A little over a week ago, the Young Republican National Federation held its convention in Miami. I attended, and therefore had an opportunity to see just what went on in relation to the presidential Straw Poll that was held.

A couple of readers have written to me to ask whether I was there for the Straw Poll, what I saw, and generally what went on. Although this is basically reporting things that happened more than a week ago (which I am usually loath to do), since this was a big deal and something that honestly really upset me, I'm happy to oblige on this occasion.

First of all, many of you will have seen the various bits of coverage regarding what occurred. The general overview, as reported on a wide array of blogs, and in the mainstream press, is this: a presidential straw poll, being conducted in the context of a Young Republican Convention (i.e., a convention of Republicans between the ages of 18 and 40, not 12 and 90), was conducted in what was an absolutely shambolic spectacle of vote-rigging and electoral dodgy dealing.

For those who haven't read it, I would urge you to check out my friend's blog, where he sets out nine things that went majorly wrong with the straw poll. But, in summary, here was what I experienced, and observed.

First of all, one of the people organizing the straw poll (who conveniently happens to be a big-time Romney supporter) to...

> Read more & share

Also during my trip through the South, I had the opportunity to interview Joe McLaughlin, Republican primary challenger to Rep. Walter B. Jones-- best known for coining the phrase "Freedom Fries" and then promptly moving towards voting with the Dennis Kucinich wing of the Democratic party where the war in Iraq is concerned (see this voteand this vote in particular). And on other things, too, like allowing government negotiation of prescription drug prices and raising the federal minimum wage by a hefty amount.

It's an odd situation (though I expect it to become increasingly common) where a supposedly conservative Republican starts voting with the furthest left within the Democratic party on everything from the war to prescription drug price negotiation. It's particularly off when that supposedly conservative Republican represents a conservative, and largely military district (NC-3 has three major military bases in it). Getting your picture taken with Cindy Sheehan, like this:

may be incredibly cool if you're running to represent Berkeley or Cambridge, but when you represent a district that is the seat of Camp LeJeune, it suggests that you're totally out-of-step with your constituents-- and probably that there's someone who would do a better job of representing them in Congress (regardless of whether their views are right, or wrong).

This seems to be Joe McLaughlin's basic point. He's an ex-military guy, works closely with members of the military today, and he'...

> Read more & share

Readers will know that I'm pretty supportive of Rudy Giuliani's campaign for President. That doesn't come as much of a surprise to many people, since Rudy is regarded as a fiscal conservative, strong-on-defense, social moderate-style Republican, much like I consider myself to be. But one thing that is interesting about Rudy's candidacy is that it's not just Republicans like me that back him-- socially conservative Republicans do, too. One of them is Texas Rep. Pete Sessions.

Last week, I sat down with Rep. Sessions to discuss his support for Rudy, the widespread appeal that he (and I) believe that Rudy has, including to moderates and independents, Rudy's excellent fiscal record, his plans on the health care front, and how a social conservative like Rep. Sessions comes to a position of supporting a candidate regarded as more socially moderate than he is. Obviously, our conversation covered a lot of ground-- and I have to say, I found it fascinating to hear in depth exactly why Rep. Sessions is backing Rudy so strongly.

This is Part I of the interview:

And here's Part II:

> Read more & share