RNC dispatches from my secret bunker in Cheyenne

So why is Mike Shay at hummingbirdminds covering the RNC in Tampa, Florida, from his bunker in Cheyenne, Wyoming?

I'm not. But I think that my landlocked readers are interested in all of the anti-RNC goings-on around Tampa Bay. You won't get it on the TV networks. You may get some of it from MSNBC and NPR and CSPAN. But you need to dial into the blogs to get the view from the street.

One other thing: I spent my formative years in Florida. I surfed its beaches and canoed its creeks and rivers. Traveled the state with my high school basketball team. Voted here in many elections and met the candidates, including Ronald Reagan during his unsuccessful 1976 campaign (apparently he learned a few things along the way). I am a Florida Gator, which gives me carte blanche to act like a fool during football season and to like Tim Tebow, no matter whom he plays for.

I haven't lived in Florida for 34 years but my roots are there, and so are my seven brothers and sisters and most of their offspring. Thirty years ago, my one and only marriage took place at a Catholic Church adjacent to the beach, salt-water scent drifting through its open windows. 

It's a wonderfully crazy place, a battleground state, pitting Miami Liberals vs. Panhandle Right-Wingers. If you know the place by reading Carl Hiaasen's novels and Miami Herald columns, you know some of its quirky nature.

Besides, things are quiet here in Wyoming -- for now. Our Republicans are battling each other, CROW vs. the RINOs. The Dems are struggling to keep the few seats we have in the state legislature. It will get much more interesting come October, so stay tuned.

Meanwhile, from Florida, there is this and that.