Parking lot - Full
Every seat in the chapel - Full
Extra seating (maybe +150 or so) in the large entry hall - Full.
Truly "Standing Room Only"
Even "I" got choked up doing the pledge and singing God Bless America together with a house full of TX Patriots.
Was very nice to see so many people getting fired up enough to participate.
Truly a great opportunity to get caught up on both Federal and State happenings.
Three things stood out for me this evening.... in reverse order....
3. Both State reps did a great job catching us up on the legislative session, and more-so providing insight on how the Conservative block is fighting both the Dems and the establishment Republicans. The politics and inside baseball was very interesting.
2. There seems to be some real hope for successfully defunding Obamacare. Fingers crossed.
1. Both US Congressman said they each believe that the IRS scandals will end up at the White House. I was surprised at both the fact that they felt comfortable making such an accusation (Marchant is on the Ways & Means Committee and the Subcommittee on Oversight) and the confidence with which they said it.
Also in attendance were MANY candidates planning to run for office. We were pressed for time so Barry Smitherman was the only "candidate" given time to speak. He's running for Attorney General to replace Greg Abbott who will be running for Governor. You may recall that Smitherman is the current railroad commissioner. He was also the guy that allowed his government employees to CHL on the job. He also held a CHL class in his offices for 100 employees... I was impressed with his 5 minutes of campaigning.
If you didn't make it, you missed a worthwhile evening.
