Whoah.

Wow. Today completely exceeded all my expectations for this conference.

Michele Bachmann opened the conference. I honestly had no clue what to expect from her and was pleasantly suprised. The very first thing she said was about the skit making fun of her on SNL and making sure she was looking into the right camera. That set a good tone, I like anyone who doesn't take themself too seriously, and the woman is an easy SNL target. Ideologically I disagree with her on some important issues, but, overall her message was pretty focused and on point--whether it is your fiscal conservatism, your national security concerns or social issues that define you as a republican, all three are essential and must come together to accomplish 3 goals: hold onto the House, take the Senate, and win the Whitehouse. Also, it was nice of her to give a College Republicans shout out with a friendly reminder about the one drink voucher per person at her reception later in the evening.

Pat Toomey started off with acknowledging he is not a stellar public speaker, that's never a good opener and so I tuned in and out thinking about how I needed some caffeine if I was going to survive the day.

I tuned back in when I realized Leader McConnell was next. Our crew beamed with pride when our senior Senator was introduced and erupted with roars of cheers. Shane Noem actually texted me and said, "I heard your voice distinctly from the press gallery." The Leader came with a focused and specific message, "The fight to repeal and replace Obamacare is nowhere near over, it's just getting started." My favorite part of his speech however was a good lesson in politics and in life--"What's right isn't always popular, but stand firm and stick to your principles even when it is hard. We will stand for what we believe in and if we do our jobs the popularity will take care of itself." Class act.

Post coffee break I was pumped and ready for Newt Gingrich, who did not disappoint. He waltzed in from the press gallery to "Eye of the Tiger" and I thought...YES this is gonna be good. He had some great one-liners ("you can love nature and be a conservative"...what a novel idea), and a great little slip up with "six-pack" when he meant six-steps, which will probably leave some thinking he actually needs twice the amount, or 12 steps. I found it curious he was the only one thus far to even mentional sealing the border or immigration. He said the EPA needs to be replaced because essentially it is beyond repair or reform because, "self selected bureaucrats can't be reformed." He also talked about the need for an American Energy plan that includes making drilling for oil a state right. Overall, he brought down the house and it was some crazy good energy.

The NRA guy made some great and valid points but would get on tangents and take it a little too far. His speech can be summed up by saying good guys should have guns because regardless of the law crazy bad guys will get a hold of guns anyway. An uncomfortable fact, but an accurate one.

Donald Trump came in like a bat out of hell stirring up the pot and I loved every second. He came, he spoke, got cheers, jeers, and boos, and he was out. Whoah...it was like lightning struck the ballroom people went nuts, the energy was unreal. He had some astonishingly valid and intelligent points...and his delivery was golden. I'm sure it turned some people off, but I appreciated the fact that he was real and blunt and didn't sugarcoat his message with attempts to be eloquent or overly academic to prove his points. It was insane, my head is still spinning.

I met Donald Rumsfeld while I was charging my phone randomly by an elevator. Wow. Can't believe how friendly he was.

Dick Cheney looked like he was in bad health and has obviously lost a lot of weight...sad.

Must sleep...

Best,
Julia