Local Republican officials are feeling pretty confident about their political chances in November following the Republican National Convention.
Seven men and women from Denton County went to Tampa, Fla., for the convention to represent the state or serve as alternates, as Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney officially answered the call from his party to challenge President Barack Obama on Nov. 6.
“It was upbeat. We got the point across very clearly that we can do this, and we must do this,” said Dianne Edmondson, Denton County Republican Party chairwoman.
Edmondson served as an alternate at the convention.
“President Obama must go,” she said. “I think Romney hit it out of the park last night. He showed us he is a warm, real person on top of being a superb businessman.”
She said Romney’s running mate, Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, was delightful.
“He’s smart, young, he knows what we have to do … people like him,” Edmondson said. “He is very personable and I think he is the perfect running mate for Romney. He brings a lot of strengths to the table. I can hardly wait to see him debate [Vice President Joe] Biden.”
Edmondson said Ryan knows the budget backward and forward and that Biden will more than likely put his foot in his mouth during the debate.
“I suspect Ryan will be able to give him a little salt and pepper and sauce to go on that foot,” she said.
Renee Stoltenberg was a delegate for the 26th Congressional district, along with Richard Hayes, Gilbert Vasquez and Read King. Troy Christianson, David Watrous also served as alternates.
Stoltenberg said the convention inspired her to get to work to oust Obama from the White House.
“I intend to spend the next two months the way I spent the last four years to get Mitt Romney elected,” she said. “I am hoping to go to one of the swing states and do some campaigning there.”
Hayes said one thing that resonated with him about the convention was that no problem was insurmountable. He noted the convention had a series of governors speak, including those from Florida, New Mexico and New Jersey, and each of them recalled stories of taking office with their states in a deficit position or educational crisis in their state or other issues and turning things around.
“Uniformly, they all found solutions and changed the courses of their states,” Hayes said. “The message that came away is when you have a problem, you can find a real-world solution. It gave me an awareness [that] if we can do it at the state level, we can do it nationally.”
Hayes also said the speech given by Clint Eastwood has drawn a wide variety of comments. He said he took it as comic relief.
“It was not a national policy speech, not a government function speech, it was a comedic break from the seriousness of the moment,” Hayes said. “We were laughing. We thought it was funny, sitting there. Maybe because Eastwood is so successful in movies and TV and his character normally as a tough guy, you don’t think of him having a good sense of humor. I took it as kind of a little tongue-in-cheek.”
BJ LEWIS can be reached at 940-566-6875. His e-mail address is blewis@dentonrc.com.
