Ideas, supporters collide at RNC

TAMPA, Fla. — Just after 2 p.m. Monday, Republican National Convention Chairman Reince Priebus banged a heavy gavel on the podium of the Tampa Bay Times Forum stage.

But nine gavel-bangs and 37 seconds later, the session ended in recess.

Each day of the convention has a designated theme. On this day, the theme was supposed to be “We Can Do Better.” Tropical Storm Isaac put the first day’s festivities on hold.

During a conference call Sunday night, Romney campaign spokesman Russ Shriefer said he was confident the phrase could be folded into the week’s remaining themes: “We Can Change It,” “We Built It” and “We Believe in America.”

But beyond the official start and finish of the session, the day’s events were limited to the unveiling of a “debt clock,”  which began when Priebus’s gavel hit the podium and will count the federal debt accrued during the four days of the
convention.

A second “debt clock,” also inside the forum, runs a tally of the total federal debt.  

Indiana Delegate Nicolas Barbknecht said he spent the day attending events, visiting with fellow delegates and playing euchre.

Though he didn’t attend the ceremony, Barbknecht said he saw the day’s theme reflected in the clock.

“That’s the alternative, that’s just an example, and that’s what we can do better than,” Barbknecht said.  

But for the five Ron Paul supporters lined up on the corner of Whiting Street and North Ashley Drive, just outside the Tampa Convention Center and Forum’s security zone, Rep. Paul, R-Texas, was the obvious answer.

Though the two Swiss nationals in the group couldn’t vote, they said they’d come to remind those that could of the importance of Paul’s
message.

“The economic freedom is very important, and it prevents us from war and from poverty,” said Beat Trittibach, one of the Swiss protestors.

A few steps away, Loren Spivack handed out copies of his book, “The Cat and the Mitt,” to those passing in and out of the secure zone. The book is billed on Spivack’s site as “a parody of the Obama administration based on a famous children’s book.”

For Spivack, doing better would mean voting a conservative into office. But he said his goal, as well, was to reclaim humor for conservatives.

“It’s a powerful weapon,” Spivack said.

About a mile away, at the “Romneyville”  protest camp outside the Army Navy Surplus store, protesters readied for a “March For Our Lives,” officially billed as a march for the homeless, poor and unemployed.

When they took off south down Tampa Street, four of the Paul supporters from the corner of Whiting and Ashley showed up with signs in tow.  

As they asserted their idea of better with shouts of “President Paul,” a megaphoned marcher responded “President Paul doesn’t care about homelessness or poverty!”

Corole Fields and Leonard Bryant of Palm Beach County, Fla., stayed behind. They were tired from the morning’s march, a little wet from the periodic showers and frustrated by the lack of water and bathroom facilities.

For the couple, doing better is strictly the job of the sitting president, who they hope will be reelected.

“He didn’t do as much as he could have or should have, I think, but he still is going to do better than Romney ever would,” Bryant said.