Delegate approves of Palin
By GAYLE WEBER
The pick for the Republican nominee for vice president was a surprise to many people, but a pleasant surprise for Ellis County Republican Party chairman John Pyle.
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin made a lasting impression on him during his time at this week's Republican National Convention.
"The most notable thing was Sarah Palin's speech and the way she was received," said Pyle, a first-time delegate. "She has just energized the party and brought over any of the conservative party that had any kind of reluctance about McCain."
Logan alternate delegate Larry Adams agreed, saying the Palin speech was just what the Republican party needed.
"They said she needed to be a firecracker, but she was more of a keg of dynamite," Adams said.
He said the media portrayal of the convention was not a fair representation of what actually happened on the convention floor.
"The press has attempted to portray division, which there wasn't," Adams said. "There was extreme unity."
That unity was expressed in chants of "zero" and "nada" on the convention floor throughout the week. Pyle said anytime Democratic nominee Barack Obama's experience, or lack there of, according to Pyle, was brought up, the chants would overtake the convention center.
However, the hottest topic in the Xcel Energy Center was, ironically, energy.
"When you sit around a coffee shop ... and hear real Americans, No. 1 is the price of fuel and No. 2 is the economy, which is very closely tied to it," Adams said.
Pyle said the main difference between Republicans and Democrats on the energy issue is the Republicans' willingness to drill domestically as a supplement to alternative energy.
"We're not going to drill ourselves out of the situation," he said. "We will increase supply and decrease our reliance on foreign oil."
Impressed by nearly every aspect of the convention, both Adams and Pyle hope to return to future conventions and both are anticipating the general election.
"People just really are looking forward to the next 60 days and seeing a lot more information being passed out to more fully explain the Republicans' position especially on the energy issue," Pyle said.
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