Background: Mike Easley is the Governor of North Carolina.  Governor Easley is a Democrat.  Democrats are having their historic National Convention in Denver.  Like me, Governor Easley is attending the Convention. 

Well then, why would Gov. Easley call for a special session of the NC General Assembly to convene to debate a boat towing bill (which passed overwhelmingly in the House during the short session: 105 - 5), which he vetoed, during the Convention?  I know, didn’t make sense to me either…

So, with the special session being called for Wednesday at 11 a.m., House Speaker Joe Hackney and I caught a 1 a.m. “Red Eye” flight out of Denver.  Upon landing in Raleigh, we drove to the General Assembly and Speaker Hackney called us to order.  Now folks, this is when things get absolutely silly.  This boat towing bill which passed by such a tremendously wide margin, then vetoed by the Governor ran into one small problem: override

OVERRIDE: verb (used with object) 

We overrode the Governor’s veto of a boat towing bill by a margin of 95 - 8 in a special session that took no more than 10 minutes.  That’s correct, folks, were there for ONLY 10 MINUTES! 

So, Gov. Easley asked the General Assembly to come together (from all over the state, and in my case, flying back across the country!) to debate this bill.  We overrode it within 10 minutes…now, I’m back in Denver for the historic Convention I should not have had to leave in the first place.

Thanks Governor Easley.

I awoke this morning realizing the activity level for this convention will steadily increase as the week progesses.  The closer we get to Thursday, the historic day in which Sen. Obama will formally accept the Democratic nomination for President, the crazier things will become.  Well, apparently, “crazy” couldn’t wait until later in the week!

My cell phone rang incessantly!  The person on the other end didn’t want to leave a message, so I finished the call I was having to answer the other line.  It was the sound of unadulterated panic.  The caller wanted… no, NEEDED credentials for tonight (Credentials are the passes that allow someone various levels of access to areas of the Convention site).  This is to be expected during conventions, the game of horsetrading.  A game some play for different credentials or for finding credentials for a friend.

The caller thought I might have access to “better” credentials.  Better credentials?  The credentials he had only allowed him into the Pepsi Center but not to the other areas of the building.  He did not believe me when I told him that “I don’t have access to credentials”.  He didn’t realize how many people would simply LOVE to have the credentials in his possession!

After a few minutes of repeating myself, I believe the caller wanted to try his luck with someone else.  I apologized to him and wished him well in his search.  We hung up from one another and I started out the door to get some breakfast.  My phone rang again.  A different caller this time, but the theme was the same, “Hey, Ty!  I need credentials…”

Let the games begin!

The wi-fi connection in my hotel was a little spotty, but has now been resolved.  Let me catch you up on my Mile-High journey thus far:

SUNDAY:

• I had several great conversations with NC delegates and delegates from other states about the overall excitment of this Convention.  During the flight to Denver, I sat beside Chip and Gabrielle Forrester from Nasville, TN.  Chip used to be the Executive Director of the Tennessee Democratic Party and was an early supporter of Sen. Obama in the “Volunteer State” and is glad to see the country on the cusp of electing Sen. Obama as President.  Chip, I couldn’t agree with you more.
• The NC delegation is sharing a hotel with the Kansas delegation…now before the UNC fans get bent out of shape (Reminder: Kansas beat UNC in the Final Four before going on to win the NCAA Basketball Tournament), it has been a very pleasant experience getting to know the folks from KS.  Both delegations got to know one another during a joint ice cream social but neither delegation challenged the other to a game of basketball.
• Here are few photos from the ice cream social…

  

  

  
  

Stay tuned, more Daily Delegate Digest is just around the corner!

Hey there!  Just want to let you know that I’m going to be giving you the inside scoop on what’s happening at the Democratic National Convention in Denver.  I want you to view this historic Convention from my perspective as a State Rep., a Delegate and someone who is genuinely excited about this year’s election.

I welcome your comments and look forward to sharing my pictures and videos from this “Mile-High Convention”, so stay tuned for the next installment of The Daily Delegate Digest!

Best wishes,

Ty

Our Morrisville Campaign Launch was a huge success! Thanks to all of you who made it out — we had almost 40 supporters join us in the Morrisville Community Park. A special thanks to our Morrisville supporters and to the Wake County Young Democrats. Those of you who couldn’t make it missed a fun day!

We heard from local elected leaders, who praised Ty’s ability to represent Morrisville’s interests in the legislature. We then heard from Ty himself, who got us charged up and excited about hitting the streets. After going over the basics of canvassing, we fanned out across Morrisville, knocking on hundreds of voters’ doors. We even lucked out with the weather — for mid-August day, it wasn’t too hot at all!

Later, we were all glad to come back and share door knocking stories, have some hamburgers and hot dogs, and even see some impromptu magic tricks. All in all, a fun, successfully day that brought Ty Harrell one step closer to reelection. We’ll be having more events like this in communities across the 41st district, so stay tuned!

Ty speaks to supporters before we get started:

Ty addresses the crowd before hitting the streets

We have our work cut out for us!

Digging into some dogs and burgers

Thanks to everyone who made this possible! And be on the lookout for more opportunities to get involved. We’re hitting the streets every weekend — shoot me an e-mail if you want to find out more. Also, Ty flies out to Denver this afternoon. Over the next few days he’ll be posting updates here about his experiences at the national convention, so stay tuned.

Paul Smith
Campaign Manager
paul@votetyharrell.com

Just a few days until the Morrisville Kick-off! This exciting event will start at the Morrisville Community Park, at 1520 Morrisville Parkway, Saturday, August 23 at 10:00am.

We’ll hear from Ty and other local elected officials, and then we’ll head out to canvass in Morrisville. Afterward, we’ll meet back up at the park for a BBQ to mix and mingle with Representative Harrell and the other campaign volunteers. Please RSVP to jenniferepperson@gmail.com so we can make sure to have enough food for everyone! We hope to see you there!!

Save The Date!

The evening of September 30th, 2008, Governor Jim Hunt and invited guest Governor Ray Mabus of Mississippi will join Ty and the Tytans for a fundraiser at the Raleigh home of Mary Laurie and Joe Cece.

Ticket prices start at $100. If you’re interested in becoming an event sponsor, please contact paul@votetyharrell.com, or contribute directly online through http://www.actblue.com/page/tysept30. Sponsorship levels are $250, $500, $1,000, $2,000, and $4,000. Please do so before September 3rd if you’d like to appear on the invitation.

Ty attended last weekend’s fundraiser for the Raleigh/Durham affiliate of PanCAN. “Bowling for Hope” is one of the organization’s major fundraisers to benefit pancreatic cancer research. Ty’s mother passed away from pancreatic cancer when he was a child and more recently, so did Dr. Randy Pausch, whom many knew of through his  YouTube video “Last Lecture.” Learn more about PanCAN through this link: http://www.pancan.org/Volunteer/nc/cen/index.html

Come join the Tytan Team and canvass to help Ty capture the gold again for District 41’s NC House seat Saturday’s in August between 10am @1pm. Please contact Andrea Bertole (abertole@nc.rr.com; 793-0160) to sign up for the fun and to confirm the canvass location.