. . . me! Yes, folks, I’m about to hit the road to New Orleans to cover the four-day Southern Republican Leadership Conference, which will feature not only the above-named superstars, but also RNC Chairman Michael Steele, Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, Herman Cain, Ron Paul, Rick Santorum, Rep. Mike Pence and many, many more.
No word yet on whether Louisiana Republican Stormy Daniels will attend the conference, but Dave “Not a Total Douchebag” Weigel has the lowdown on the SRLC 2012 presidential straw-poll. So if there’s a write-in vote for Stormy . . .
Well, business before pleasure, eh? And that means it’s time to rattle the tip-jar for the Shoe Leather Fund. Just picked up a rental car ($364.09) and it’s 1,075 miles to New Orleans. That’s 18 hours one-way, so if I sleep four hours in the car on the side of the road along the way, I might have an hour or two to get a quick shower before the Blogger Bash starts at 5 p.m. Thursday. Gonna need a lot of coffee ($2 a cup) and cigarettes ($5 a pack) to do this kind of driving, to say nothing of the gas money (2,150 miles at 20 miles per gallon at $3 per gallon = $322.50).
Mrs. Other McCain thinks I’m crazy, and she’s probably right, but I think y’all are good for $700 or so between now and Monday, and you haven’t let me down so far.
UPDATE 12:15 p.m. CDT: I’m in Meridian, Miss., poaching the lobby computer at a Hampton Inn. Slept three hours in the car this morning at the Alabama welcome center on I-59 just south of the Tennessee border.
Now about 200 miles from New Orleans. I could drive that in less than two hours, if the Mississippi State Police would stay out of my way, but . . . . Well, that could be a hassle. So I’m figuring I’ll be in the Quarter by 3 p.m.
Thanks to Michael, Sharon, Jeff, Barry, Carlos, Gregory and Jennifer for hitting the tip jar already. Excuse me if this update is kind of brief. The desk clerk is giving me the evil eye, like maybe I’m not a registered guest or something. Gotta run.
UPDATE 3:45 p.m.: LIVE FROM ORLEANS PARISH!
