Kiel was able to score a couple of VIP passes to the Republican Debates held here in Orlando on Sunday night. Massive, massive thank you to him for bringing me along.

It was a pretty crazy event. We went early enough to walk around, take it all in and talk to some folks. The whole political process, when viewed up close, is extremely surreal and probably the best people watching you can possibly ask for. Some of you know what Kathryn does for a living, but for those of you that don't... well, I've been around it in some shape or form for a little while now. Seeing it all take place in our hometown, and being right up close to all the candidates at once though, was a really cool experience. Kiel and I had 5th or 6th row seats with our names on them, which meant that we were just to the side of the moderators (crazy close) and were probably the only "commoners" in the immediate area.

I won't go into how I feel about various candidates or anything like that (if you like politics, feel free to ask me in person.. I've grown immune to discussing it and keep a pretty open/even mind), but afterwards we walked up to the stage where a couple of the "2nd tier" candidates were hanging around conversing with folks. Gov. Huckabee, who has been gaining momentum lately, was one of them.

I previously mentioned that he's a member of the same college fraternity I was active in back in the day (TKE). I think his son is an active member and he was brought in as an honorary, but I'm not sure the details. I was having trouble getting his attention (he had a really big crowd around him) and his handlers were trying to walk him off the stage. I finally shouted, "Good luck, Frater!" and he turned around with "Are you a teke?! God bless you, frater." and reached back to shake my hand. Yeah, I slipped him the secret cool guy handshake. That's how we roll. I'm not sure he caught it though ;)

I have always heard stories of how President Reagan would go out of his way to shake hands with tekes, and I'm sure every frat has their own similar story. With Reagan, the line is that he's the only president to have visited a fraternity house while in office (Fundraiser at Purdue, I believe), and he mentions TKE occasionally in his diaries. He remained active in the fraternity as an alumni pretty much until he was completely unable. I've seen his signature on a letter to TKE as late as 1999.

It probably seems extremely silly to the vast majority of folks, heck, it seems silly to me simply writing about it, but it makes for fun conversation. I've served as a Chapter Advisor (up at Maryland) and occasionally try to help mentor/advise some of the guys down here at UCF (just for good karma, not in any official capacity). Alumni stories help inspire kids to over achieve (one less game of beer-pong, one more hour of studying.. or, you know.. not.. whatever). "Look what this guy, who you have something in common with, has been able to do." I now have my own first hand account to share and can quit making it all up as I go along. Rad ;)

Anyway, the day was a lot of fun. If I understand correctly, Democrats are refusing to campaign in Florida over some political beef with the state party (translation: if you're a dem in florida, your primary vote no longer counts for anything). Seems a bit short sighted to completely boycott such a battle ground state. If this election comes down to Florida again, and Dem's lose, they officially have no one to blame but themselves. It also would have been hella' interesting to compare/contrast similar events from different sides of the aisle. Maybe next time around...