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Jeff Willis
Assessing the excitement of an entire week at the Republican National Convention, Douglas County’s own alternate delegate Jeff Willis blushingly admitted his favorite part came at the end of Sen. John McCain’s speech, when Willis stood waist-deep in balloons.
“I have never seen 60-year-old ladies fight over balloons, but I have to admit it was fun,” he said. “I even saw a person who ran for state office dive into balloons.”
Willis, a former reporter for The News-Review, is a Roseburg resident and owns the Blue Baltic specialty store in the Roseburg Valley Mall. He served as an alternate delegate this week at the national convention in St. Paul, Minn.
McCain’s speech Thursday night was the capstone event of the week and signals the close of two weeks of back-to-back conventions.
Willis said McCain’s speech — although not as exciting as Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s vice presidential speech Wednesday — was still well-received, and important issues were met with loud applause from the audience.
“It was definitely a well-crafted speech for the audience,” Willis said. “People were extremely pleased.”
Willis cited education and the ability to choose where children attend school as a major issue that McCain discussed.
“People are a little frustrated about the lack of choice in education,” he said.
Parents want the freedom to receive their taxes back and use the money to send their children to charter or private schools, Willis said.
“And I saw McCain promising to work to make those choices happen,” he said. “McCain described education as the civil rights issue of the 21st century.”
Other contentious issues such as immigration were not directly mentioned, Willis said, but added that he felt McCain addressed that and similar issues by promising to listen.
Willis even got his own moments of convention fame, appearing briefly on national television as cameras panned the crowd. He ended up in an Associated Press photo distributed nationwide that shows party members taking down the Oregon state standard on the convention floor as festivities ended.
With the party convention over, Willis said now the work begins. Those who attended the convention move into the final campaign push as November’s election approaches, and he believes the convention prepared himself and others for that job.
Many people told Willis they felt they knew McCain much better now than at the beginning of the convention and will be able to campaign more effectively.
Though more tempered than his running mate’s speech, McCain’s acceptance of the party nomination did what was necessary.
“He was doing a totally different job (than Palin). He was virtually writing a contract with the Republican Party,” Willis said.
The Roseburg man was headed to the Mall of America to purchase a commemorative shot glass for a friend this morning and will fly back to Oregon later today.
You can reach reporter DD Bixby at 957-4211 or by e-mail at dbixby@nrtoday.com.
“I have never seen 60-year-old ladies fight over balloons, but I have to admit it was fun,” he said. “I even saw a person who ran for state office dive into balloons.”
Willis, a former reporter for The News-Review, is a Roseburg resident and owns the Blue Baltic specialty store in the Roseburg Valley Mall. He served as an alternate delegate this week at the national convention in St. Paul, Minn.
McCain’s speech Thursday night was the capstone event of the week and signals the close of two weeks of back-to-back conventions.
Willis said McCain’s speech — although not as exciting as Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s vice presidential speech Wednesday — was still well-received, and important issues were met with loud applause from the audience.
“It was definitely a well-crafted speech for the audience,” Willis said. “People were extremely pleased.”
Willis cited education and the ability to choose where children attend school as a major issue that McCain discussed.
“People are a little frustrated about the lack of choice in education,” he said.
Parents want the freedom to receive their taxes back and use the money to send their children to charter or private schools, Willis said.
“And I saw McCain promising to work to make those choices happen,” he said. “McCain described education as the civil rights issue of the 21st century.”
Other contentious issues such as immigration were not directly mentioned, Willis said, but added that he felt McCain addressed that and similar issues by promising to listen.
Willis even got his own moments of convention fame, appearing briefly on national television as cameras panned the crowd. He ended up in an Associated Press photo distributed nationwide that shows party members taking down the Oregon state standard on the convention floor as festivities ended.
With the party convention over, Willis said now the work begins. Those who attended the convention move into the final campaign push as November’s election approaches, and he believes the convention prepared himself and others for that job.
Many people told Willis they felt they knew McCain much better now than at the beginning of the convention and will be able to campaign more effectively.
Though more tempered than his running mate’s speech, McCain’s acceptance of the party nomination did what was necessary.
“He was doing a totally different job (than Palin). He was virtually writing a contract with the Republican Party,” Willis said.
The Roseburg man was headed to the Mall of America to purchase a commemorative shot glass for a friend this morning and will fly back to Oregon later today.
You can reach reporter DD Bixby at 957-4211 or by e-mail at dbixby@nrtoday.com.
