In casting two ballots for "John McCain's friend" Mitt Romney, Bishop started to vote for "George" before correcting himself and saying the name of the most recent presidential candidate. George Romney, who ran for president in 1968, died in 1995; his son, Mitt, ran for president this year and lives to be a big-time surrogate for McCain.
Since George Romney was governor of Michigan and his son was governor of Massachusetts, maybe Bishop should just refer to them both as Gov. Romney.
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More b-ball politics
Barack Obama likes basketball, and basketball players like him. At least former University of Utah star Andre Miller is a big fan.
Miller, who now plays for the Philadelphia 76ers but lives in Denver in the offseason, hung out with the Utah Democrats on the morning of Obama's big convention speech.
But he wasn't there to hobnob with Democrats or reminisce about his college hoops heroics. He was working the crowd to get one of the highly coveted passes to Obama's speech.
And Utah Democratic Chairman Wayne Holland was more than happy to oblige.
"This is big time. It is a historical moment," Miller said.
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T-ing off
Just outside the security gates at the Republican National Convention, a man hawked T-shirts for $20. But it's not the price that was likely to cause offense.
It's probably the "Obama bin Biden" slogan or the Obama campaign logo emblazoned with a mushroom cloud that might elicit anger from some Democrats.
The man who offered the shirts for sale refused to say his name or the name of his business, but he gladly held the shirts high when cameras came into view.
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Consorting
with the enemy
An Associated Press photographer snapped a picture of state Sen. Pat Jones, D-Holladay, shaking hands with fellow Mormon Mitt Romney at the Democratic Convention in Denver.
Gasp!
Romney was there as part of a GOP effort to derail the Democratic message, and Jones caught him leaving the Pepsi Center.
But Jones said the handshake wasn't what it looks like.
"I was trying to proselytize and see if I could convert him."
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No love for Utahns:
Neither the Utah Democrats nor the Utah Republicans got particularly plum seats at their respective conventions, but for completely different reasons.
The Democrats had to sit at the extreme right of the stage behind a TV stand, where they had a much better view of the backsides of camera operators than they had of any convention speakers. Looks like the Democrats have not forgotten which state gave President Bush his biggest margin of victory in the last two elections.
The Republicans were wedged in the back between Hawaii, Puerto Rico and Guam. Looks like the Republicans know they really don't have to cater to the reddest of the red states.
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* BURR AND CANHAM report for The Salt Lake Tribune from Washington, D.C. They can be reached at tburr@sltrib.com or mcanham@sltrib.com.
For more political tidbits, check out http://blogs.sltrib.com/utahpolitics.
It's probably the "Obama bin Biden" [T-shirt] slogan or the Obama campaign logo emblazoned with a mushroom cloud that might elicit anger from some Democrats.
