Breakfast with Karl Rove
My phone rang at 7:15 a.m. Saturday – it was Tony O’Donnell asking if I was going to the South Carolina breakfast.
Ugh, was my initial thought, as it was so early.
Then he told me Karl Rove would be there – ugh, again, as I am not a fan of the man who nearly took the skin off of my candidate eight years ago.
Still, I got myself ready and headed to the breakfast. Rove arrived and a line formed for those seeking pictures with “the architect.”
He told stories of how he first entered politics and traveled to South Carolina to meet up with the then unknown Lee Atwater, whom some describe as a near-brilliant political operative. Atwater, who died in 1991, was a GOP consultant and trusted adviser to President Ronald Reagan, was RNC chairman. Rove described how they moved through South Carolina doing door-knocking and literature drops – the real grunt, core work of any campaign. I reminisce about my good friend from Texas, Koreen Hughes, and the fun we had as she taught me how to work like that during my first run for the Maryland General Assembly.
Rove also told the story of Bud Day. Day was a POW with Senator McCain who escaped the prison compound. The North Vietnamese were so embarrassed that Day broke free that when they recaptured him his punishment was to be tortured by breaking his arm so severely that his wrist bone was popped out at the elbow. They then yanked it back and positioned it so it would never heal correctly, putting Day in constant pain. It was Senator McCain who gathered bamboo to make a splint. But first he had to break Bud Day’s arm again. Yikes. And he did. He broke his comrade’s arm and then placed the bamboo splints so that Day was no longer in that excruciating pain. McCain, of course, spent 2 years in solitary confinement for that compassionate, courageous act.
Okay. So maybe it wasn’t all bad to get up early for Karl Rove.
But here’s the best part - Fred Davis, the creative mind behind McCain’s TV ads was there. He was the inspiration of the morning. He entertained us with clips from ads past and those upcoming. I would have been disappointed had I decided to blow off the breakfast, slept in and then learned Mr. Davis was also a speaker.
After getting settled in at our new hotel in St. Paul, chatting with staff from the Maryland State Party - April Rose and Justin Ready - Don Murphy, O’Donnell and I headed to the Padelford Landing for an old-fashioned ride down the mighty Mississippi. It was an enjoyable afternoon. The weather is near perfect. Low humidity and hot sun. The ride down the Mississippi was very relaxing. Thursday, the entire delegation will take the ride and be treated to a luncheon.
-- Carmen Amedori
Carmen Amedori, 52, is a resident of Westminster and was a state delegate representing Carroll County from 1998 to 2004, when she was appointed by then-Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. to serve on the Maryland Parole Commission. A native of Baltimore and graduate of Villa Julie College, Amedori worked as a paralegal and journalist while raising two daughters, before entering the world of politics. She was one of the few elected officials in Maryland who supported John McCain when he ran for president in 2000, and was an alternate delegate at that year's convention. Her backing has not wavered, and this year, Amedori is the Western Maryland regional director for McCain. She has also been cleared to be a surrogate — meaning she has the blessing to speak on McCain’s behalf when called upon.
Cheryl Miller, 55, and her husband, Michael, coordinate the Volunteers for Obama office in Anne Arundel County. She is an Annapolis resident and mother of two who runs a home-based event planning business. Despite studying political science at Lycoming College in Pennsylvania, Miller was not particularly involved in politics until this year. She was invited to a fund-raiser last fall, and soon found herself immersed in the Obama campaign, working phone banks and traveling to Ohio and Pennsylvania to door-knock. This will be her first convention.