Location, Location, Location

The California delegation is definitely up front at this convention. Seated directly in front of the podium is Kansas (no surprise, given native son Bob Dole), but stage right is California and its 165 delegate seats. That makes the delegation a handy attraction for the hundreds of television cameras around San Diego’s convention hall. CNN’s Gene Randall says that California’s delegates are “certainly going to be one of the focal points of the convention.”

Keynote Speakers

With her speech tonight, New York Rep. Susan Molinari will become the third woman to deliver a keynote address at a Republican National Convention. Here are the previous 14 keynoters:

1992--Sen. Phil Gramm of Texas (Convention site: Houston)

1988--Gov. Tom Kean of New Jersey (New Orleans)

1984--U.S. Treasurer Katherine Ortega (Dallas)

1980--Rep. Guy Vander Jagt of Michigan (Detroit)

1976--Sen. Howard Baker of Tennessee (Kansas City)

1972--Anne Armstrong, co-chair of the Republican National Committee, and Mayor Richard Lugar of Indianapolis (Miami)

1968--Gov. Dan Evans of Washington (Miami)

1964--Gov. Mark Hatfield of Oregon (San Francisco)

1960--Rep. Walter Judd of Minnesota (Chicago)

1956--Gov. Arthur Langlie of Washington (San Francisco)

1952--Retired Gen. Douglas MacArthur (Chicago)

1948--Gov. Dwight Green of Illinois (Philadelphia)

1944--Gov. Earl Warren of California (Chicago)

1940--Gov. Harold Stassen of Minnesota (Philadelphia)