Wake County Republican Convention

I was a delegate to the Wake County Republican Convention on Monday night, my first county convention.

I arrived at the Kerr-Scott building at the fairgrounds at 6:30, looked around at all the tables which were set up for various candidates, took literature, talked to people.

Then sat in my seating area for District 41, and listened to speeches by the Wake County Republican party chairman Claude Pope, and to a video by U.S. Senator Richard Burr, and to a speech by former gubernatorial candidate Pat McCrory.

We watched 2-minute video presentations from about 15 candidates running in our districts, it was wonderful to hear their messages and get an idea who I wanted to support. It was also a lesson in videography skills, you could certainly tell who paid for their videos and who was filmed by their friend or spouse.

After the videos, we voted in a Straw Poll to see who we thought we would support. I have always wondered how political candidates percolate up from being a nobody to being someone who has supporters, now I am starting to see how they do it.

I got a thrill of excitement when Claude Pope said "Please stand up if this is the first county convention you have ever attended", and fully one-third to one-half of the crowd stood up (I couldn't tell how many, it was A LOT). That told me that previously-non-involved Republicans are pouring out in great numbers to be a part of the political process.

It was a good experience, and I hope to participate in this way every year from now on.