Day 2 at the RNC

By Nicole Dale
@nicoledale05

Day two of the 2016 Republican National Convention was another action packed day for members of PoliticsFitzU.

Matt Scoville ’18 started the day off at the NH Delegate breakfast. He was able to see senator Joni Ernst of Iowa and U.S Congressman Tom Marino of Pennsylvania speak. They both discussed Senator Kelly Ayotte and how important her race is for the New Hampshire senate seat.

After, Scoville went to visit the protests surrounding the convention with Jonathan Spall ’18, Scott Delaura ’17, and Professor Christina Cliff. They saw protests from seven different organizations. “One woman I saw was yelling at me about not being able to speak for the Black Lives Movement because they were closed off by the police” said Scoville, who was able to Periscope the event for @PoliticsFitzU. The live video had up to 200 views at that time.

Professor Cliff spent her day covering protests, conducting interviews, and writing articles. Professor Cliff was able to interview the second in command of the Westboro Baptist Church. She wrote an article on the protests with Spall, DeLaura, and Scoville for the Boston Herald.

Professor Cliff also wrote a brief article for the Herald about the impact of Megan Kelly’s sexual harassment claim on the media and the Convention.

Ashley Stevens ’17 spent a portion of her day walking around the convention viewing concession and souvenir stands. She had the opportunity to speak with one of the souvenir stand employees. Stevens asked questions about the products and what was selling most and observed that Trump/Pence t-shirts were the only items for sale. She is interested to learn more about the possibility of Pence being a serious Vice President candidate for Trump.

Margaret Bell ’18 and Stevens interviewed many people today about the convention so far and Melania Trump’s speech from last night. Bell and Stevens were interested in people’s opinions between the striking similarity of Melania’s speech and Michelle Obama’s speech at the 2008 Democratic convention. Bell also spent the day live tweeting the roll call.

Alex Malm ’17 and Delaura walked around interviewing different protestors and helping with social media. Professor Heather Tullio, Bell, and Spall had the chance to meet Matthew Whitehead, Deputy Director in the FBI, who is a Rindge, New Hampshire native.

Margaret Bell, Professor Heather Tullio, Matthew Whitehead, and Jonathan Spall at the RNC | Photo: Politics FitzU Staff

Nicole Dale is a Graduate Assistant for The Fitzwater Center for Communications and is getting her Master’s in Leadership. She graduated from Franklin Pierce University this past May and is from Long Island, New York. For more updates and information follow the members of PoliticsFitzU’s adventures at the Republican National Convention with @PoliticsFitzU on Twitter.