Dignitaries address Colorado RNC delegates

By Lynn Bartels, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published September 1, 2008 at 9 a.m.
Updated September 1, 2008 at 9:09 a.m.

Text size

MINNEAPOLIS — Dirk Kempthorne, secretary of the Department of the Interior and former governor of Idaho, thanked the delegates for being there.

"Without wonderful citizens like you, democracy does not exist," he said.

He said John McCain is tough enough to be president.

But Kempthorne got his biggest applause when he talked about energy and oil. He said McCain has solid energy policies.

And he got more applause when he mentioned McCain and his running mate, Sarah Palin.

---

Congresswoman Heather Wilson of New Mexico told the Colorado delegation she's third generation Air Force, quite a feat, she said, as the airplane is not that old.

She talked about Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Gustav.

She said it's no surprise that John McCain said "The celebration can wait, we have to put country first."

"He's been doing that all his life," she said.

Coloradan Jim Nicholson, who has had a number of different titles, including former secretary of veteran affairs, said he has known John McCain for more than 20 years.

McCain came to Colorado to campaign for Phil Gramm's 1996 presidential bid. McCain asked to visit some veterans, Nicholson said, just on his own. No cameras. No press.

He encouraged the delegates to read McCain's book, "Faith of Our Fathers." He said if they didn't have time to read the whole book, read Chapter 19, about McCain passing on being allowed to leave Vietnam unless others got to leave. McCain was tortured for refusing.

Subscribe to the Rocky Mountain News