Day 2

Presidential candidate Ron Paul drew a respectable sized crowd to his early morning rally behind the Mayo Civic Center.

Rep. Ron Paul is a subdued but compeling speaker. Far from alarmist, his dire warnings about the inevitable consequences of rampant Washinton spending are factual and reasoned. The congressman loses me on foreign policy, however, since I am not an isolationist.

Ron Paul supporters are a fascinatingly balanced cross section of age, gender and background.

Portrait of real diversity.

Off with their heads! Campaingning against the six "bipartisan" RINOS in St. Paul.

Newly elected Olmsted County GOP Co-chair Bruce Kaskubar

DFL hacks posing as "special interest" supporters of Senator Norm Coleman complete with oversized "thank you" cards. They got a little peeved when I asked them if they objected to challenger Al Franken's negligent attitude toward paying workers' compensation and taxes.

I doubt the "special interests" will come back next Saturday to thank DFLers for their support. After all, everyone knows that liberals are not beholden to special interests. Such hypocrites.

Norm addresses the convention after being endorsed by acclamation:

" I didn't just arrive in the latest plane to run for office."

"The heartland of America has a response to Senator Obama: we don't 'cling' to our faith, we cherish it."

"God has blessed America. We are the land of the free because we are the home of the brave."

"The ideas that really help people don't come from Washington."

"When it comes to helping people, we don't need an ideologue or a a divider."

"People want problem solves not angry sloganeers."

"For those who tout Canadian-style health care, we pose a challenge: show us the Mayo Clinic of Canada."

"What part of 'We are committed to the destruction of Israel' don't Democrats who want to negotiate with terrorists understand?"

"Hope, faith and optimism are in America's DNA."

Senator Coleman has stood up for little Wyatt in his battle with cancer.

Roz and Linda cheer for Norm.

Making inroads in the Somali community. The Somalis I know are quite conservative. Some of their young have sold out to the DFL but the core of the community have maintained their traditional values of family, hard work and personal responsibility, which is not the DFL platform.

Go Norm!