Grant County attorneys recount time at RNC

MOSES LAKE - Two Grant County attorneys were recently among the group of 40 Washington state delegates witnessing history at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn.

Amid the balloons, rock music and speeches, Robert Schiffner, 49, and Angus Lee, 31, watched the Republican party nominate Sen. John McCain as its presidential candidate and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as its vice presidential candidate.

The Republican candidates and Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, an Illinois senator, and vice presidential candidate Joe Biden, a Delaware senator, will face off in the November election.

Schiffner attended the convention as a delegate and Lee was an alternate delegate. Both are McCain supporters.

Schiffner said he was immediately struck with how accessible the media was and how close delegates were to reporters like Tom Brokaw. Schiffner said he also took a photo of McCain during his acceptance speech.

The Washington state delegation had good seats and was placed about 20 rows down during Palin's acceptance speech, Schiffner said.

"Sarah Palin brought the house down," he said.

Schiffner also said he realized he was there in first person "witnessing history."

"Everyone was estactic with her (Palin). "I didn't find a single person disappointed with the pick," Schiffner said. "She stood up to the press and scrutiny with a twinkle in her eye."

When Palin made a remark, which amounted to not catering to the elite media, Schiffner said he and other delegate members turned around to the NBC booth to boo in jest.

Schiffner said Palin saw what the group did and smiled.

"I was gratified to see she thought it was funny and saw what we were doing," he said.

Schiffner said the high points of the convention just kept "coming and coming."

On Monday, the convention was somber because of Hurricane Gustav hitting the Gulf states.

Laura Bush spoke to delegates and asked them to donate to the Red Cross. Cindy McCain also spoke. Delegates were told they could assemble care packages for hurricane victims.

On Tuesday, it was learned there was a minimum loss of life from the hurricane, so the RNC decided it was appropriate to conduct convention business, Schiffner said.

Then on Wednesday, Schiffner said everyone was "giddy" about seeing Palin. The time was also marked by reporters interviewing delegates, including Schiffner and Lee.

Palin appeared "poised and confident" to Schiffner. He said he liked what he heard from her about the issues.

The night of Palin's speech, he and other delegates stayed up until 3 a.m. to watch the televised version of her talk.

He was glad he saw the speech on TV because it wasn't always possible to see her facial expressions during the event, he said.

He believes the last president to speak in such an open and honest way was Ronald Reagan and the BBC called her speech "Reagan-esque," he said.

Schiffner said he also saw actor Jon Voight, actor Don Silver, "View" co-host Elizabeth Hasselbeck, Alan Colmes of talk show "Hannity & Colmes" and Al Gore's former campaign manage, Donna Brazile.

Schiffner also talked about the protesters at the convention.

On Monday, someone Schiffner called an "anarchist" threw a sandbag off an overpass, which hit a delegate bus.

A brick broke a window of another bus and bleach was thrown by protesters, he said.

Despite the protesters, Schiffner said he felt safe because of the strong police presence from the Minneapolis and St. Paul police departments, the Minnesota State Patrol and other law enforcement agencies.

Lee said he enjoyed meeting McCain and having the opportunity to speak with him.

McCain had an "incredible presence" and a strong handshake, Lee said.

He also said it's nice to see candidates in person, instead of just an image on a two-dimensional TV screen.

There wasn't unanimous support for McCain among the Washington state delegation, said Lee. Thirty-three delegates supported McCain, four were in favor of Ron Paul and three backed Mike Huckabee.

With some states, Ron Paul delegates weren't afforded all the opportunities on the convention floor, Lee said. That wasn't the case with Washington state, as Paul votes were cast and honored at the convention.

"One of the really nice things about the convention was the way delegates work together and got along in a mixed delegation," Lee explained.

Lee also said many people he spoke to were excited about Dino Rossi running for governor in Washington.

Lee said he was interviewed by a reporter from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and spoke with Bob Schieffer, host of CBS' "Face the Nation" and Chris Matthews with the TV program "Hardball."

Lee said he was among a group of delegates who helped assemble between 50,000 to 80,000 care packages for hurricane victims.

Lee also met POWs who served with McCain and called them "an impressive group of guys."