This Week in Tampa: They Said It Couldn't Happen<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"With the hurricane threatening and the delayed schedule, David and I decided to drive to Tampa.\u00a0 We love a good road trip \u2013 wanting to try out the Sirius\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/frenchrevolution\/2012\/08\/26\/this-week-in-tampa-they-said-it-couldnt-happen\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"This Week in Tampa: They Said It Couldn't Happen\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"With the hurricane threatening and the delayed schedule, David and I decided to drive to Tampa.\u00a0 We love a good road trip \u2013 wanting to try out the Sirius\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" 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{"id":3521,"date":"2012-08-26T22:55:35","date_gmt":"2012-08-27T03:55:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/frenchrevolution\/?p=3521"},"modified":"2012-08-26T23:02:35","modified_gmt":"2012-08-27T04:02:35","slug":"this-week-in-tampa-they-said-it-couldnt-happen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/frenchrevolution\/2012\/08\/26\/this-week-in-tampa-they-said-it-couldnt-happen\/","title":{"rendered":"This Week in Tampa: They Said It Couldn’t Happen"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

$\"\"$ <\/a><\/p>\n

With the hurricane threatening and the delayed schedule, David and I decided to drive<\/em> to Tampa.\u00a0 We love a good road trip \u2013 wanting to try out the Sirius radio and our new (to us) Honda Pilot, as well as conversation!\u00a0 There\u2019s simply no way we were going to face a possible hurricane evacuation and have to depend on public transportation or GOP convention buses.<\/p>\n

The walk through the garage, still full of old Evangelicals for Mitt gear, was a walk through memory lane.\u00a0 There was the old \u201cRomney\u201d hat that had the \u201cO\u201d as the center of the Tennessee flag which we wore at the 2006 Southern Republican Leadership Conference.\u00a0 Remember that? When Southerners in Memphis, of all places, voted \u201cthe Yankee Governor with Southern Values\u201d second in the first Presidential Straw Poll for 2008<\/a>.\u00a0 Then, there are the gigantic piggy bank-inspired signs (which the New York Times featured<\/a>) from the 2010 SRLC, when Mitt came in first in New Orleans<\/a>.\u00a0 Of course, I found a couple of \u201cEvangelicals for Mitt\u201d buttons from the Values Voters Conference.\u00a0 (Our least favorite conference, because I was shouted down in the elevator by the misguided Huckabee supporter and later kicked out of the conference.\u00a0 Good times.)\u00a0 And, of course, there were the Mitt buttons from CPAC.\u00a0 To be completely honest, I got a little teary as I walked to the garage to the car on our way to the conference where Gov. Romney will officially be named the standard bearer for conservative values.<\/p>\n

Anyway, we had a nice drive, reminiscing about old times. People told David and me\u2013 at every step of the way since 2006 \u2013 that Mitt would never be able to secure the nomination, that evangelicals would never support him.<\/p>\n

Then, how surprised we arrived and were welcomed by the hotel flying the Tennessee flag in honor of our delegation!<\/p>\n

This week, I\u2019m going to wear one of those old dusty hats and a big rectangular button.\u00a0 I\u2019m going plan to wear them proudly when we cast our vote for \u201cthe Yankee governor with Southern values.\u201d\u00a0 We also hope to reunite with the original Evangelicals for Mitt group.\u00a0 (Charles, we\u2019ll have a drink in your honor.)<\/p>\n

Anyway, congratulations, Gov. Romney.\u00a0 And thanks to all of our loyal readers who\u2019ve been here every step of the way. You are more than just anonymous comments under blog posts.\u00a0 We\u2019re so proud to call you friends.<\/p>\n

Follow me on Twitter<\/a> and Facebook!<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"