A Republican delegate holds a sign in support of Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin.

 (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

By MATTHEW GOLDEN
Special to the Sun
The entire Michigan delegation dressed in hockey jerseys Wednesday night.
The jerseys were provided by Attorney General Mike Cox. Cox hosted “Mr. Hockey,” Gordie Howe earlier this week at a reception for the Michigan delegation.
During Sarah Palin’s speech, at one point the Michigan delegation started a chant of “HOCKEY MOM.” That’s the point when Palin said that the only difference between a hockey mom and a pitbull was lipstick.
Being on the floor, we are able to watch the rear teleprompter. I was amazed that this was an off-the-cuff remark that today has so many people talking.

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PALIN HITS BACK: Palin took Wednesday night as an opportunity to hit back and to dispel any rumor that she lacks experience. My favorite line last night was the well-reported, “I guess a small town mayor is kind of like a community organizer, except you have actual responsibilities.” Wow.
At the end of the night, I went to Facebook. Scrolling through my friends’ updates, I was shocked at some of the people who wrote about how much they liked Palin’s speech. Talk about energizing the GOP base and bringing independent women to the McCain-Palin ticket. If Facebook could count as an official poll, I think they just got one heck of a post-convention bounce.

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BUTTONS: Just like any political event, the campaign buttons are all over the place. From personalized McCain-Palin buttons with a guests’ names on them to the funny ones, almost everyone has some sort of button on.
One finally got me to look twice. On a 20-something delegate from Texas, I saw a button with a photo of Sarah Palin next to the phrase “HOT VP, COOL STATE.”

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Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee speaks during the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minn., Wednesday.

(AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

HUCKABEE WAS … HUCKABEE: Using his typical sarcastic and easy to relate to sense of humor, former Gov. Mike Huckabee worked to dispel any rumors that Palin should be less credible because she is from Alaska or a small town. Huckabee noted that that Alaska has the same number of electoral votes as Delaware. That’s where Obama VP candidate Joe Biden is from.

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Former Massachusetts Gov. and presidential candidate Mitt Romney  speaks at the Republican National Convention.

(AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

MITT ROMNEY: Mitt Romney was one of the featured breakfast speakers at the Michigan hotel on Wednesday morning. He got the crowd riled up! For a former opponent, he sure had come over to the McCain side!
Matthew Golden is chairman of the Isabella County Republican Party and is blogging from the GOP convention in St. Paul for The Sun Insider blog. Reports from earlier this week can be seen there.