 Welcome back, I think, but we also welcome Dick Thornberg to his first congressional leadership meeting, his attorney general. In New Orleans, it's quite apparent that the high spirits of the convention were rather intoxicating for everyone, especially my staff, some of whom I hear are still enjoying or are missing on Bourbon Street. Seriously, this was one of the best. As you well know, that's a long memory. Michael did a superb job as Permanent Chairman, and Bob, would you please pass on my compliments to Olympus Snow, who was an exemplary Vice Chairman, and to Frank Theronkov, our gratitude for you and the official proceedings staff for your long hours and hard work it showed. Now to all of you in this room who addressed the convention, congratulations for your eloquent statements on our party's principles and our hopes for the future. When we have an opportunity to contrast our record of the conflict with the other side's vague promises, the result is clear. The American people know they can't take a chance on a blind date. So, poll after poll now shows the Bush Quail ticket is coming on strong. The other side's calling for change. When you were out of town, Dave Willer wrote a splendid article emphasizing a point that was made in New Orleans, and I urge you all to continue to emphasize it. We are the change. Let me now call on Frank Theronkov for any comments he'd like to share with us, and then as any of you would like to direct any questions to Frank, please do so. Rudy, I hope you'll feel free to chime in too. Thank you, Mr. President. Ladies and gentlemen, I think to give you a quick overview of how we see our current status, you really have to go back and start with the conclusion of the Democrat poll. But technically it was, and when you look at the results coming out of Atlanta, Mike Dupac has got a tremendous bump in the polls. He had as much as a 17-point lead over the vice president. It's a really great moment for me to see you, Mr. President. Well, we're pleased to see you. Hello there. Nice to see you. Well, come in and join me out. How are you? Nice to meet you. How are you? Welcome. Well, how about you? Mr. Chair, here. Come in. Yes. Welcome. Welcome. Welcome. Well, I know we have some photographers coming in. Marlon, is there any writing press or anything? Just photographers. Go ahead and talk. I know that our time is very limited here, but I just want you to know that the solidarity struggle has captured the hearts of so many people here in our country. And to admire the courage of Lekwelesa and all of you, what you're doing in keeping alive the hopes and aspirations of these people, it's impossible for us to conceive of polling without a simple local solidarity. All of the stands, as you know, we have a rather sizable coalition in our community here in our country. And we're pleased that the government there has taken the first steps by meeting with Lekwelesa. And then you were right there. I could say something, and you could correct me on something. I call it Lekwelesa, and yet I don't know why I am. I hear it referred to as Lekwelesa. Lekwelesa, yes. It is, without an end, but it comes out Lekwelesa. Okay, I'll see you correct me then, from now on. But I hope that this first step of just that, just the first of leading to a genuine national reconciliation. And we, I believe that only through such a national reconciliation can there be an economic help and people. Please present Ambassador Timothy Towell. Yes. Hi. Good to see you, sir. Well, I heard you said that I'm leaving you to go to another duty. Well. It's been an exciting five and a half years. Well, I was going to say I want to thank you for all that you've done. Thank you very much. I appreciate that. My wife, Dane, Mr. President. Hello, Mr. President. Nice to see you. It's an honor to meet you. Nice to meet you. 82-year-old mother from Cleveland, Ohio. I'm so glad to meet you. Nice to see you. Nice to see you. My son, Timmy Towell. Hello there. He's going to power by with us. And my daughter, Dane, who is going to stay in boarding school. Nice to see you. Hi, how are you? You know Jackie Tillman from the NSC. Yes, I do. Well, why don't we, why don't you get in here. And maybe one of you come around over here, and we get a family photo. There we go. Grandma, there we go. Grandma, you stay right there. Grandpa, there we go. You have a slightly side-rises for me. Thank you. Well, all right. I don't think you should go without having some souvenirs. You. Thank you, sir. You. Thank you, Mr. President. And kids. Little to protect you. Thank you very much. And there. Thank you, sir. Well, listen, please, to do it again, thank you very much. You're looking very well. And for what you're going to do. Thank you very much, Mr. President. All right. Thank you, sir. We're very proud. Thank you. Thank you. Speak Spanish. Steve. Hopefully, down's busy, it's bad. All right. Thank you very much. Good luck. Good luck. Let's get them in here now, because we haven't got much time. This is part of the drug, of course. Five seconds. Yeah. Smokey the bearer, how are you? Don, how are you? Mr. President, Steve. The yellow part, in this case, is the Yellowstone National Park. And this is one of the grand fecons. The green is the national force part of the Department of Interior. The national force part of the Department of Agriculture. This is this contribution that is part of this drug problem we're having all over the West. The worst place by far is Yellowstone, and the area is right around it, right in here. That's Idaho, Montana, that fires all over that country. There's some big fires now in Washington. Oregon is in better shape. California is really in pretty good shape this morning. But the conditions for fires continue to be very strong, very gloomy in the next few weeks for all of this country. And we're quite, because it's so dry. And of course, you would have just been in California and I'm sure you know how to drive it. Yes. So this is what we're having this major problem in the house. As we all know, what's the thing, get too far gone and get done? Well, I don't know. Maybe I just understand some things. But yesterday in the congressional meeting, when Al Simpson brought up the park, and it seemed to indicate not a little about in the park that nature started to fire while that had burned. And you had gone in there and changed so bad. That's right. Am I right? That is correct. It's Hector Beretto, Chairman Emeritus. Good to see you. Good to see you, Mr. President. You look well. Thank you. I'm here to see us. Mr. President. I'm here to see you, Mr. President. Nice to see you, Mr. President. Miguel Iria. Nice to see you, Mr. President. Miguel Iria. Nice to see you. I'm here to see you. Good to see you, Mr. President. Mr. President, good to see you again. Good to see you. Good to see you, too. Thank you. And Romelia Caball. How do you do this? It's a pleasure. It's a pleasure. It's a pleasure. Thank you. Nice to see you. I think we're going to get a group picture here. We want the previous one. Exactly. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. President, for your argument, inspiring young people to education and so forth. inspiring young people to get education and so forth, also getting Hispanic Americans engaged in politics. We'd like to thank you, Mr. President, for all the good you do for us today. I think you did the best work, not only for the Spanish Americans here at the United States, but for the whole of the United States and for the whole of the entire world. Well, I would like to thank you for all the help you've given to support our administration and on a trade bill that would not be pro-sectionist and so forth. And I also know that, I recall that you endorsed the Reagan-Bush ticket in 1980 and 1980. Yes, yes, yes. Good little, not the first one. But let me tell you, Mr. President, in 1981, the first meeting that we had up here with you in lunch, and I say that we want that your administration gives us a chance to participate. And that time, we were 200,000 Hispanic businesses. Today, it's 400,000 Hispanic businesses. And the sales of those businesses kept going by weeks and months. We were selling $10 billion in 1980. Right now, it's almost $20 billion a year sales. So what we ask you, they give us an opportunity. I think we're very happy to report that through your help and through our efforts, we've been able to encourage Hispanics to go forward in businesses. We have also reached to Latin America. We're working with Mexico and Latin America. And let me tell you, those people over there held you in high esteem. They say that you are the greatest thing to happen for this country and for all of America. Thank you very much. I know the work that you've done regarding inspiring entrepreneurship and the increase in small business ownership and all that, wonderful that is. But I think you ought to know, this is a Thursday. Every Thursday I have a Mexican lunch. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. And the rest of us, we're very well aware of that. I see it over there. Well, we have our convention as you know here and I know that your schedule is not permitted for us for you to be there with us, but we want you to send a message to all the delegates that are here from across the country for the nine convention of the US Spanish Chamber of Commerce and that we admire you, Mr. President. And I think that we have a lot of respect for you. And I think that the hearing for you is going to really make our convention a complete convention. Well, please tell your colleagues that I honored I am by your visit and pleased to have them here and how much I appreciate all that they have done. Thank you very much, Mr. President. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. So, to continue this work, Mr. President. And for a while yet. For a while. Thank you very much. Thank you very much, Mr. President. Thank you. Thank you. Buenas Verte. I appreciate it. I know you came away from your lunch today. But this is an opportunity we won't miss for a while, Mr. President. Thank you very much. Very much. Thank you.