By Michael Aron
Chief Political Correspondent
The Jersey delegation is staying at a DoubleTree Inn in a suburb about 20 minutes from downtown Cleveland.
Buses lined up this morning to ferry in convention-goers. New Jersey has essentially taken over the hotel.
Each day here begins with a breakfast. Today it was Republican National Committeeman Bill Palatucci welcoming the delegation.
“Everybody had a good time with the governor last night? Hope you got to see the governor,” he said.
He took special pride in New Jersey’s great location this year inside the convention itself.
“If this is the podium where Donald Trump will speak from, New Jersey is right there — nobody in front of us,” he said.
New Jersey Republicans are generally more moderate than some of the hard conservatives drawn to Donald Trump.
We wondered how much real enthusiasm there is for Trump here. We found a range.
“What you have to keep in mind is that, I don’t think that Hillary Rodham Clinton is the perfect candidate. They don’t love her. Donald Trump’s not the perfect candidate, but I think when you’re part of a team, you work together to try and elect a Republican candidate whose values are closer to your values than a Democratic candidate,” said Assemblyman Jon Bramnick.
“Just watching his performance during the debates brought me over and said we need somebody from the outside. We need somebody that’s going to change this country, that’s going to stop some of the Obama embarrassments that we’ve had,” said New Jersey Republican State Committee Chairman Sam Raia.
Part of the Trump enthusiasm here is by process of selection. Trump swept the New Jersey primary last month and these people were elected as Trump delegates. But it also seems more than that.
“I was on the Trump train from the beginning. I just really think things have gotten so bad in this country we need a drastic change. We need somebody who’s tough and different and I just think he’s going to be great. I really do,” said Honorary Delegate Gerri Popkin of Monmouth County.
“I think we need someone that’s really tough. Someone that’s, you see all these shootings. We need someone tough like him,” said Honorary Delegate Brenda Luberto of Bergen County.
“It’s electric. It’s kind of an exciting time. I think it’s because the number of new people who are a part of the process and there’s new vision being laid out by Donald Trump, who is our nominee. I’m energized, that’s for sure,” said Dick Kamin, former co-chair of the Republican State Committee.
“I think he’s exactly what the people want. People want something different. They’re tired of the establishment and they’re looking for someone with new idea and they’re worried about the safety of our country and they want to make America safe again,” said Sussex County Delegate Jill Space.
For the Jersey delegation, the enthusiasm is for change.