Columns, pieces and posts
People are talking about how subdued the floor is. Normally Republicans in convention are whomp-’em, stomp-em full of cheers. They interrupt the speakers too much! But last night Chris Christie said a few lines that you knew he knew would garner big applause, and he got what a young speechwriter this morning called “crickets.” It happened […]
A read on the first night of the convention: They lit the candle. They got past the ill luck of the storm and declared there’s a convention going on. Ann Romney was stunning, sweet, full of enthusiasm, a little shy, a little game for the battle. Her speech was fine. I think the headline was […]
From a Chris Christie aide: The governor’s speech will be “positive” in tone, “Republicans and Democrats working together.” He’ll speak briefly about where he comes from, who he is, what his parents taught him. He will make the case that the American people hunger for honesty, that they want candor from their political leaders, that […]
The vibe of this convention has been weird. There has been a constant sense of something impending, some doom about to be delivered. What everyone is hungry for, hopeful for, will be so grateful for, is: a sparkling opening at 8 p.m. that will chase the clouds away. A great Christie speech, a line, a […]
A guy who’s speaking at the convention told me he has been talking to “the professionals.” They told him to speak to the person in the living room, then they told him to speak to the people in the hall. They told him to speak to businessmen, and then they told him no, speak to […]
A U.S. senator from the West talking about Paul Ryan: “I think Romney was challenging himself.” Romney knew he had to become a better candidate, knew he needed someone who played a higher policy game, knew he needed someone who prompted him. “It was a self-challenge. And that was smart.”
On the floor of the convention, I was introduced to a guy who’ll be speaking later this week. He isn’t in politics, he has never spoken to a convention, and what he is afraid of is this: He’ll be up there trying to speak, and the crowd will be bopping a big beach ball back […]
Ground Zero, the floor of the convention, Monday afternoon, 3 p.m. A thousand people mill about and interview each other. Local TV crews interviewing delegates, network stars doing standups in bright lights. Camera flashes. Politicians standing at the podium to see where the prompters have been placed. Scanning the room from left to right: Diane […]
This isn’t a good sign. I have seen the set. It is handsome and spacious. But programmers are going to manipulate images on 13 LED screens “looming over the floor”? LED “ribbons” will carry tweets and Facebook posts? Running clouds? 1. It sounds Orwellian. 2. Too much slickness gives an air of . . . […]
So, Tampa. Last weekend I walked onto the floor of the convention for the first time, and it was beautiful—all the lights and the dazzle and the sound checks, all the bustle. We forget how exciting it is, some of us, because we’ve been here before, we’ve seen the huge cavernous stadium dressed up in […]