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Republican National Convention: Essex Porter's Day Four notebook

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, addresses the delegates during the third day session of the Republican National Convention in Cleveland on July 20, 2016. 

Editor's note: Essex Porter has more than 30 years of political reporting experience at KIRO 7 and will be reporting live from the Republican National Convention from July 18-21st and from the and Democratic National Convention July 25th- 28th. Each day on kiro7.com, Essex will have insider information and personal perspectives. He’ll be live during KIRO 7 News from 5-6:30.

Dear KIRO 7 Viewer,

Sen. Ted Cruz this morning attacked those who would call him a traitor because he questioned the party’s nominee. He didn’t name names but Washington State GOP Chairman Susan Hutchison is sure he’s talking about her.

Crazy. Sometimes an event can be summed up completely in a short, simple word. Last night was crazy.

Photographer Bill Skok and got to the floor of the convention just as former Presidential Candidate Ted Cruz was beginning his speech.  The Washington Delegation is largely devoted to Ted Cruz and we were watching for their reaction.

We could feel the restlessness on the floor as the speech went on without an endorsement.  Then we began to hear boos. Then Ted Cruz said people should vote their “conscience” and the hall erupted in jeers from the Trump supporters. Why was “conscience” the trigger word?  Because the Cruz forces fought to unbind delegates pledged to Trump so those delegates could vote their “conscience”.  The Trump forces knew Cruz was sending a signal and that they were not going to get the endorsement they wanted.

Then it got crazier. We had left the hall, and were editing our 11p story up against  deadline when the Seattle Times and BuzzFeed posted on Twitter that Washington State Chairman Susan Hutchison had a forceful confrontation with Ted Cruz right after his speech.

We had only a few minutes to record a phone conversation with Hutchison where she described meeting Cruz near an elevator and telling him that his speech was “inexcusable” and called him a “traitor” to the Republican party.

Only then could we race to the convention hall, get through security, and to the CBS skybox where we deliver our live reports.

Today Dave Wagner, Jon Jussero, Bill Skok and I dig into what this means for the party and look ahead to Donald Trump’s acceptance speech tonight.

Sincerely,

Essex Porter

Cox Media Group

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