Hi,
Last night my wife and I drove to Land O' Lakes, FL to see Mitt Romney and Marco Rubio. It was supposed to start at 7:30. We followed some friends over there and they got frustrated and pulled in a parking lot and parked. There were people lined up to take a bus to the event. We then learned the last bus had left two hours earlier and we were a hair over two miles from the event.
I should mention it was 2-1/2 hours before it was supposed to start; traffic was backed up for almost four miles. I am 72, my wife a bit younger, both wearning new shoes (bad), the four of us decided, along with hundreds more to walk . We saw a lot of folks older than we are doing the same thing. Also a lot of parents carrying young children on their back huffing and puffing along the highway.
By the time we got there, the one side of the stadium was full, the majority of the football field was full. The visitor side was partially full; however the stage was blocked by some temporary seating and the press area. Down in one end zone was a huge TV.
My wife has two artifical knees, we are both much heavier than we need to be, so we were hurting when we arrived. Blisters from the shoes did not help. I inquired about the stands that were not totally full and was told there was a security alert. After about a half hour, and seeing the policeman allow some folks into the stands, I mentioned to him we were seniors and my wife's knees were an issue. A plastic knee does not hurt, but her feet and ankles sure did. The security alert was lifted for as long as it took us pass through the fence which he opened slightly.
The event opening was delayed 30 minutes. Learned this morning that was to allow all the people walking down US 41, as we had done, to get to the event. By the time they arrived, the entire football field was pretty full. We also appreciated the free cases of bottled water that was everywhere.
We saw Romney walking to the stage and then watched for awhile on the big monitor. He really did a terrific job. We learned later about Marco's daughter being in an auto wreck. I suspect Marco would have brought the house down because he is really popular in this part of the state. After the event we talked with 4-5 hispanic couples and they had nothing good to say about BO. A couple really went on about the movie 2016; I am under the impression it did have a major affect on some folks.
There were exactly two porta-potties for our side of the field. We saw the line getting shorter so we left the stands and watched some of the speech standing in line. Then we moved to the end of the field where we could see Romney clearly. I was a public speaker for 35+ years and he is impressive. I can say this, he does not need a damn teleprompter. He also responded and reacted to the crowd. His message was clear and to the point; outlining five things he is committed to doing. The biggest is the repeal of Obamacare. He certainly looked and acted presidential and his jabs at BO were not of the scarcastic nature.
I read an intereting article when we got home. The gist of it was if you have a lot of undecided voters; they normally break in favor of the challenger. All the challenger has to do is look "acceptable"; not radical. Romney did better than that; he convinced us that he knew what the heck is was doing.
On the way out we happened to be walking with a guy rolling a portable storage container. Seems he sells buttons and things. He told us he was at every Romney event in the state and ours was the largest. He estimated the turnout as close to 20,000.
The Tampa paper had a good write-up and said the fire marshall indicated the crowd was over 15,000. In our local paper here in Lakeland, there was no write up at all. Hmmmm, wonder if the fact it was owned by the New York Times up until about a year ago might be a factor. I queried the paper about "Romney Rally FL" and all that popped up was an article they wrote about BO being in Ybor City with a huge crowd of 8,500 people.
Our two friends got back to their car, then drove and picked us up which was most appreciated. Both of them grew up in northern Ohio. They said that a lot of their friends are just died-in-the-wool-democrats; but they were surprised how many of them are not going to vote for BO.
Based on our little sample in our part of the world, I go along with the article I read. They are expecting a late break in the polls for Romney and a thumping like Reagan did Carter. A lot of folks are realizing that Romney is not the guy the libs are trying to portray.
As a conservative, i was not thrilled with his nomination; however compared to BO, he is a breath of fresh air.
regards,
5412
PS: Would we do it again? Yeah if we could wear different shoes.
