Newsgroups: bit.listserv.christia
Date:         Sun, 23 Aug 1992 22:31:02 CST
From:         "William M. Jordan" <IF20159@LATECH.BITNET>
Subject:      GOP Convention: LA Delegation

This is the second in a series of posts about my experiences at the
1992 Republican National Convention.  I am not trying to convince anyone
but only to share some of my experiences at this major event.

Tonight's subject is the Louisiana Delegation: what sort of people
were we?

Our delegation was one of the most conservative ones in the hall.  I
would estimate that about 3/4 of our delegation were hard core pro-lifers.
About 50% of the total delegation were motivated mainly by pro-life and
other social issues (this includes me).  We were motivated on the pro-life
issue by our spiritual beleifs.  This group was about equally divided
between Catholics and Evangelicals (many of whom were Charismatic
Evangelicals).   About another 1/4 of the delgation were committed
pro-lifers, but that was not necessarily their main issue, but only
a part of their very conservative overall perspective.  About 1/4 of
the delegation was composed of more traditional Republicans who were
mainly concerned about economic issues.  While there were exceptions,
these were the ones who appeared to have the most money.  Most of us
social conservatives were more likely to be middle class.

Our offical delegation hotel cost $93 per night, which is above what I
could afford.  I stayed in a Super 8 Motel about 3 blocks away (which
cost $37 per night---so much for those rich Republicans).  Several
other delegates also stayed there.  That way I could attend the
delegation caucuses, and ride the shuttle buses to the Astrodome
with the rest of the delegation.  Our assigned hotel was 35 miles
from the Astrodome.  This spring our state party chairman was the
only one in the country to endorse Pat Buchanan.  I think these two
incidents are related.

One of our poorer delegates was a student who found a very creative way
to pay for his costs.  He went into the button making business.  He came
with about 9 designs for buttons, and when he found out which ones sold
the most, he went back to his hotel room and made some more.  His most
popular one said "Dan was right, Murphy's a tramp".  Someone from CBS
news thought the button was so interesting that he bought 100 of them
and promised to give one to the actress who plays Murphy Brown.

Each delegation had their own official button.  Ours said: "Pro-Bush,
Pro-Family, Pro-American".  Some of the pro-choice people in the
delegation were not happy and would not wear the button.  Trading
buttons with other states was a common practice during some of the
dull speeches.  (I got a Vermont and Hawaii button.)  Some of the
official buttons were amusing, some were rather dumb, but one of
them really offended me.  The Virgin Islands delegation button had
on it "Try a Virgin Islands Vacation" with the first three words in very
large print, and the last two words in rather small print.

There is something I feel I must tell you all, but I am almost afraid
that it will turn some of you off from being interested in politics.
This secret is that most of the delegates ignored most of the speeches.
Most speeches were given to help give some candidate good publicity back
home where he faced a tough campaign.  The floor of the convention was a
continual buzz of sound, as delegates wandered around, talking to each
other, talking to the media.  I did my share of wandering, taking pictures
of prominent people I saw around me.  There was a couple of speeches each day
that caught everyones attention and stirred their emotions.  In my
opinion there were five moments of high emotion, two of which caused
me to cry.  Crying in public is not easy for me to do, but I was not the
only delegate moved to tears at those times.

Tomorrow I will post more about the security issues, and then I will
make one post about each day of the convention.  You will eventually
find out which moments emotionally stirred me.

In Christ, Bill

William M. Jordan            Voice       (318) 257-4304
Mechanical & Industrial      FAX         (318) 257-2562
     Engineering Dept.       Bitnet      IF20159@latech.bitnet
Louisiana Tech University    Internet    jordan@engr.latech.edu
Ruston, LA 71272
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