I attended the Friday luncheon of the Florida Press Association at historic The Breakers in Palm Beach, Florida. During the luncheon the Florida Press Association presented awards to those of the daily papers. Also given were awards from The First Amendment Foundation. The Pete Weitzel/Friends of the First Amendment Award was given to Pat Gleason, who is an assistant to Governor Charlie Crist on many things including open government. She is a great lady. She assisted Sandra and I when visiting the Governors Library & Sandra donated many of her books. Governor Crist was at the luncheon to present the award. Below is a fuzzy photo of Pat Gleason speaking, to the right of the photo.

I was honored to receive the Sunshine Award for my editorial cartoons on the subject of Sunshine Week. Below the photo are the two Sunshine Week cartoons. My time at Orlando City Hall greatly helped my constructing these two cartoons. Director  Barbara Peterson was a big help!

To the right is a colored sketch of drapery in The Breakers.

While at the Florida Press luncheon I met Mark Mathes who once editted a ton of cartoonists when he was with Tribune Media Services. Amongst those is cartoonist and editor, Dick Kulpa. Dick was one time editor of the infamous Weekly World News.  I once penciled a week of comics strips for Dick’s comic strip ‘Ghost Story Club’ many years ago.

Anyway, Mark invited Dick over and we went to dinner. Dick and I drew each other and a photo of such is below.

I was pollwatching Election Day without sleep for two days. The night before I assembled quite a few hundred signs. I left from there and drove 124 miles in 6 hours  putting up signs across Marion County. I went home, changed and headed to the poll assigned. Republican Roy Capshaw was with me to pollwatch. We settled with an “Obama Greeter” and an Obama Lawyer. There were two other lawyers there and a fourth who hung around for a while. Two more Obama volunteers came and sat in their car and watched me and Roy and the goings on. At one time there were 8 Obama people at 1 precinct. Three were being paid.

One of the lawyers told me that the greeter and lawyer setup was the case across the state in each of the 67 counties. Apparently, each precinct in Marion County had an Obama greeter, Obama pollwatcher inside the polling area and at least one lawyer. I went by a few other precincts and saw the greeters and lawyer.

In the end, I gotten overtired and had to leave. I quickly sketched the tree above that sat near the voting area.

Below is the cheat sheet handed to voters by the Obama Greeter. I spoke to a few people outside the area that wanted to see it, so here it is.

Here is the other side of the cheat sheet.

Too bad the ones passing these out didn’t think the voter might be able to think for themselves and not need such shallow direction.

Later was the Victory Party, as was hoped. Here a map is being colored red and blue for folks to follow.

A thumbs up from the faithful.

Even Dick Cheney joined us….well, he LOOKS like Dick Cheney. Actually it’s Roy Capshaw who was paired with me for pollwatching duties earlier in the day.

It’s Matt MacClain, Angie Boynton and Tammie Still pondering something more to do during the party. Angie helms our McCain HQ and lead us to victory in Marion County for McCain.

Here’s Matt MacClain, just re-elected Stan MacClain, just re-elected Kurt Kelly (I snapped this at a bad momment) and Glenn Tomblinson, who heads Campaign Graphics and created the outstanding political materials for a ton of politicians including McCain in Florida. Glenn made the sign in the background.

Finally, it’s Rejerio who has been summoned by John McCain on the secret Election Video Phone where he receives his top secret orders for duty to save the world.

…OK! Ok! I’ll stop! Rejerio watched John McCain as he gave his concession speech.

Jack Kemp and Pat Summerall visited the McCain HQ Monday morning. I’m a fan of Pat Summerall. Paul Harvey and his voice are my favorite radio voices. Above is a sketch of Summerall and his signature. Below is Jack Kemp, who I haven’t seen in person since I wotked the Dole/Kemp campain 12 years ago.

After our goodbyes with the NCS Florida Chapter, we headed to Palm Beach County McCain HQ. I got there as they were about to hane make some signs to carry for a walking rally. So I grabbed pens and poster board and went to work. While I drew, I was asked if I could draw one with Obama and the ‘Nobama’ slogan. Above is a volunteer (I didn’t get her name) holding up two signs. I made…Very fast. Below is the huge group as they made their way down the sidewalk.

Sandra and I voted today. It’s the first time I didn’t vote on the actual voting day. I’ll be spending voting day as a poll watcher November 4th. Above is a sketch of the folks ahead of us in line.

We had a Republican Rally in Ocala this evening. I drew some caricatures in the reception area as of Danielle above.

Mel Tillis came out and gave of his time with his full band. I’ve been a fan of Tillis since I was a small fellow watching him during his appearances on the Carson Show. I still have cassette tapes of Tillis on the show. There’s one song he sang on his show that never appeared on his album and to this day still wonder why that happened.

Mel Tillis and his band had just performed in Branson and gave us the full show. I’ve wanted to see him in concert for years, make that decades now. Each time the opportunity arose, something would happen and I or we couldn’t make it. His performance was terrific!

Besides Mel’s great singing, these fiddlers were outstanding!

By the way, check out my friend, Jennifer’s, recent encounter with Sarah Palin and Sean Hannity in Tampa.

A crowd showed up for the last meeting before a big Republican Victory Rally we’re holding this coming Monday in Ocala with Mel Tillis headlining. Above is a sketch of a couple folks attending.

A friend wrote to me about the difference of college between these two. The educational list ignores the uses of the education. Though McCain did poorly in the Naval Academy, he’s spent the decades since as a distinguished bi-partisan member of Congress. Obama, nearly a career student, jumped from finishing college in his 30s to being a paid community volunteer.  Then basically job hopping in politics for a few years before somehow getting in his head that he was qualified to run for President. Shows what a good talker can do in ten years from college to Senator. Makes me also concerned what Billy Mays is planning. At least Billy Mays has a track record you can follow!

After dropping Sandra at the Orlando Airport I made my way north and stopped in Tavares and worked at McCain HQ making calls to help get volunteers in to help out. Above is one of the other volunteer phone callers at work.

For those who know the  story, Jacob turns 14 today!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JACOB!!!!!

Here’s my celebratory banana split from Ms. Steve’s in Belleview.

Earlier in the day I attended the Marion County Republican Women Federated Group meeting. To the right is a sketch of part of the table centerpiece.

In St. Augustine, while Sandra was at a day long tourism meeting I ran around getting photos of St. Augustine. I then made my way to the McCain HQ and made calls for three hours rounding up volunteers to go door to door and spread the good word about McCain. Above are doodles I made of folks who milled in and out of the office as I made phone calls.

Later I joined Sandra and fellow meeting attendees Jennifer Huber and Virgina (Durn! Fergot her last name) at the Cracker Cafe off St. George Street in St. Augustine. We talked tourism and travels. Below is a sketch I made of the TV in the corner of the restaurant.