It's the grand finale of every great political convention.
And since it only happens once every four years, it's something you don't want to miss. You definitely want to be in the hall on the last night of the convention after your party's nominee makes his speech so that you can experience the balloon drop. As many times as I've witnessed it, I'm like a kid again every time it happens.
And I understood exactly how all those Romney grandkids felt as they jumped up and down with glee while the balloons cascaded all around them creating a veritable sea of bubbly color.
The Republicans placed more than 100,000 balloons in the upper reaches of the Tampa Bay Times Forum. The balloons were there all week and we all knew what they were there for. And then, on the Big Night, they dropped in waves -- wave after wave of red, white and blue. Toward the end, the waves got larger and larger and were augmented by sprays of confetti and big, white beach-ball sized balloons with red, white and blue stars. And as the balloons reached the floor the delegates started popping them causing a symphony of spontaneous crackles pops.
The crowd went wild.
So much so that I worried that when Cardinal Dolan came out for the benediction he would not be able to quiet things down. But he didn't have to. The crowd respectfully silenced, the Cardinal administered his closing blessing, everybody settled down and paid attention and the convention came to a close.
BTW: The Democrats had no balloon drop this year. They never placed balloons in the ceiling of the Time Warner Cable Center in Charlotte because they didn't expect to be there on their final night. President Obama was supposed to give his address to an outdoor stadium packed with more than 70,000 people and that was supposed to be followed by fireworks. But all of that was cancelled and the Dems remained in the indoor arena -- without the balloons.
Photos copyright 2012 by Dan Cirucci.
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