Well, after a long couple days and driving back from Richmond yesterday, I have found time to write-up my thoughts on the RPV Convention. This was the first RPV Convention that I have attended.
We arrived at the convention center about and hour before the opening session on Friday. The venue itself was a fine facility and we were able to easily get registered as delegates without a hitch. There were of course many representatives/candidates from campaigns present and future there in addition to various vendors/PAC Groups. We spent a good time talking with John Brownlee and his wife Lee Ann. They were very nice and remembered us from our previous conversations well. I am even more convinced that Brownlee should be the AG nominee in 2009.
The convention room itself was a bad choice. I estimate that only around 15% of the actual attendees could see the stage unobstructed without watching the monitors. There was a large column and sound/audio stage in the way. Space and seating wasn’t much of a problem on Friday since it wasn’t the big event, but on Saturday this became an issue and audio problems were prevalent. When the convention was at the point of electing a temporary chair, chaos took place. Chairman Hager did not conduct the meeting properly when another motion was made that was not in the planned sequence that RPV had envisioned. This resulted in the convention being put “at ease” while Hager spoke with the parliamentarian. It is my understanding that the Marshall folk were trying to place their own temporary chair in nomination instead of the pre-designated Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling. Hager seemed confused as to what was occurring and appeared to be caught by surprise. After conferring with the parliamentarian, Hager stated a vote by division would be made. He really messed up the wording of what was the motion and the audio was not great. I don’t think most of the crowd knew what they were voting for. Lt. Gov. Bolling was finally placed in as convention chair. Bolling himself did a stellar job of running the convention over the course of business both days.
Friday night, the Vice President spoke at a gala event. We did not attend. Following that, the hospitality suites were open. We visited the McDonnell/Bolling birthday celebration which was very packed. John Brownlee had a great suite setup complete with some good ham biscuits. Next, we went across the street to the Frederick reception. Frederick had some great root beer floats and ice cream for attendees and the room quickly filled up. Following this, we decided to call it a night and walked back to our hotel.
Saturday morning we arrived about 45 minutes before the call to order and met-up with our other two delegates. The venue was packed with many delegates. Seating became a huge problem. The 9th District was in the back split between an aisle for some reason, which made communication difficult. The seating problem mentioned for Prince William County was apparent. Some of the delegates had to be pushed forward and eventually took over part of the designated 9th District seating. This clearly again showed that RPV had planned badly. There was so much of the convention hall that was unused floor space. Since RPV knew a couple weeks ago how many delegates were registered, they should have put out enough chairs and grouped them effectively.
For Senate, Jim Gilmore made his presentation first. Each side was allotted 20 minutes for nomination speeches/activities. Bob Marshall gave his next and was actually cut off due to exceeding the time limit. I think this fueled support for him in a minuscule way. At that point and judging by the number of Marshall supporters present I felt that the race was going to be extremely close. It actually did turn up that way.
When it got time for balloting, things were confusing. The unit chairs got their ballots from the district chairs, distributed and collected them, and returned them to the district chair for counting in front of them and added to the district list. Votes were reported by the district chairs as a whole of the units. A ceremonial act was that the district roll was called and the district chairs reported their totals to the convention from the floor. The convention secretary apparently had trouble many times understanding or hearing what the district chairs were reporting. This roll call really was poorly executed in my opinion and really didn’t matter. The 7th District passed when it was their time to report to the convention, which fueled speculation and chatter about who had won. In the end, the 7th District reported the winning votes for Gilmore.
Then it was time for the chairman vote. Susan Allen nominated Hager for chair. Chairman Hager opened immediately claiming that he was the victim of attacks from Frederick. I think he was trying to use the sympathy vote, which didn’t end up going his way there. He really didn’t say much about what he planned to do other than what the RPV has done in the last month. Frederick delivered a smashing presentation. When he was introduced, the whole hall erupted and it seemed like everyone held up blue Frederick signs. House Majority Leader Morgan Griffith spoke in favor of Frederick. I only spotted about 5 Hager signs in the crowed during this. At that point, I thought it was safe to assume Frederick would win.
Balloting for chair next took place in the same method as for Senate. In a way I don’t know why one ballot couldn’t have been produced and we would have voted at the same time for both offices after hearing all the presentations. Seems redundant and pro-longed to me. Finally Bolling said some units were continuing to vote and in the interest of time went ahead and introduced keynote speaker George Allen. Allen gave a great speech that really fired up the crowd. After he was done, Bolling approached the podium and told district chairs the roll call would start in about 2 minutes. More than 2 minutes went by and Bolling finally approached the podium and started saying nice things about Hager’s service to Virginia. At that point it was clear Frederick had won a landslide. Bolling next introduced Hager who made a motion to elect Frederick chair by acclamation and to waive the reading of the vote totals. It passed overwhelmingly. In the 9th District alone, Frederick received 100+ more votes than Hager. I’m sure it must have been a landslide victory for Frederick.
This convention showed a lot about the party. It pitted the “old guard” against the “new guard” of the RPV. Yesterday, each side won a contest, which was almost easily 2-0 in favor of the “new guard.” I hope that both guards can work together under the leadership of Frederick to retain our U.S. Senate seat and to sweep the elections in 2009.
I also hope that the Marshall and Gilmore supporters will unite as a common force to defeat Mark Warner. If this doesn’t happen, the U.S. Senate staff can save all the Senator Warner signs and insignia for a new Senator Warner.
Best of luck and all the best to Jim Gilmore and Jeff Frederick in their new positions.
I hope to post some photos soon of the Convention….stay tuned.
