The first big thing (and really the only thing that has to happen) at the convention was the official nomination of Mitt Romney to be the Republican candidate for President. In alphabetical order each state delegation announces how many delegates they have for Romney. It’s symbolic, and utterly without suspense. Each state cheers like crazy, even if Mitt Romney didn’t win their primary. Of course, Wisconsin is at the end of the alphabet, so the crowd was plenty warmed up by the time Governor Scott Walker was ready to announce who won Wisconsin’s 42 delegate votes. When the state was announced and Walker’s name was read, the Forum went crazy. A loud cheer built on itself into a full standing ovation, by far the biggest reaction by the crowd so far. Walker attempted to start speaking multiple times, but the crowd went a full 40 seconds before letting him talk.
I managed to get a quick interview with Walker immediately after the vote and he was clearly still charged up by the crowd reaction. “It’s pretty awesome. I don’t do it for applause but it certainly was nice to see that kind of support out there.” Democrats labeled Walker a right wing rock star last year while trying to recall him. The implication was supposed to be negative, showing Walker was too busy traveling the country raising millions and not spending enough time governing the state. However, Republicans latched onto the label, taking pride in their Governor’s growing national reputation. We’ve seen Governor Walker on the national talk shows, but this was the first time we’d seen the reaction to him by regular Republicans from around the country.
First Lady Tonette Walker could barely find the words to describe her feelings, “I can’t even explain it, I really can’t. I’m sorry, it was so much…It is amazing. It was just the right thing to do so you don’t feel like you should get praised for that. But, wow, people did appreciate what he did.”
Four hours later Walker took the stage to give his speech. He came out to another tremendous ovation. This time he didn’t wait for the applause to die down. He rolled right into his speech, causing the audience to miss the first couple lines of his speech. If you’re from Wisconsin you’ve heard the speech before. Walker didn’t break new ground, but for a national audience the story of battling big unions and balancing the budget is a vision they’d like to see at the national level.
Paul Ryan was officially nominated as Vice President as well, and he’ll be the keynote speaker Wednesday night
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