I attended Presidency 5 on September 22nd and 23rd at and near the Orange County Convention Center. The gathering is of Republicans from all 67 counties in Florida, along with delegates who participate in a straw ballot to determine who the state is supporting for the presidency on the G.O.P. side.

I found myself wearing many hats during my time there which was okey dokey with me. Manning the information booth at the Rosen Plaza for a few hours for the Florida Federated Republican Women, of which I am an associate member, had me making use of my extensive knowledge of the area. On the 23rd I went onto the main concourse of the Orange County Convention Center and helped out in the Herman Cain campaign booth folding t-shirts and making tickets for an event the night of the 23rd, which I’ll detail further in Part 2.

The sketches above are from day 1, the 22nd. Below is a view of the concourse at the convention center from one point in both directions. This is at the end of the day and we were closing down. The night before this area was filled with people waiting to get into the Presidential debate.

For a short while I drew caricatures for the Florida Federated Republican Women. This is George Mann, who is a multi-generation Florida native whose family has been in the cattle business for over a century in Florida. He also is a Cracker storyteller.

On the left is Ann Archer (with her daughter Pam Archer) who is the longest serving on the Florida Executive Committee. At this point over 60 years. She was at one time in Dade County. On the right is the first black woman to serve on the Dade County Republican Executive Committee. I introduced these two and they shared stories of their times in Dade County.

Did the caricature thing Saturday. Here are some photos from the fun event!

While attending a Socrates Cafe, I doodled a page from the topics that came along.

During the Justin TV broadcast asked for two contributions from those listening. “Artform” provided ‘tripping on a shoelace’ and “Filler1008″ wrote ‘Chef”. I took it from there and the artwork is above.

During a live stream on Justin TV yesterday I thought I’d try another of the sketches many fellow artists did in March. Two watching contributed: “Coldchain” offered Swimming and “Rtb243002” added Lion. So I drew the drawing above.

What if the problems with the TSA could have been seen in the past?

Here’s a rare posting of one of my editorial cartoons here, just cause it ain’t all that controversial. 🙂 That and my editorial cartoon blog is not working right now due to a delayed reaction to a move from one server to another.

If you feel brave, you can click here and visit a slew more of my editorial cartoons at Glenn Beck’s site.

Been attending meetings in the past couple weeks. Here are sketches form Orlando Remembered (above), an executive Republican meeting (image 2) and the Marion County Springs Festival meeting (bottom).

Terisa Glover and I had a blast in Tarpon Springs Sunday while doing research for an upcoming Swampy’s Florida coloring book. Above and below are a couple sketches done during the trip. Unfortunately, a trip to Ozona, Florida found that one of my favorite Bar-B-Q places, the Ozona Pig, was closed for the day. Sooooo, it’s a trip across the street to Molly Goodheads for fish food. Because of that the drawings ensued.

Earlier in the day we teed off in Tarpon Springs and was welcomed by the sign below. I figured it meant ‘Beware of Hurricane Ahead’.

It’s fried shrimp time at Hella’s Restaurant! Wanna see what Swampy had? Check out Swampy’s Florida Sunday.

Penny for your thoughts? Getting a scrunched official Tarpon Springs penny.

For those who know the story, Sunday, the 5th, is also Taylor’s 19th birthday. I had my annual banana split at a restaurant in downtown Tarpon Springs in honor of his birthday. These folks don’t usually make banana splits, but did an excellent job!

Been promising a Dean Martin drawing to my friend Cathryn Grayson and was able to get it in today. The 7th would’ve been Dean’s 94th birthday. I’m a huuuuuge fan and hope one day to get to the annual Dean Martin Festival in Dean’s hometown of Steubenville, Ohio.

Was doin’ the caricature thing tonight in Orlando at the Orange County Regional History Center.