SRLC: Day One Review

  The long-awaited national event has finally arrived.

Scott Walker gets the first slot at the conference

 Downtown Oklahoma City has been transformed into a political conclave. The Southern Republican Leadership Conference features nearly all the leading Republican candidates in the upcoming presidential primaries and caucuses.

Scott Walker

 Governor Fallin started things off by introducing fellow governor, Scott Walker. the Wisconsin governor shared his folksy and straight-forward message of applied Reaganomics. He touched on several topics from foreign policy, national security, and tax policy; to the strategies for  electoral success.
  Reince Priebus followed Walker and  he spent much of his time discussing changes in the national GOP strategy for presidential campaign success.

Rick Santorum

Oklahoma's 2012 choice was next on the schedule and he began with fond memories of his 2012 success in Oklahoma. His last 5 minutes, however; were filled with a fresh message of cultural problems that are the result of faulty public policy. He appealed to themes from his recent book, "Blue Collar Conservatism". Santorum traveled light and had no personnel manning a booth in the hall. As I sat with Chris Medlock, we basked in the moment because we served as state coordinators for Santorum Oklahoma 2012. 

  We decided to try to connect with Rick afterward, but the conference security was absolutely impenetrable. After returning to our seats, Chris got a cell call from Randy Brogdon and missed the call. When he checked the voicemail, it was Rick Santorum using Randy's phone to reach out to his old team. Chris took down Santorum's cell number and is following up on it.

Rick Perry

  Rick Perry was our last speaker from the presidential pack. He started his very folksy delivery with a neighborly delivery about competing with Bobby Jindal and Mary Fallin in the effort to lure industry to the southern states. He tried to be humble, but Texans aren't known for that trait. Governor Perry also kept a low profile in the halls.  He did not bring a team to man a booth in the halls.

A series of breakout seminars were the final billing on the general session for Thursday.
Tonight, T Boone Pickens is hosting an event  with separate ticketing.

Looking To Friday...

Some candidates are planning separate meetings along with their appearance on the main stage in the auditorium. I have been invited to some things and will report on them later.

Lindsey Graham, Chris Christie, & Jeb Bush appear in that order. The afternoon will include Marco Rubio, Bobby Jindal, John Bolton, and Mike Huckabee's wife, Janet.

Ted Cruz

Senator Cruz chose only one speaking engagement and he will be the keynote at the OKGOP's Energizing America Gala at 7:30pm. He may also be visiting the crowds in the halls. He is not slated to speak to the general conference. That was Ted's decision and it was made several months ago.  I asked Chairman Brogdon about this and he confirmed that Ted made the decision. the OKGOP is grateful for Ted's decision to aid the OKGOP fundraising gala and look forward to it's success.

Gala

Chairman Brogdon said the gala is very close to sold out capacity. His team will make an announcement regarding that very soon. Go to www.OKGOP.com for further details.

David Van Risseghem