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2014 RPV Convention LIVE FROM ROANOKE

Today’s the day – Republican delegates are flocking to Roanoke to pick the Senate nominee to defeat Mark Warner.

Festivities begin at 10:00am and Bearing Drift will be there throughout the day. Join in the conversation in comments below.

Apologies in advance for any delays or formatting errors due to connectivity issues (and not user error, of course).

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3:28 UPDATE: Seen walking from the Roanoke Civic Center:

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2:55 UPDATE: Ed Gillespie takes the stage to accept the nomination.

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2:52 UPDATE: Chair recognizes Shak Hill. We must be united.

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Ed Gillespie by acclimation.

2:48 UPDATE: The Bull Elephant is reporting that it’s over, concession is coming.

2:41 UPDATE: 5th District
0.11 Moss
651.65 Hill
0.1 DeTora
629.44 Gillespie

2:40 UPDATE: Not counting Moss and DeTora, Ed Gillespie is currently at 63.6% of the weighted votes.

2:34 UPDATE: 6th District
2.74 Chuck Moss
551.46 Shak Hill
9.0 Tony DeTora
644 Ed Gillespie

2:32 UPDATE: 8th District
0 Chuck Moss
40.63 Shak Hill
2.04 Tony DeTora
287 Ed Gillespie

2:38 UPDATE: 10th district
7.03 Chuck Moss
322.03 Shak Hill
5.13 Ton DeTora
372.83 Ed Gillespie

2:22 UPDATE: 4th district
366.77 Shak Hill
35.78 Tony DeTora
957 Ed Gillespie

1st District
1361 weighted
30.19 Chuck Moss
491.98 Shak Hill
12.75 Tony DeTora
826 Ed Gillespie

2:05 UPDATE: 3rd district has 475 votes:
165.57 Shak Hill
309.44 Ed Gillespie
0 Chuck Moss
0 Tony DeTora

1:45 UPDATE: delegations are voting. If it’s one ballot we’re expected to have a winner by 3:30. Shak Hill supporters are telling others not to leave in case there’s a second ballot – but it’d be a shock if it goes to two.

1:24 UPDATE Let the voting begin.

1:08 UPDATE: time for Ed Gillespie. Supporters are making noise, a lot of staff and some big signs.

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Mark Obenshain speaking for Ed. Crowd’s loud. Some are drawing comparisons to Obenshain last year or Pete Snyder’s showing at the convention.

Crowd is loud for Ed.

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Will fight against taxes, against cap and trade, stand up for coal workers (only candidate to touch on EPA regs). Stand up for life, 2nd Amendment, men and women in uniform and veterans.

Pledges to support nominee if it’s not him. “Any one if them will be a better Senator than Mark Warner.”

12:55 UPDATE: Tony DeTora speaking. No video, no introductions, gets right to it.

Tells the story of his father being sent here from Italy after WW2.

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12:37 – 12:52 UPDATE: Shak Hill opening video is like something out of Top Gun. Transitions into a great personal story about his wife and family.

Crowd roars for E.W. Jackson.

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Shak Hill has solid numbers.

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Mark Warner is Harry Reid without the personality.

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Now he’s attacking Ed and saying there’s no difference between him and Mark Warner. Doesn’t need to go this route. Getting boos.

Crowd was louder when he was introduced than after he finished.

12:22 – 12:35 UPDATE: Chuck Moss goes first, starts with a video. Of him driving a tractor. He’s being introduced by his nephew and nieces.

Washington needs new people, fresh ideas. Stop sending career politicians. Term limits, hooray.

Replace Washington insiders and career politicians.

Low key speech. Moss is getting polite applause but not firing anyone up. He does make some pretty good whiskey, though.

Calls on unity once we have a nominee. United behind core principles in the Republican Party Creed.

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12:20 UPDATE: Nominations committee report. All four candidates qualify: Moss, DeTora, Hill, Gillespie.

12:15 UPDATE: 2682 registered delegates. Fairfax County has 378 of 691. Prince William County has 94 of 213. Ed supporters are pleased with the PWC numbers, their turnout appears strong among the 94 and the weighted votes will be important.

Also, some Shak supporters are bragging they rode in on Ed’s busses.

Speeches are wrapping up, candidates coming soon.

12:04 UPDATE: Worst turnout so far by percentage? Possibly Virginia Beach: out of 547 registered delegates only 75 have shown up.

11:56 UPDATE: The Bull Elephant is reporting [13] and refuting a rumor about a purposeful delay to boost Ed’s numbers. Things are running smoothly and ahead if schedule. Even made time for a last minute addition: Gov. Jim Gilmore.

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11:53 UPDATE: 2669 registered delegates in the room. Gillespie people are worried about those numbers. And E.W. Jackson will be introducing Shak Hill. Not many undecided to sway, but E.W. will get the crowd roaring.

11:42 UPDATE: Ken Cuccinelli gets a standing ovation. Comes out swinging against Mark Warner on Obamacare:

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11:40 UPDATE: 2657 delegates so far.

11:30 UPDATE: Pete Snyder talking about the heart of our values, our Founding Fathers, division or destiny:

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11:05 UPDATE: Lynn Mitchell is live blogging the convention as well. [17]

11:00 UPDATE: Kay Cole James firing up the crowd:

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“This is about the soul of my country.”

10:42 UPDATE: it’s like a flashback to 2013 – Pat Mullins and E.W. Jackson:

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10:39 UPDATE: I will be joining Justin Higgins at JHPolitics [20] throughout the day to talk about the convention. Open up a new tab to watch.

10:16 UPDATE: 2300 registered delegates so far. That’s a very low turnout. Shak Hill’s people are very confident. Word going into last night was that Friday registration was 55/45 toward Ed Gillespie. This morning as seen a lot of yellow Shak shirts in the crowd.

The question is: where are they from? Votes are weighted with proportional delegation. A good showing for Shak in the 9th District could get wiped out by a handful of people out of Fairfax. Shak Hill may have the room in terms of raw number delegates, but are they enough votes?

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10:05 UPDATE: Pat Mullins giving a rousing speech against Mark Warner. “We need to leave this room Republicans!”

9:55 UPDATE: The paper airplanes fly beautifully.

9:49 UPDATE: Delegates from last year’s convention may remember the rain of paper airplanes from the rafters as we waited for ballots to be counted. Pat Mullins had to request folks stop tossing them for the sake of very expensive screens.

To help ensure safety not only for low lying delegates and giant screens, this year RPV has included paper airplane folding instructions in the Convention brochure that help delegates make blunt nose airplanes that hopefully fly better than most of last year’s attempts.

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9:30 UPDATE: A couple dozen Democrat protesters are out front holding up signs that say “DEMOCRAT” and others that you can’t read when driving by. In fact, you can’t read any of their signs because they’re busy listening to each other give speeches and smiling for the camera. A cynic might ask – if they’re not actually looking toward traffic and trying to change minds, is it just a show for the cameras?

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