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On the Campaign Trail…

November 6, 2006 by Leave a Comment

Today was another busy day on the campaign trail. This afternoon I received a call from Jessica Brien who asked me to come by the victory office to see Tom Lee – who was making a stop in Orlando. I arrived at the Victory Office about 12:30 and spent the rest of the day in the OC.

When I arrived, the place was jumping with people- making calls, delivering signs, and whatever else needed done around the office. After pizza and a soda I jumped right in to making Get Out The Vote Calls- while we were waiting for Lee to show up. 2 hours and several pages of calls later, he arrived.

We all took a break to greet him and talk about the campaign. Then it was back to work. I made several calls- then went with Jessica to pick up and deliver some signs to the Firefighters who promised to put them out for us tonight.

On the way back to the office we stopped to join our fellow sign wavers on the corner of Colonial and Lake Underhill. Sherry McInvale and John Quinones had several supporters out there already waving them on to victory.

We made it back to the office just in time to greet the Channel 9 news cameras- doing a story on the election. And by that time the place was really jumping. We had so many people all over the office making get out the vote calls- that we ran out of phones. Pretty good, huh?

While I was at the office, I spotted several other YRs including Delmar and Lovejoy. Delmar, who dropped off literally a ton of Crist signs- gave me a high 5 on the way out- and said, ” See you on the campaign trail….”

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On the Campaign Trail…

November 4, 2006 by Leave a Comment

Well, my day ended on a more positive and encouraging note. I just got home from the grocery- had to pick up a few last minute items, when the bagger started talking to me about the election. I forgot I was wearing my GOP shirt when he commented, “Hey, you’re a Republican. Me too.”

While he was walking my groceries out to the car he started talking about how we need to get Republicans elected- because he didn’t want to see Nancy Pelosi as Speaker. He commented how the Democrats policies and socialist agenda were bad for America. And that’s why he is voting Republican on Tuesday.

I was encouraged that our message is getting out. I believe, as long John Kerry keeps talking and we Republicans keep up our get out the vote efforts- I think the Democrats will be in for a big surprise on Tuesday.

See you on the campaign trail….

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Never, Never Give Up

October 20, 2006 by Leave a Comment

Last night, I went out with some friends for a drink and I was disappointed in the table talk and defeatist attitude about Republicans’ chances in the election. None of our Republican candidates have thrown in the towel and we shouldn’t either. Our State Senator Lee Constantine has this saying posted in his office: “Never, Never, Never, Give In”- Winston Churchill.

When Churchill spoke these words- there was a lot of pressure on him to back out of the war. But he stood his ground. Much like our President today. He had a vision of the future- my future and I am grateful that he didn’t give in.

We as Republicans should not give in either. We should know better than to listen to a lot of democratic nonsense anyway. We are the party of ideas not the democrats. That’s the reason why they continue to attack us personally- because they’ve got nothing else. Their last minute smear tactics didn’t work in ’04 and they are not going to work in ’06 unless we let them.

Our US House members aren’t giving up. And our Senate candidate, Katherine Harris isn’t giving up. Our local candidates are’nt giving up either. And neither should we.

So with only 18 days left we all need to ignore the liberal media who is out there stumping for our opponents and focus our efforts on what we do best – getting Republicans elected.

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I Would Walk 500 miles…

October 11, 2006 by Leave a Comment

The other day when I was out walking for Constantine, the lyrics to an old Proclaimers song popped into my head.

“but I would walk 500 miles
and I would walk 500 more
to be the man
who walked a thousand miles
to fall down at your door”

This campaign season, I’ve sure done a lot of walking. And with 27 days left in the campaign I’m well on my way to 500 miles.

Last week , I started walking nightly with a few people from the office. We walk from 5-7pm every night. On Friday, Carissa took time out of her busy schedule campaigning for Feeney and joined us on our walk. Then on Saturday morning, she stopped by the office to pick up brochures so she could coordinate her walk with Feeney. What a trooper!

On Saturday, I walked another large chunk- at least a couple of miles. And when it was over, I was literally exhausted- from the heat and all the exercise that all I could do was go home Saturday afternoon and crash until Sunday morning.

Yesterday, I was back out and raring to go. And I’m committed to being out every night until the election. Who knows? Maybe, I log 500 miles. And if I don’t it’ll be close enough.

See you on the campaign trail.

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Republicans United

September 8, 2006 by Leave a Comment

Last night I attended the Seminole County Unity Dinner. It was a good showing. We had so many people there at Luigino’s it was standing room only. Jim Greer, campaign chair for Crist in Seminole County, was the master of ceremonies. Crist was not in attendance again, though he did make an appearance at the rally downtown with Jeb earlier in the day. Some of the other speakers of the evening included: Our Chairman, Jim Stelling, Tax Collector Ray Valdez, and our own Alex Setzer who was named co-chair of the Crist campaign in Seminole.

Jim and Alex both stressed the importance of a united front in the upcoming election, especially if we want to get good Republicans elected to office. It was a good start to the next election cycle.

So lets all try to get along and get out there and get Republicans elected this fall!

Video of this event coming soon!

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Good, Bad, & Ugly

September 6, 2006 by Leave a Comment

The Primary Election is over and that in itself is reason to celebrate. This has been a long, hard week for all of us and I for one and glad it is over. Some races turned like we wanted, others not so much. But we got through. Here is my take on the election: the good, the bad and the ugly.

First, the good. I was glad to see that two of our school board members retained their seats for another term. The bad news is that Sandy did not get 50% so she faces a run off. But none the less, all those ladies deserve a round of applause for all the hard work and the finger pointing that they had to endure. Kudos to you!

The bad. Many of us are sad that Gallagher just couldn’t pull it off, especially after all the hard work that we put into this one. But in the end it just wasn’t meant to be. And that my friend is politics. It’s not the first race that I was disappointed in the final results and I’m sure it won’t be the last. I don’t particularly like it, but I will have to learn to live with it and move on.

I keep thinking about the 11 year old boy that came to Gallagher HQ the other day all fired up about electing Tom and how disappointed he must feel tonight as well. He was such an inspiration to me and Christina. A well spoken young lad with political aspirations of his own- running a successful campaign now for student council president. I have no doubt that he will go far. Maybe all the way to the Governor’s chair himself.

Finally, the ugly. I was extremely disappointed in many of the comments between candidates in the County Commission race. It was uncalled for and unnecessary- and I hope that we can all put our differences behind us and move on. I was talking to a friend the other day that reminded me, ” This is the sort of thing that can split a party.” And that is so true. When it is all said and done at the end of the day we are all Republicans and we still have a job to do come November, so we need to come together and do it.

And that’s what the Unity dinner is all about. I hope you will join us on Thursday with your head held high to celebrate what it truly means to be a Republican.

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On the Campaign Trail…

September 1, 2006 by Leave a Comment

Last night I made a stopped in to cheer on the school board ladies in their debate sponsored by the League of Women Voters. We had a pretty full house- not every seat was filled but the room was at least 2/3 full. Dorworth was there also and several members of the Executive Committe including Jim Stelling, Sharon and the girls, and Sandy Adam’s right hand gal. I can’t remember her name. oops!

Anyway, it was a good debate. I wasn’t really up on all the logistics that they were talking about- but gimme a break. I’ve only been here a year. But I understood the political posturing and other tactics used.

My take is that the school board ladies looked good. They came across as the most intelligent and had the most thought out answers of everyone on the panel. I suppose it comes down to this: they know their s*** ! Their opponents many times had to stumble to get their words out.

Afterward, I hung around and listened in on the room murmur to get everyone else’s take. I overheard that Jeanne and Diane are both polling well. But that it is Sandy that is in danger of losing her seat. This is in part due to the 3 man race. People are just not sure that she will get enough votes to make it to the runoff. I sure hope she does. But she still needs our help.


Today, Mark and I went to the Gallagher Rally downtown. It was great. We saw Jim Stelling, Ariel Christenson, and some OCYR’s there. (By my estimate about 50 turned out for this event.) We cheered and waited for the bus. Tom greeted everyone outside. Then we went inside. They had a short program. Then Tom posed for pictures, signed autographs ( another one to add to my collection), and listened to voters concerns.

He was very positive about the race. Many of his comments today centered around florida families, right to life, and gay marriage. He stressed the importance of protecting Florida’s families- and why we need to send a family to the governor’s mansion not a bachelor. lol. He was accompanied by his wife Laura, who stood by him during his speech. Son Christopher was not in attendance today- since it was a school day and he missed a day last week for the debate. But he mentioned that Chris would be joining him again soon enough on the campaign trail.

The past two days have been good and a lot has been accomplished so far. We still have four days to go so get out, make appearances, walk for candidates, pass out literature, call voters, work the polls- let’s do what we can to get good Republicans elected to office.

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Just Getting Started…

August 18, 2006 by Leave a Comment

This has been a busy week in the election cycle but we are just getting started. With the primary only about 2 weeks away, the YRs have been out in force attending Hob Nobs, Dinners and other events where we can interact with the candidates. You just never know where we’ll show up next.

Thursday’s Hob Nob was packed with people. While I didn’t get a chance myself to go around and greet all the candidates, I did manage to shake a few hands and recruit some potential members. It was a good evening. Though we were rushing to get over to the Executive Meeting for the final candidate debate between Blake and McLean. Before the debate even started McLean had already cleaned up at the Straw Poll. I suppose Blake was a little rattled from that. He came off as unprepared and found himslef reacting to McLean’s comments never really getting the upperhand. Although, I was a bit worried when I arrived and saw all the Blake signs and volunteers in the parking lot. It was overwhelming. But apparently, still not good enough.

Friday’s Dinner was great. We had another great showing of YRs. Alex introduced tonight’s speaker Tom Gallagher, current CFO and candidate for Governor. And later got my pix with Tom.
I was honored to meet Representative John Mica at the dinner as well.

A few weeks ago, the YRs named Jim Greer the Public Servant of the Year. Tonight, our president Jason Brodeur presented Jim Greer with a plaque for all the hard work he has done to help get our club up and running this year as well as his continued support. Thanks Jim! You are truly a Great Republican!

Another full week. And we are just getting started…

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Check This Out!

June 13, 2006 by Leave a Comment

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SCYR’s Attend OCREC Dinner

June 10, 2006 by Leave a Comment

I got a call the other day from Ariel, our new region chair about an opportunity to work for Tom Lee at the Orange County Republican Executive Committee Lincoln Day Dinner. At the time I thought this might be a good opportunity for me to get out and meet some more Movers and Shakers.

To my surprise I saw several of our YRs there as well. Michael Patterson, Adam LoveJoy, Heidi Watzak, Abby Birch, and our representative from Tom Feeney’s office. Several of them were there working for candidates as well. This is a great showing for our club.

There were also several other representatives from Seminole County. Sandy Adams, Jim and Virginia Baumford, Sandy and her girls, Mike Ertel, and several others.

Pretty much all the major candidates for office were there including Katherine Harris, Will McBride, Peter Monroe for Senate. Also spotted were Bill McCollum and Joe Negron for Attorney General. And of course Randy Johnson and Tom Lee for CFO.

The Marco Rubio, Speaker of the House of Florida was the keynote for the evening. I was very impressed with this Young Republican. He is truly an example we should all apire to.

Probably the best part of the evening for me was meeting Katherine Harris and eating Dinner with Tom Lee at Table 2. When I got home I kicked myself for not getting Katherine’s autograph. But I hope to see her on the campaign trail again in the near future. When the evening was over Tom thanked me for coming out to help and gave me a hug. Now that’s a candidate I’d vote for!

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