Return to Florida

Turns out that Mei was fine. The doctors think there are some things going on with her but they can be dealt with over time. The stress of my comings-and-going's, handling the dogs by herself, all while working full-time also contributed. Mei has bounced back and is fine now, so she let me go back to the campaign. I'm in Continental Airline's President's Club right now typing away and waiting for my IAH-PBI flight.

The race in Florida has tightened up quite a bit. Some polls show us ahead, others behind. Unlike New Hampshire or even South Carolina, this is going to be a nail-biter. But if we do win Florida, it's a big nail in Giuliani's coffin and yet another one in Romney's. As for Huckabee, I'm not sure how he comes out on a loss in Florida. Ron Paul I think is in because he likes the attention--he doesn't get much of that in Congress--and becuase he probably believes the insane rantings that are his debating points, such as the I-35 corridor being the first-step towards destroying America.

The McCain campaign was going to try to get a Space surrogate to campaign on behalf of the Senator to try to get that area of the I-4 corridor. Sadly, that individual had to back out for work-related reasons. So I took it upon myself to contact a few people I know in the aerospace business such as Tim Crain, John Carson, Bob Bishop, George Whitesides, Jim Kirkpatrick, and the AIAA. Eventually, I was able to talk to Colonel Eileen Collins of STS-93 and 114 fame about considering working with the campaign on Space matters.

What a great sight that would have been...the rockets in the background, Senator McCain and Astronaut Collins together talking about how important the Space program is to America. Well, it's not happening, at least not state primary. Between the campaign being to busy and I not having enough authority, that bird got away, though I hope we can still work with Col. Collins in the future. She is an incredibly gracious person to interact with.

In the meantime, I'm still waiting for George and Bob to come through, though no feedback yet.

Update

Mei called me an hour go to say that she was on her way to the hospital after her doctor told her to get there after examining her. I left for Austin on the next flight. Cooling my heels in Houston (IAH) right now. TBD what I'll do next. Hope Mei is good.

Moving to Florida

I've been on the War Room for three days now. I have to admit, Bill Bloomfield was right--it is tough to keep up with these 20-22 year-old guys. But it's been rewarding too to know that I can do it. My output is right up there with anyone else who has only been in the Room for a few days, about 10 postings each day. The video is the most difficult because you want to make sure you get the clip to start right when the story you're referring to begins; this is a big time-saver for the higher-up's so that they don't waste a lot of time watching stuff other than what they really need.

Tonight I was asked by Bill if I could tear myself away from the fun that I was having as part of the War Room and go down to the Florida HQ to work with the group that handles the surrogates.

Surrogates, it was explained to me, are people who can draw a crowd and are there to to tell their audience why John McCain is the man to lead our country. This sounded interesting and...well, I agreed. After being in the War Room for 3 days, a very intense experience, I felt I could handle anything.

Naturally, I agreed to go. So I am leaving DC tomorrow to go home, change clothes, hug my wife and dogs, and get back out on the road Sunday AM.