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There was a Marquette Republican presence at this year’s Republican Party of Wisconsin convention. Luke Fuller and I were there to help out with Scott Walker hospitality suite. This was my first convention so I really had no idea what to expect. But over-all the experience was pretty cool, even though I wasn’t able to participate fully. Turns out to sit by all the signs with the county names you have to be a delegate and I joined the Waukesha Co. party too late to become one. I will fix this for next convention. I was jealous though that anyone that joined the Milwaukee County Party got to be a delegate. Someone explained this to me that allowing that was decided at the caucus but I can’t remember exactly. Being able to connect with some many active Republicans, not just on the college level but also at the county and state and seeing so many politicians from Wisconsin in one room was a really great experience.

One of the highlights of the convention has to be the hospitality suites, and the Scott Walker one rocked! Not saying the suites hosted by Paul Ryan, J.B. Van Hollen, and John Gard didn’t. All the hospitality suites had their own little theme. The Scott Walker one was Harley themed, to highlight his upcoming Harley ride around the state, and served some of Steven’s Point’s finest beverages (and ice cream for root beer floats). I never made it down to some of the other suits for a long enough amount of time to really explore things; however one of the other suits had a Hawaiian theme because pina coladas and daiquiris were delivered.

Saturday convention was a grand time as well. The morning featured a Wake up with Walker coffee (and cake) which did pretty nicely. Then there was convention business, which I would have really liked to have seen, and then lunch. Convention also featured voter vault training similar to one I participated in January. Now that I know what convention is like, I’ll know how to get the full experience next time.

WiscPolitics also held a straw poll there for governor and senate:
1) If a 2010 primary for governor were being held today, which Republican would you choose to be the party’s nominee?

–Scott Walker, 157
–J.B. Van Hollen, 24
–Bill McCoshen, 9
–Scott Fitzgerald, 8
–Tommy Thompson, 5
–Mike Huebsch, 4
–Mark Neumann, 4
–Rick Graber, 1
–No Vote, 1
–Mark Todd, 0

Write-ins, 7
–Mark Gundrum led with 2

2) If a 2010 primary for U.S. Senate were being held today, which Republican would you choose to be the party’s nominee?

–Paul Ryan, 123
–Mark Green, 44
–Tim Michels, 23
–Ted Kanavas, 8
–Scott Klug, 3
–Curt Culver 2
–No vote 1

Write-ins: 16 total
–Rick Graber led with 6.

I really wish I had more, forgive me. It was my first convention and I really didn’t know what to expect so next time I’ll be able to appreciate it all fully. Anyone that was there, feel free to toss in your two cents and add to this.

The good people at Wispolitics.com are providing excellent coverage of the Republican State Convention on their Convention Blog. And I think the readers of this blog would be very interested in their post on the Eastern and Western district judicial vacancies.

The president wants to nominate candidates to fill two openings on the federal bench in Wisconsin at the same time, but U.S. Sens. Herb Kohl and Russ Feingold have yet to recommend names for the Western District spot, causing a delay, U.S. Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner said Friday.

Sensenbrenner said he feared it could mean the Western District opening would not be filled until at least 2010 because time was running out for this president to nominate someone, and then next one may need until late 2009 to forward a candidate.

As the senior elected congressional Republican, Sensenbrenner nominates members of the Nominating Commission that interviews candidates and fowards names to the 2 US Senators and senior Republican, who in turn forward those names on to the White House.

Kohl and Feingold have already forwarded on four names to the White House for the Eastern District vacancy created by Judge Randa’s retirement, but the White House has not yet selected one of the four as the President’s nominee. For the Western District, Judge Shabaz’s seat, the Senators have not forwarded on names culled from the Commission’s list of five.

Kohl and Feingold both sit on the Judiciary Committee, so if they wanted these seats filled, they could get quick action once the White House makes a nomination. The President needs to act quickly on the Eastern District, because the window for Senate action on any judicial nominations is closing fast. As we saw during the showdown on judges a few weeks ago, this is a tense area on the legislative calendar. In the interview, Rep. Sensenbrenner indicated that the WH wanted to submit the two nominations together, which is why they are waiting.

Kohl and Feingold’s continued delay in submitting a list for the Western District vacancy has effectively ended the possibility that the seat will be filled by President Bush. Their delay in submitting names to the White House, and their decision to cut two qualified candidates, may have prevented the Eastern District seat from being filled promptly as well.

Of course, perhaps that is the plan - they’re playing the wait and see game in the hopes that President Clinton or President Obama gets to fill the seat with a nominee from the liberal side of the bench.

Fred Thompson has beat out all challengers in the WisPolitics 2007 GOP Convention Straw Poll beating out Wisconsin’s own Tommy Thompson by 11 votes. Maybe they all watched this video. For our commentary on Tommy Thompson’s speech and the entire 2007 WI GOP Convention with photos, click here.

Here are the results:

2007 STRAW POLL QUESTIONS, RESULTS 306 total ballots cast

**Which Republican candidate do you support for president in 2008?

-Sam Brownback 14
-Jim Gilmore 0
-Newt Gingrich 12
-Rudy Giuliani 35
-Chuck Hagel 0
-Mike Huckabee 0
-Duncan Hunter 3
-John McCain 10
-Mitt Romney 41
-Ron Paul 1
-Tom Tancredo 8
-Fred Thompson 95
-Tommy Thompson 84
-No response 2
-Write in 1

HT: Ol’ Broad

After a great drive and a bit of an early morning, Katie Wycklendt and I have just joined Daniel Suhr at the beautiful Grand Geneva Resort and Spa for the Republican Party of Wisconsin’s State Convention 2007.

9:45 AM: After listening to Dan analyze a rather disappointing array of hospitalities last night, the high point being New Glarus on tap Ted Kanavas’s, we are on the convention floor listening to the awards. I will post them as soon as I have them but, I will probably butcher all the names if I attempt to keep up with each one. I am definitely looking forward to hearing each of our representatives speak.

9:47 AM: Chairman of the Republican Party of Wisconsin Brad Courtney is about to speak. I am going to hand it over to Katie for a bit for a new perspective. I realized on the way that this is my third RPW convention. Which is nothing compared to Daniel who has probably been attending since he was six

Katie: As a convention virgin I’m taking in the scene and watching as Daniel Read more »

By Mark Adams

LAKE GENEVA – Two caveats before we begin: First and most importantly, this is not Daniel Suhr writing. It’s his friend Mark Adams and I am blogging under Daniel’s account from the opening night of the Republican Party of Wisconsin State Convention. The County Chairs Banquet is set to begin any moment and Sen. Sam Brownback will be addressing the group. Which brings me to my second caveat. As a matter of full disclosure I should say that I am long-time fan of the senator from Kansas, I support his candidacy for president and I have donated to his campaign.

With that said I will pause for a moment and resume blogging with Sen. Brownback begins his speech.

DEVELOPING . . . . .

Read more »