don't know if the party will follow them. Unlike the GOP this year, the Dems seem to be going with the "highlight raving to energize the radical base" strategy, which almost never works in this country.