Here we are, live, getting ready for the first appearance of Donald Trump and Mike Pence together as a team -- the new standard-bearers of the GOP.
Interestingly enough, they are appearing at the New York Hilton which is where we stayed during the entire week of the 2004 Republican National Convention.
And we're going to give you our reactions while it's happening.
Trump's first words: "Great honor. Great honor. This is a wonderful day."
He first refers to "our rigged, rigged system."
Then on the latest "Islamic terror attack in France" he says "we've witnessed horror beyond belief" and uses the words "law and order" to describe what we need domestically.
He says Hillary Clinton, as secretary of State "lead Obama down a horrible, horrible path" and that's why the mideast and much of the world is in turmoil.
Trump is reading from notes. He is not using a teleprompter.
He calls Pence a "solid, solid person" who "fights for the people, and he's also gonna fight for you."
Trump decires "high taxes and regulation" which he says are "out of control.
He calls Hillary "totally corrupt" and says she is "bought and paid for by Wall Street, by the lobbyists, by the special interests, 100 percent." And again, he uses the words "crooked Hillary."
He asks: "She lost [got rid or] 30,000 e-mails, and that's OK?" He says Hillary has not had to pay for that crime "but she will pay, she will pay" in November "when the people speak."
And then he says:
"Mike Pence will never be afraid to proclaim the name of our enemy."
"We are the law and order candidates and we are the law and order party . . . there's gonna be respect again for law and order."
On Britain, he says Brexit happened because Brits "don't want to be told what to do; they don't want to be told that just because people pour into their country, they have to accept it."
Trump calls himself "a messenger," implying he's a messenger for the people. And he thanks everybody for accepting "our message., because "people want what we're saying to happen."
He says Americans "want a wall, they want their borders back, they want these things to happen."
He flat our admits that he has chosen Pence "for party unity." And he extols Pence's record, his amiable nature and his ability to reach all segments of the party. He also praises his record of honesty and integrity.
He says he will work again to give religion "a voice" in American life and he will get rid of what he calls "the Johnson [LBJ] amendment "which prevents this from happening.
Trump is now speaking colloquially and he's his usual animated self -- quite convincing because it's almost like speaking with someone over the counter in a deli, which is to say it's very, very real. It's authentic, it's convincing.
He now extols Pence's record on jobs and the economy in Indiana -- the best record of all in the midwest, he says "and it's not even close."
Indiana actually has the second unemployment rate in the nation. And Pence cut the unemployment rate from six percent to about two percent for veterans.
Indiana has the largest school choice program in America.
"When I see what happened in Indiana -- which was having tremendous problems -- when I see what happened under Governor Pence, that was probably the biggest single factor," Trump says in explaining why he picked Pence.
And now Trump and Pence appear briefly together and Pence begins his prepared remarks.
Pence immediately mentions God and family and refers to Trump "as this builder, this fighter."
Of Trump and his family he says "these are good people."
He says Trump understands "the frustrations and the hopes of real Americans like no leader since Ronald Reagan." And then he offers a great quote from Reagan lambasting "a small elite in Washington."
And Pence speaks from the heart "as a small town boy from southern Indiana." He says he started as a Democrats (his heroes were JFK and MLK) but came into the Republican Party inspired by Ronald Reagan.
And he declares that while in Congress "I fought every day for taxpayers and fiscal responsibility." He proudly was "part of the team that won the Congress back from Democrat control in 2010,
"We like to say that Indiana is a state that works, and it does!" Pence declares, and adds "we have more Hoosiers going to work than ever before in the 200-year-history in the state of Indiana."
He says Hillary Clinton "personifies the failed establishment in Washington, DC." He says they've given us a "world spinning apart."
He adds "American needs to be strong for the world to be safe."
Pence is giving a very strong speech.
This is quite a contrast -- but a good contrast. Trump is conversational, pithy and often spontaneous. Pence is cool, strategic and earnest. Together, they balance one another.
Now the two families come together -- and here are the contrasts again. Pence's family is very middle-America. Think Macy's, Penney's, Sears. Trumps family is Saks and Bergdorfs and Bendel's. But it's all OK!
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