I went to a Mitt Meeting this morning here in Elko, and it was very positive! It was only announced late yesterday that he was coming, but there were at least 200 people in attendance (along with nasty Glen Johnson and his laptop - I had to restrain myself). Mitt opened by talking about local "icons" dear to the residents here - the gold mines, and the Basque restaurants. He gave kind of a short version of his stump speech. While he worked through the crowd shaking hands, a former volunteer from the SLC Olympics came forward with her Olympic jacket. Mitt jumped back on stage, got the mic working again, and talked about the volunteers at the Olympics, then signed the jacket. Despite his aide following close behind him, reminding him of their tight schedule (next stop, Reno), Mitt was kind and generous enough to shake hands, sign papers, and take pictures with everyone who wanted to (including my 5 year old daughter). I have attended 2 of these meetings, and both times I was really impressed with Mitt's generosity in taking the time to talk to people and shake hands. It really makes a difference.

The write-up in the afternoon paper was excellent here. There were actually 2 articles on Mitt's visit, plus the Elko Free Press' endorsement of Mitt, and Ann Coulter's excellent editorial supporting Mitt, "The Elephant in the Room."

The GOP rep at the meeting explained the Caucus procedure to us, assured us it wouldn't take longer than an hour, and that voting was through secret ballot, not through a raise of hands (as is the Dems' process). I think it reinforced most people's commitment to caucus tomorrow, and allayed some fears that the process would drag on all morning. He said we could stick around after the voting to hear the results, and that results for all of Nevada should be in by 1:00pm PST.

I finally get to cast a vote for our man Mitt!

Labels: Nevada