One of the biggest passions I have is politics. I love being in the know and standing up for the candidates that I believe in. Growing up my mom would always make sure that I knew that it was my civil duty to be an informed voter. As we are moving into the next presidential race I have been very involved and have been glued to every single debate to sift out who I feel like I could vote for and who I just don't like. Each time that I sit down to watch a debate I always turn to Danielle and I tell her how someday I really wanna go to one of these things. Wouldn't you know it, someday finally came. Weeks ago as Danielle and I found out that a debate was going to be held in Las Vegas and non other than the Venetian, where she works. She called me up so excited and told me that she was able to secure us tickets to go. Being a
big republican buff I was very excited to get to go see my favorite candidates Mitt Romney and Herman Cain in action. As we got to the event that day there were gobs of protestors in front of the entrance to the debate. I couldn't help but stop and read some of their signs. With the whole Occupy everything movement going on there was sure some crazy ones...my favorite though was "I already regret carrying this sign all day." I had to give a thumbs up to the lady that was carrying that one. As we entered the debate, it was in a large warehouse that was converted into a small room with drapes for walls. We got past security and were shown to our designated place to sit.....3rd row from the back. It was great to be there with Danielle, she definitely has been the key to me accomplishing a lot of stuff on my bucket list. As the debate began Anderson Cooper introduced himself to us and kind of gave a run through of what would be happening throughout the debate. The applause and exciement was encouraged and was very controlled. Every time a commercial went out or came in the stage hands would motion for everyone to applaud the candidates. It was great to watch how the whole process worked. Overall, I think Mitt Romney came out as the winner of the debate. He gave the most presidential answers as he worked to deflect the many political cheap shots that came his way from the likes of Rick Perry or Rick Santorum. One of the humorous 
things that happened that they didn't show you on t.v. was Michele Bachman constantly trying to get the attention of Anderson Cooper. She shot her hand in the air so frequently that it became annoying to the viewers in the audience and many people made fun of her as she repeatedly shot that little hand of hope towards the moderator. It was definitely fun to applaud and to boo and to make the debate much more lively...Danielle contributed to that greatly and had some great quotes of her own that came from that meeting. As the debate ended we were able to mingle with the dignataries in the audience with the likes of Wayne Newton, Governor Brian Sandoval and even got Herman Cain's autograph. It was so fun to pretend to be important and to act as if we knew anything about the whole political election process. Anyway, it was a great time and I am grateful to have been able to check another thing off my list. I didn't think I'd ever get to do this one but it definitely pays to have a best friend and spouse who gets us into such awesome stuff. I think that if you ever have an opporunity to go to one of these things you should definitely take the chance and go because it is not only informative but a great way to spend an evening. After everything was over we went to I Love Burgers at the Venetian and scored ourselves some overpriced food that was amazing. The friend pickles were incredible. All in all though, such a fun night and I can't wait to check off my next thing....punch a shark here I come!
