Anyhow, While I was relaxing with a friend in Charlottesville, the finishing touches were being put on the workspace and the convention floor. The rent-a-cop security that I walked out through on Monday was now replaced by Secret Service checkpoints. I now have eight different credentials, half of which I don't even know what they're for.

The other big change is that the infantry has started to arrive. There must be close to 100 people now here on site for Fox. Here is an interesting factoid I heard today - for every floor delegate to the convention, there are 16 members of the press. It almost makes one wonder how much of a political event this really is, or is it just a media love fest?

More pictures now from Austin. I'll have new Philly pix tonight! Philly GOP2000 coverage continues on Page Four.

July 26, 2000 - Dateline Austin, Texas. A crazy interlude from the convention. I was flown out here at the very last minute to take care of a bunch of problems with a vendor truck, and get out coverage of Bush's VP announcement on the air. Too bad it turned into another 40 hour day!

By the time New York made the decision to fly me out, it was too late to fly to Austin. So I flew from Philly to Atlanta to Houston, rented a car, and started driving. Keep in mind that my day started at 0700 in Philly with our first liveshots from there. By the time I got into Austin, it was 0330 and time to start working. With a lot of effort and improvising, I got us on the air and we didn't miss a single live shot all day. It wasn't pretty, it wasn't the greatest stuff I've ever done, but we made the show and that's all that count. Welcome to the campaign. Welcome to guerrilla television.

I'm off to DC now for a few days off before the convention starts. I was supposed to be changing planes in Chicago right now, but I totally slept though my early flight this morning. I guess that after 36 hours of being awake, my mind still thinks I'm superman but my body has other ideas. I must have been dead to the world, because I never heard my wakeup call, or my pager going off three times. Good thing I don't need to be making TV today!