Above: Click play to watch the interview

As the Republican National Convention winds down, delegates and guests are taking in the last of the parties and arranging for transportation to the airport.  The estimated 15,000 journalists and media technicians are packing up their gear, preparing for the trip home.

Some can drive back to their stations in or near Minnesota.  Others fly as far as to coastal cities like San Diego and New York. Still others journey home to Pakistan or Kenya or Ireland.  Yes, there were large numbers of foreign print, web, and broadcast professionals at both conventions, including one team that shared our radio row spaces in Denver and St. Paul.  Generous and cooperative they were and I can't imagine better neighbors in tight quarters than the group from RTE (Radio Television Ireland).

So before we said goodbye, I couldn't resist doing my final interview with Fiona Hearst, the web writer for RTE, to find out why all this interest in U.S. presidential possibilities.

I think you'll find her responses candid, fascinating, and a charming window on the world outside of our borders.  Think "blood links" between candidates and the Irish, who has them and who doesn't, and why this is important to the Irish.  And when it comes to which issues interest an Irish audience, Fiona Hearst lists immigration, the economy, and, of course, the situation in the Middle East.  This definitely echoes some concerns right here at home.

Above: Click to view the full, 20-minute interview with Pete Wilson

Republicans made it easy for me to get to the floor of their national convention.  All I had to do was turn in my media pass to a special desk and there it was – complete access to the floor.  So different from the Democrats where I never was admitted to the space where delegates congregated.

After a fairly long search of delegate neighborhoods, I found the California group rather far back from the stage, certainly not in prime territory.  I wonder why.  Could it be because California has a blue state history, despite its Republican governor?  At any rate, I was delighted to mingle with folks from my state and found familiar faces from past interviews and earlier life experiences. 

In the crowd was former San Diego Mayor Pete Wilson, who catapulted his sleepy 1970’s city into a modern metropolis.  This accomplishment combined with his reputation as a moderate Republican set the stage for his successful bid for the U.S. Senate and then the California governor’s seat.  His terms as the state’s top official were politically turbulent, with much of the turmoil centered on his support of Proposition 209, which ended racial quotas and preferences.  He also was involved in the deregulation the state's energy market, and angered California’s Hispanic population by backing taxpayer-funded benefits to illegal immigrants.

However, my early memories of Pete include sharing social moments with our former spouses on Mission Beach, at the nascence of his political career and the threshold of my journalistic journey in San Diego. I remember him as a young man grounded in ideals and humor.  The years make changes in all of us.  But often, there are hints of the past in what we have become.

Above: Click to play the interview with Congresswoman Susan Davis

I met Susan Davis decades ago when she was the first KPBS Coordinator of Volunteers –- and she was hugely successful organizing the station’s very first group of San Diegans who wanted to help public broadcasting flourish.  She was a highly educated wife of a successful psychiatrist and the mother of two young boys.  We had a great deal in common.

But while I made my life’s work KPBS, Susan moved into elective office – as a school board trustee, a State Assemblywoman, and then into Congress.  I’ve watched her grow as a politician and become more involved, more focused, and much more articulate.  In her maturity, she’s attained a higher level of mastery in her selected profession.   On this second night of the Democratic National Convention, this interview effectively captured her reaction to what was happening as history was being made.

Above: 22-year-old San Diegan Delegate Dave Carlson. Interview by Joe Spurr.

This was our first live, UStreamed interview with a local delegate, and we very much had to set up the stream on the fly, running on batteries and using my computer's built-in camera. I was a little frazzled heading into it because of that, and I also hadn't yet met Dave, so I wasn't as familiar with his background as some other young delegates.

That said, I enjoyed the chat and was impressed with Dave's knowledge and on-the-spot speaking ability.  I'll let the video speak for itself, but your feedback is welcome and we can continue the conversation in the comments section below.

I've been tweeting more and more as our production processes have smoothed out, so feel free to interact with us there as well -- and in that respect please consider yourself in Denver with us!