A Week of Sickness and Excitement

The week started off as any other in the Righeimer household. Saturday morning I met up with Costa Mesa City Councilman Allan Mansoor at the Hale Crest and Hall of Fame Homeowners’ Assn. yearly meeting.

We had recently approved the CarMax at Harbor Boulevard and Gisler Avenue, and we wanted to hear how the construction was affecting the neighborhood. My almost 4-year-old Ellie, who begged to go that morning, was now squirming in her seat thinking she should have stayed home with her sisters instead of learning how CarMax had designed the center dividers to keep truck traffic out of the neighborhood.

The neighbors seemed fine with CarMax, so I headed home. We had a ski vacation planned for Friday, so when I got home Lene was off to Sports Chalet to buy the girls ski clothes. Our two youngest girls had colds, so we stayed inside and tried to enjoy the rain. Mitt Romney’s loss to John McCain in Florida didn’t help my spirits, but there’s nothing like playing with your kids to put your life back into perspective and make you realize how good you have it.

Monday morning started completely different. The Romney campaign had contacted me earlier about doing a rally in Orange County and they just confirmed that, despite the loss in Florida, Mitt was not giving up. They needed the rally and could I work with the advance team and put it together for Thursday morning?

I am what you call in politics a true believer. You stick with whom you believe in until the end. If Mitt is not going to quit, neither am I. This game is not over.

I called in a favor from Rick Huffman, one of the owners of the Bassett Furniture store in a center I developed in Fountain Valley. Could we use the warehouse part of your store for the rally, I asked. How many people, he asks. Maybe 250, I say. He thinks for a second and says, “You got it.”

I call the Romney headquarters in Boston and tell them we have the location. The advance team kicks it in high gear. We have less than 72 hours to pull off what may be Romney’s only rally in Southern California before Super Tuesday. We have to set up a stage with sound and lights, risers for the press corps television cameras, contact the VIPs and rally the Romney supporters to get a crowd.

About this time I get a call from Lene — the cold our 22-month-old Katherine has worsened, and our pediatrician says she has a respiratory virus and admitting her to Fountain Valley Regional Hospital now. This is when hiring good people pays off. One of my assistants, Ethan, a smart 23-year-old with a little campaign experience, says he can handle it. I put him in charge and head for the ER.

When I get there Katherine does not look happy with the IV in her little arm and oxygen tube in her nose. The ER is crazy, but Lene is keeping her happy. Boy did I luck out when I went on that blind date 14 years ago. Fountain Valley’s staff is great, but they do not have an available bed in pediatrics.

Mesa Verde neighbors Steve and Robin Mensinger came to the rescue and picked up Morgan from school at St. John the Baptist. I stayed at the Hospital for a few hours to give Lene a break, but now I had to leave for my planning commission meeting. I got home after 10 p.m. and called the hospital. They finally had a room, and Katherine was responding well to treatments. Things were starting to look better.

Tuesday morning I get up early and head to the hospital to give Lene a break. She has been up most of the night. Needless to say, without going into all the details, the stress and worry you go though during these times, I did not get much sleep. Two days pass, and they release Katherine from the hospital. We get home by noon Wednesday with a list of prescriptions for antibiotics and breathing treatments.

Well, I still have a company to run and a rally set for Thursday so it’s back to the office. I get in and start making phone calls. We have less then 24 hours to pull off the event. I head to the warehouse about 8 that night, and the place is hopping.

These Romney people are pros. They have the stage and risers built for the TV cameras. Sound and lighting is almost finished. Before morning we will have three satellite trucks set up in the parking lot linking us to the world. Only one issue left. Did we do enough to get the crowd? Without a cheering crowd this rally is going to be a bomb and that’s not exactly what the campaign needs right now on national TV. We put out the word to everyone we knew, but it is not like people are going to make a reservation for a rally.

I have two business meetings Thursday morning, and all I can think about is whether anybody show. By 10:15 I get a text message from Ethan that just says “big turnout.” I rushed over to find there wasn’t a parking space for blocks. The turnout was huge. I see Rep. Dana Rohrabacher in the parking lot, and the crowd is so big we cannot find a way to get into the building.

Finally I see a familiar face, and we get though a different door. I count 21 TV crews on the risers. The Romney staffers are stunned by the size of the crowd. After the loss in Florida they were all concerned about losing traction. To make a long story short, Mitt shows up, and the crowd goes nuts. He delivered the best speech I had ever seen him do. He energized the crowd, and they energized him.

If you are wondering what happened to our ski vacation, well, Lene and I talked it over, and she decided that I should take Morgan to Aspen. Morgan had been really looking forward to her first ski trip and she didn’t want to break her heart. Lene would stay at home with Ellie and Katherine. We got up at 4 this morning and headed to the airport. So here I am in Aspen on a daddy-daughter ski trip. The snow is falling as I type these words.