I live in Minneapolis where I work as an architectural draftsman. I’m a lifelong Minnesotan and have lived in Minneapolis since 1993.

I was elected as a national delegate at the state convention in Rochester. This will be my first national convention. Other than casting my votes as a delegate my only official role is to serve as a member of the Credential’s Committee. I joined John McCain’s campaign in the spring of 2007, and will be very proud to cast a vote for him in St. Paul.

I currently serve as chair of the 5th Congressional District Republicans. Winning the 5th Congressional seat is difficult (the last Republican congressman from the district—Dr. Walter Judd--was defeated in 1962), but we’ve endorsed a candidate—Barb White—who’s one of the most dynamic speakers we’ve put before the voters in recent years.

I became a Republican in 1988 during my senior year in high school. I was preparing for a mock presidential debate, where I was on the team arguing for Michael Dukakis. As I researched the issues, however, I determined that I was much closer to being a Republican than a Democrat. Next fall at the start of my freshman year I joined the College Republicans at Carleton College (there were about 10 of us).

While I’ve volunteered for statewide candidates (like Tim Pawlenty and Norm Coleman) I’ve spent most of my time in politics helping local candidates (school board, city council and MN legislature). Campaigning as a Republican in Minneapolis has proved to be quite the uphill battle. I don’t have many victories to show for my efforts. I’ve tried to present the Republican message to as many people in the city as possible (whether they have a favorable impression of the party or not). I hope the efforts will pay off down the road, as voters in the city gradually realize that there are alternatives to the current leadership.

I got involved originally because of technology policy. There is a lot going on behind the scenes as the media companies battle to thwart free markets and control over your media. Want to buy a DVD and put it on your video iPod? Media companies want to keep that illegal to put that on your video iPod – buy it again in video iPod format! Want to email a song off a CD to share with a distant loved one? They'll sue you for $10,000 in statutory damages. (Ironically, its legal to burn a mix-CD and loan that to a friend.) And one of the landmark legal cases in this battle happened right here in Minnesota, in Brainard, in the case of Jamie Thomas, who faces a judgment of $250,000 for having 25 songs in a file share – and the record companies didn't even have to prove that she actually shared them! Just having them in the file share was enough. $250,000 for $25 worth of music. Talk about cruel and unusual punishment.

So that got me interested. Copyright isn't just something that media companies are entitled to. Its something that we give them, as people in this democracy, and if its not right its up to us to fix it.

So I started by attending events with the Young Republicans (post college, ages 20 – 40. http://www.minnesotayr.com/), helping them make calls for George W. Bush's reelection campaign (the second time, when he won the popular vote) I played softball with some young republicans and made a few friends, including a delegate to the congressional district and state conventions with whom I attended as a guest.

And that got me interested in getting involved with my Senate District in 2005 so that I could become a delegate to our state conventions. I became the chairman of our Senate District and with the help and support of my Senate District colleagues was responsible for organizing the political caucuses and conventions in our area. As an active member of our Senate District, I worked hundreds of hours in 2006 knocking on doors, passing out literature, making phone calls to people who do not want to receive phone calls and aren't often friendly about saying so, and recruiting volunteers who do not want to make those phone calls, all to try to get our candidates elected in a year that was not very friendly to Republican candidates. And that got me involved with our congressional district and working with our congressional district leaders, so that this year, at this Congressional District convention, thanks to the support of our Congressional District leadership, the support of the Senate District leaders in our Congressional District, the work of the Congressional District search committee, the enthusiastic support of my Senate District, and a rousing speech that was unforgettable if only for its powerfully abrupt ending, I was elected as an alternate delegate to the National Convention.

And that's how this story begins ...