1pm update - The Power Lunch, and wait for a second

I suppose I'm a bad delegate. I skipped the official luncheon today. I had a few things to do like check into the hotel, so I bagged it.

After I got my chores done, I did run into a crew who were in the midst of other things, and we all agreed to go to lunch together. Along with Representative Tom Hackl, Rapid City Councilman Sam Kooiker, Isaac Latterell, and State Senator Borck Greenfield, we made our way across the highway to "Woody's," a little sports bar. It's pretty inconspicuous, but wow, it has my vote of confidence.

#1, the food was good. And #2, the food was cheap. Always pluses in my book.

It was interesting sitting down to lunch with two of this election's giant killers, Isaac and Sam. According to conventional wisdom, neither one were given much chance to win. Sam was outspent by one of the most wellknown politicians in Rapid City, and Isaac was dismissed as an overambitious youngster.

But both of them overcame incredible odds by plain old-fashioned hard work. Sam mentioned that he spent his time with extensive door to door, while his opponent apparently put much of his money into television, while forgoing a door to door campaign. One anecdote he mentioned was that he knocked on the door of Tom Hennies' next door neighbor, and apparently Tom himself had yet to come ask his neighbor for his vote.

Of course, Isaac was equally reliant on door to door efforts and put forth a solid yard sign effort in his campaign against Duane Sutton.

Tom Hackl did confirm in person that he's out of the Public Utilities Commission race, which currently leaves the field wide open for Rounds and Koskan.

Speaking of Tim Rounds, I did run into he and Deb Peters as I was heading back to the convention hall. I chatted with them for a few moments as Tim asked me for my consideration for his race for the PUC. I tried to also erase some confusion over the post I previously did on the Engels/Peters House race, where Rich Engels noted three points of his campaign against her, and I had asked for three from her, and the whole thing flopped badly. Thankfully, Deb is understanding and accepted my feeling bad about it.

Since I had taken a picture of the Campaign for Healthy Families Booth, I told Brock I'd take one of the South Dakota Right to Life booth so I could be "fair and balanced" on the issue.

We're got three resolutions left to approve this afternoon on: marriage being between a man and a woman, origin of species, and improving health and safety. Once we get through that process, we'll begin the platform and nomination of candidates.

Personally, I wasn't asked to nominate anyone. I think they were afraid I'd be pelted with stones as I spoke in my best radio voice. As I mentioned, Bill Trent is doing a seconding speech for Rich Sattgast, and just sitting a couple of seats down, Arne Brown from Brookings county is doing a speech for Lt. Governor Dennis Daugaard. I was just chatting with Dana Randall, and apparently he's giving a seconding speech for Jarrod Johnson.

For those who are asking for more pictures, I'll be snapping them left and right tonight. I've got a few minutes left of power on this laptop, so I'm going to try to conserve what I have left before I get back to the room to let it charge.

Hang on until the next update.