Rep. Peter King (R-Nassau) will be sharing his convention observations with Post readers all week.
I WAS up earlier Tuesday than I wanted to be but I had promised an overseas reporter that I would meet her down stairs in the lobby of the New York Sheraton for a 7:30 interview. Before I left our room, my wife Rosemary and I had looked out over 7th Avenue from our hotel window and everything was drab, dreary and wet. Not a great way to begin a day.
But when I got to the lobby, spirits could not have been brighter among the early-rising New York delegates. All the talk was about how well the convention had gone on Monday night – John McCain’s speech, the moving tribute to the 9/11 victims and their families, and – of course – Rudy Giuliani’s masterful performance.
The first guy I ran into was State Sen. Mike Balboni, wide awake and nattily attired in a dark blue suit. Mike is a leading candidate for state Attorney General and an acknowledged expert on homeland security. “Rudy hit out of the park,” he said. “What a great way to get started!”
My European interview went well enough – except the reporter seemed to cringe a bit when I praised President Bush for not giving the likes of France and Germany a veto over American foreign policy.
Later in the morning, Rosemary and I took a cab to Tavern on the Green restaurant in Central Park, where Reps. Vito Fossella, Sue Kelly and I were being honored at a brunch for our support of the financial-services industry – the lifeblood of New York’s economy.
The people were friendly and our speeches were not particularly memorable – though Vito did announce that our daughter Erin delivered our first grandchild – Jack – late last month.
By now the sun had broken through, so Rosemary and I decided to walk back to the Sheraton. As we got to 59th Street, some middle-aged character sporting a beard, black beret and a red bandana around his neck ran up to me, screaming that I was an Irish murderer. With the greatest dignity, I called him a moron and told him to get lost. Then two cops appeared out of nowhere and the guy took off.
Put him down as undecided.
The convention hall was still filled with Monday night’s excitement, and Laura Bush only added to that with her unique grace and class. Very simply, everyone in the hall loved her. And they roared their support as well for the Caleeforneea governator, Arnold Schwarzenegger, who demonstrated why his popularity numbers are above 65 percent: He’s strong, principled and knows where he wants to lead.
He’s no John Kerry.