On October 28-30, the National Federation of Republican Assemblies held its quadrennial Presidential Preference Convention in Des Moines, Iowa. 19 Texans made the trek to Des Moines to join delegates from 17 other states to pursue the conservative agenda.
The highlight of the Convention was the address by candidates followed by voting to determine the group's preference in the Republican presidential contest. Addressing the Assemblies were Congressman Ron Paul, former Senator Rick Santorum, and Texas First Lady Anita Perry on behalf of her husband, Rick Perry. Addressing the convention by video were former Speaker Newt Gingrich and businessman Herman Cain.
On the first ballot no votes were garnered by former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney, former Ambassador John Huntsman, or former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson. Somewhat surprising was the fact that Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann only received 2 votes on the first ballot and none thereafter.
Texas Governor Rick Perry's votes ran from 17 to 20 but never broke out beyond that. From the first ballot Rick Santorum took the lead. On the sixth ballot a sufficient number of votes moved from second place Herman Cain to Rick Santorum to achieve the two-thirds necessary for the endorsement. The Santorum endorsement was the first achieved by the NFRA since the national conventions began in 1999. This was the fourth of such conventions.
The Convention was covered by the media and featured on national wire services. In fact, while we were at dinner immediately after the polling the endorsement story was already posted on CNN Wire Service and on World Net Daily.
You will be proud to know that Texas had the largest delegation at the Convention, followed by Missouri with 17 and California with 13. In past conventions California has dominated with the largest delegation. It was apparent that the present state of the economy had an impact on attendance.
In addition to the presidential preference poll, numerous training sessions were presented by the Leadership Institute on campaign-related topics, officers of the NFRA were elected, and resolutions were passed. Denton County RA member James Dickey was elected by the board of directors to a two year term as South Central Regional Vice President. His efforts will concentrate on building membership in his area.
The TXRA has begun efforts to bring a future convention to Texas. A convention has not been held in Texas since 2001.
