Tampa Day 3 - The Day Before Convention

Monday morning, at the Texas delegation meeting, we heard from Texas US Senator John Cornyn and candidate for US Senate Ted Cruz. They discussed the importance of standing strong as Republicans and the need to beat President Obama in the November election for the betterment of our country's future.

The GOP Convention was supposed to start on Monday, but it was cancelled because of Hurricane Isaac and the following three days' schedule was reorganized. So we had a day to ourselves to prepare for the actual convention, and instead of lounging around, a couple of other alternate delegates and I decided to check out the convention center. We had to park about a 5-10 minute walk away from the entrance to the security perimeter, and then after entering the security perimeter, trekked another 15-20 minutes until we got to the Media Center (which we didn't know was the Media Center at first since we were searching for the actual convention center). Security at the Media Center consisted of checking convention badges, x-ray machines for bags, and walking through a metal detector. While we were there, a drink vendor there gave us a free pass to pick up water and coffee. Unfortunately, we were never able to use them! From the Media Center, we were directed to the other end of the building where we could board buses that would then take us to the actual convention center - so off we went. I wish I took pictures in the Media Center...

We arrived at the convention center and walked through the back door media entrance and landed directly on the convention floor (again, wish I took pictures of the first day. I have pictures of the floor on the days of the actual convention). Since there wasn't an actual session taking place that day, some delegates, alternate delegates, and guests were roaming the convention floor, as well as media. I was interviewed by a Los Angeles ABC affilliate news station about why I was interested in politics, what I might say to other Asian-Americans about getting involved, and what I wanted to hear from Ann Romney's speech pertaining to females and minorities. In terms of why I was interested, I told the reporter that I heard one man's message about freedom and it really called me to action about the importance of getting involved and active to make a different instead of passively watching things happen. As to what I might tell other Asian-Americans, I told him I didn't grow up learning about social issues or politics, and it was more of a self-awakening to the country's problems. Whether one is Asian-American or not, all of these issues affect us, and thus it is important to know what is going on in government, know your rights, and stand for what you believe in. And what I wanted to hear from Ann Romney? I told him it wasn't about being a minority or female. I wanted her to address us all as individuals and about the importance of freedom as individuals, because once we start grouping ourselves into a category, we start separating ourselves based on slight differences rather than bonding together because of greater similarities. I don't know if it ever got aired or not, and I can't find any clip of it online... but that was basically my interview.

In the evening, we had an AT&T sponsored reception with the Colorado delegation, and I thought I took pictures at this event, but they aren't on my phone... so maybe someone else has them. There were three different tables with various finger foods on them, and then an ice-cream bar (yum), and live music. It was a fun night before work the next day.