RNC Day One: Lost in My Own City

Photo By Joshua Napier

I know downtown Tampa like the back of my hand. Yet for some reason day one of the RNC had arrived, and there I was in the pouring rain without a clue as to where I was going. Beside me, Minaret Editor-In-Chief, Josh Napier looked just as confused. We had talked to six different police officers, two other reporters and a street vendor, none of which knew where we were supposed to go.

After a few more blocks and slew of profanity at the fact I had straightened my hair for no reason, we arrived at our first checkpoint, our press badges hung proudly around our necks. Between where we started and the point where we actually entered the Tampa Bay Convention center, we went through five different checkpoints guarded by law enforcement as well as Convention employees verifying our badges.

Entering the convention center was a completely different environment. Security and law enforcement were checking bags, laptops and cameras. There were metal detectors and scanners. You would have thought I was about to board a plane. After clearing through security, Josh and I walked through the ballrooms of the convention center like two kids in a candy store.

Different publications and media outlets were set up in their own room with computers, scanners, copiers and printers. It seemed as if they wanted to go to print right then, they could. I was almost jealous. We strolled in and out of rooms, taking everything in and then decided to take the shuttle over to the Tampa Bay Times Forum, where all the real action would be.

When we entered the basement of the Forum, I felt like a rockstar being shuffled along to perform on stage. We made our way to the floor and were immediately immersed in red, white and blue. I nudged Josh’s shoulder and pointed up to the ceiling. A dozen nets the size of a Macy’s Day Parade characters filled with balloons. Leave it to me to be at an event that has all the world’s eyes on it, and I’m excited about the balloons that are going to fall from the ceiling.

We wandered a bit throughout the floor pushing our way through the sea of reporters and cameras. I was almost surprised at how many people I saw close to my age doing the same thing I was, notebook in one hand and phone in the other. I took a picture of the stage to send home to Mom and Dad and then made my way up to the nose-bleeders section where Josh and I had been assigned to sit throughout the convention. Because of Tropical Storm Isaac, the RNC immediately went into recess after the Call to Order. With heavy hopes for what tomorrow would bring, we packed up and headed back toward the shuttle that would drop us back off at the convention center. We made one last sweep around the convention center when I noticed a group of reporters gathered in a circle. Must mean something important, right?

“Who is it?” Josh asked me as I poked my head around a CNN reporter. It was then that I made eye contact with former Republican Candidate, Newt Gingrich. Josh took pictures while I watched the reporters with voice recorders push their way closer, desperate to ask one last question. Gingrich began to walk toward the doors and I walked ahead of him. I then realized Josh wasn’t by my side anymore. When I made a U-turn to find him I found myself running into someone who turned out to be Gingrich himself.

“Excuse me, Mr. Gingrich!”

“Quite alright, dear.”

My first brush with political fame.

I then found Josh who had seen the entire encounter and was still laughing by the time we exited the convention center.

While day one of the RNC lacked the luster I was expecting, I still have high hopes for what the rest of the week will bring. After all, those balloons have to fall sometime.