Politics and Flamingos Greet Belmont's Republican Delegate

Greetings from Tampa where there is actually blue sky to be seen! It is mostly overcast, but it is not raining and so far no high winds. 

I arrived safely yesterday Sunday and made my way to the Massachusetts delegation's hotel; we are within the "security perimeter" and near the convention center. We had to go through several security checkpoints to get to the hotel. Secret Service, National Guard and local police are all patrolling the secure zone. And the Coast Guard has the water covered. At least we feel very safe!

Sunday night there was a welcome event for the delegates at Tropicana Field. It was a great event with wonderful food and entertainment from the Tampa area: singers, dancers, even a woman breathing fire. And there were live flamingos there! It was a nice opportunity to mingle with delegates from other states.

Monday morning, the Bay State delegation had a breakfast in our hotel. Ron Kaufman, our national committeeman, Bob Maginn, the state party chairman and Belmont resident, (former Lt. Gov.) Kerry Healey, Mitt's son Craig and Beth Myers, the senior adviser to Gov. Romney and his campaign manager in 2008 all spoke. Everyone mentioned how special it is to have a Republican from Massachusetts as our nominee for President. There is definitely a lot of energy and excitement within the Massachusetts delegation.

As I'm sure you've heard, today's convention activities were postponed because of the concern about Hurricane Isaac. So it's a bit of a down day Monday for all the delegates. Hopefully we'll get a chance to explore Tampa before getting down to business today!