One Year in Texas!

Tomorrow marks the one year anniversary of when I moved to Texas.

I started out the year with a bang, hanging out with Senator Ted Cruz at a Young Conservatives of Texas reception the very next night.

Scott Turner, You Can't Run For President

At the opening lunch for the Texas Public Policy Foundation's annual Policy Orientation, the speech by State Representative Scott Turner (@ScottTurnerTX on Twitter) knocked it out of the park.

#Shutdown doesn't stop WWII veterans from visiting their memorial [UPDATED]

Visiting WWII veterans were confronted with
barricades at the WWII Memorial...but not for long.

There's plenty of room for debate on the merits of this government shutdown, but I'm glad to see that reasonable people are agreeing that our active duty military and veterans shouldn't be harmed. The House unanimously passed a bill to protect military pay that President Obama signed yesterday, Veterans Administration health care functions will continue, among other measures.

Then there's this delightful story...

A group of WWII veterans from Mississippi visiting the WWII Memorial in Washington, D.C. as part of an Honor Flight trip decided they were going to visit their memorial, government shutdown or no. From the Twitter feed of Stars and Stripes reporter Leo Shane:

Mmmm, Barbecue

Here's a reason to write a mean letter to your high school guidance counselors: I bet not one of them ever suggested "professional barbecue taste tester" as a career option. See if this doesn't make you bitter:

Texas Monthly | The List: The Top 50 Barbecue Joints

Every five years or so (since 1997), this magazine dispatches a team of trained eaters to travel around Texas incognito, ingesting huge amounts of barbecue. Their goal is to visit as many of the state's approximately two thousand barbecue joints as possible in order to come up with a list of the fifty best. At each joint, the eaters sample at least three meats, a couple of sides, and a dessert. In areas of high barbecue density, they may visit as many as nine places in a day... 

2,400 Miles

Sorry I haven't written much in the past few weeks...I've been busy working on my next move.

Literally. As in, I'm moving.

Moving 2,400 miles. Well, in a bit of a roundabout route...

High Five to Texas, Part II

When I visited Austin in November, I wrote a post about how Texas was great about its dedication to Tenth Amendment principles. It should come as no surprise that the Lone Star State is also strong on the Second Amendment.

Greg Abbott, the current Texas Attorney General, posted a tweet last night that will put a smile on the face of every Second Amendment fan:

High Five to Texas

I'm spending a few days in Austin, Texas and while I was in the Capitol earlier this week, I came across this sign in a hallway:

UF has more Olympic medals than UK, Australia, Canada

A little bit of Olympic pride for my fellow Gators:

Business Insider | The University Of Florida Has More Medals Than Great Britain Right Now 

The University of Florida has 40 athletes competing in the Olympics, and they are doing some serious medal-winning.

Right now, UF athletes have four medals, two gold, and two silver. That's more than Australia, Canada, and even the home town team, Great Britain...

Awesome advice from a church

Heh. Found this at Buzzfeed...definitely not the kind of advice you normally see on a church sign:

I can't stop laughing at this Ron Paul Bad Lip Reading video

The folks at BadLipReading.com have been making videos with the Republican presidential candidates' ads, replacing the original words with an  intensely funny dose of awesomesauce. Here's their latest, featuring Ron Paul:

'RON PAUL' €” A Bad Lip Reading SoundBite - watch more funny videos

Gotta love the fact that the video starts with "A lot of people say, I kinda wish you were less coo-coo." Heh.

This post is dedicated to all the leprechaun farmers who are gamblers and love dishwashers. 

(Just watch the video, it will make sense...well, sort of.)

Happy Veteran's Day

In honor of Veteran's Day today, I wanted to share a quick story with you from my trip to D.C. last week.

After our conference ended, we headed back to our hotel and there were a lot of people in military dress uniforms walking around. It turned out that there was a big gala honoring veterans that evening, and it was a really special group of veterans.

What the GOP can learn from Bobby Jindal

"Leadership." It's not a four-letter word. 

National Journal's Josh Kraushaar explains why:

Team Hasner!

Exciting news! Starting this month, I'll be the Conservative Media Outreach Director for Adam Hasner's Senate campaign. I thought it was fitting for "Florida's Top Political Tweeter" to break the news on Twitter:

High five to Congressmen Stearns and Issa!

On the rare chance that Members of Congress can be trained the same way you train a puppy, let's try a little positive reinforcement. After the jump, I share stories of two Congressmen who I think deserve a high five.

"I like Herman Cain"

There is an email making the rounds about Herman Cain's professional experience. As pointed out below, Cain is a lot more than just a "pizza guy." 

This is one heck of an impressive resume and I think anyone reading the entire list would find it difficult to claim he's not qualified for the White House:

More 20/20 Hindsight regarding Herman Cain

September 2011 is a month that Herman Cain will never forget. I've already written about how events last month should have made Cain's win at the Florida Presidency 5 straw poll less shocking, but September is far from the first time that Cain has exhibited strong potential. Check out these articles from back in May, when the first debate took place in South Carolina and Cain officially announced his candidacy:

The HurriCAIN continues...

It looks like that Zogby poll might not have been a fluke:  

Fox News | Fox News Poll: GOP Race Top Tier Now Romney, Perry, and Cain

Three September debates have shaken-up the race for the Republican presidential nomination. Herman Cain has jumped into the top tier. Rick Perry’s stumbled. Mitt Romney's holding steady.

BREAKING: Herman Cain leads new Zogby poll!

 The "Hurri-CAIN" continues...

IBOPE Zogby Poll: Perry Plummets to 18%; Trails Cain For Lead Among GOP Primary Voters

Rick Perry has tumbled by more than 20 percentage points over the past month among Republican presidential primary voters and is now second to Herman Cain, who leads the field with 28%. 

Phone call with Herman Cain

After Herman Cain won the Presidency 5 straw poll, I found State Representative Scott Plakon and his wife Susie in the convention center lobby and we called one of the Cain staffers who had set up the meeting where Plakon had endorsed Cain.

A very happy Team Cain was already on their way to the airport, but Herman Cain had time to briefly chat with us on the phone about how pleased he was with the straw poll results and how grateful he was for Plakon's support. They were nice enough to let me record the call, and I'm happy to share it with you here:

CPAC FL - All The Cool Kids Are Doing It

Wow. Oh wow.

The American Conservative Union released the agenda for CPAC Florida today, and it is definitely going to be a don't-miss event.

Check it out here:

CPAC FL | Schedule of Events (pdf)

I am so excited about having CPAC come to my hometown. Can't wait to see all of you here in Orlando, and this is going to be a truly memorable week, with Presidency 5, the FoxNews debate, and now this epic-levels-of-awesomeness CPAC FL schedule.

More information about the speakers, programs, and registration after the jump: