Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Hammargren offers a different perspective

PHILADELPHIA -- Viewers saw a jubilant spectacle as confetti and balloons showered the First Union Center after George W. Bush made his acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention.

What was the view like from the Nevada section?

"Hot, sticky, crowded, sweaty," reported Nevada delegate and former Lt. Gov. Lonnie Hammargren.

In a refreshing departure from the pundits, analysts and armies of reporters who covered Bush's speech and the four-day convention to death, Hammargren offered this brief synopsis: "He was very inclusive. He sounded presidential. He had his s--- together."

Other convention notes:

Most members of Nevada's delegation dined at downtown Philadelphia's Top of the Tower, a 50th-story banquet room.

Hammargren, the colorful former politician and surgeon known for some of his wild outfits, was decidedly uncolorful in a bright, white suit and hat, and red, white and blue tie.

"How do you keep it so clean?" Washington gaming lobbyist Frank Fahrenkopf asked.

His secret: put it on right before dinner and don't wear it around the streets of Philadelphia.

Nevada Republican Party Executive Director Ryan Erwin said that Bush's closest competition for best speaker was his wife, who addressed the convention Monday night.

"I think Laura Bush has stolen the show, at least that's what the members of our delegation keep talking about -- how personal it was," Erwin said earlier this week. "Particularly for someone who doesn't do a lot of public speaking, she was right on."

Erwin said he hadn't done any Philadelphia sight-seeing, as some of the other members of the delegation did.

"I'll have to go see the Liberty Bell, just to say I saw it," he said.

Gov. Kenny Guinn said the highlight of the week was watching the party emerge as the party of inclusion.

Comedy Central talk show host Jon Stewart had a different take in a segment earlier this week. He compared the Republican parade of minorities to a terrible Benneton advertisement.

Nevada delegate Greg Brower said he wants to come back to Philadelphia as a tourist, but maybe on a different airline. Brower did a little impromtu shopping when his luggage turned up missing for a day.

"It's OK," he said. "I went out and bought a convention shirt."

Now that the cleaning crews have massed to pack up the Republican event, Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., an active Gore supporter and vocal Democratic advocate, is looking forward to his own party's revelry at the Democratic Convention later this month in Los Angeles.

At home for a few days in Searchlight while Congress is in recess this month, he said hasn't been watching the Republican version.

"Only by mistake if I happen to land on it while flipping through the channels," Reid said Thursday. He hasn't been reading much about it either: "Only momentarily."

George W. Bush has been known to stumble over words so during his big speech, the script he was reading from a screen took special care to help him through one tricky word: nuclear.

The script spelled it: nuke-lee-er.

It appeared to be the only word spelled phonetically in the rolling script.

In the New Hampshire primary campaign, Bush spoke about the need for "tackular" nuclear weapons instead of tactical ones, and praised single mothers who work hard "to put food on your family.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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