NEW ORLEANS -- They could have just dropped a postcard. But they took the time to come to the Crescent City and Republicans were going to enjoy every last minute of giving their presidential nomination to George Bush.
They did not notice -- nor, most likely, did they care -- that a vast portion of the television audience was rolling over and going to sleep just as the fun was beginning for the delegates to the Republican National Convention.
For an hour and 26 minutes, starting at 10:15 p.m. CDT, the GOP danced through the traditional roll call of the states, and while the unanimous outcome was decided months ago, each delegation seized the opportunity to praise itself and the party's candidate.
From five states came unabashed expressions of familial love. Bush's five children, all delegates, spoke for the states: Neil threw Colorado's 31 votes to 'a man I dearly love;' Jeb cast Florida's 82 votes to 'the next first lady, Barbara Bush, and the next president, George Bush;' Dorothy offered Maine's 22 votes to 'my own beloved father;' and Marvin gave Virginia's 50 votes to a man 'adored by his wife, his five children, his five in-laws.'
When George Jr. threw Texas's 111 votes for 'a man we respect and a man we love' -- giving 'the best father in America' the 1,139 votes necessary for the nomination -- the convention reveled in a job completed.
The process started when Sen. Phil Gramm of Texas put in nomination the name of 'George Bush of Houston, Texas.' The convention burst into its loudest and longest demonstration of the night, 19 minutes of screams and cheers and popping the balloons that fell from the Superdome ceiling 27 stories up.
The seconding speeches came from a rainbow of Republicans with varied ethnic backgrounds: actress Helen Hayes, Pennsylvania State University football coach Joe Paterno, Rep. Bob Dornan of California, Federal Maritime Commissioner Elaine Chao, Mexican-American restaurateur Ninfa Lorenzo of Houston and black City Councilwoman Joanne Collins of Kansas City, Mo.
The roll call opened when convention secretary Rep. Patricia Saiki of Hawaii took the podium and said, 'Aloha!' Loudly, the delegates greeted her with the same word.
The journey to the Texas delegation was tortuous; just about every state that Saiki called felt the need to deliver a sermon before voting.
Gov. Jim Thompson of Illinois felt compelled to mention that Abraham Lincoln ran for president from that state -- but the Kentucky delegation reminded the convention that the Great Emancipator was born in the Bluegrass State.
'The great state of Alaska ... the enormous storehouse of energy resources' voted for Bush; Arkansas, 'No. 1 in production of rice,' voted for Bush; California, 'the nation-state,' voted for Bush; Idaho, 'the land of pristine lakes, raging rivers and of course, famous potatoes,' voted for Bush.
The first speaker from the Massachusetts delegation was Joe Malone, who is challenging Democratic Sen. Edward Kennedy. When he mentioned that task, the delegates cheered and chanted, 'Where was Ted?' - flipping back the taunt the senator offered at the Democratic convention last month: 'Where was George?'
