Day three at the Republican National Convention and the breakfast program was a big one for the Michigan delegation.  There was a packed room for the state's native son and former Governor of Massachusetts, Mitt Romney.

Many from the Michigan press corp missed out on the First Lady's surprise appearance yesterday but they were out in force this morning, and why not?  As excited as everyone is about John McCain's selection of Sarah Palin as his running mate Mitt is still a local hero with many of the Michigan Republicans who gave him a Presidential Primary win at the beginning of the year.  And the man received a hero's welcome.

"It is always nice to be back in Michigan.  And this is the Northland Inn?  We almost are in Michigan," Romney opened, with a quip about the hotel's distance from the Xcel energy center.  (A situation more than remedied by the state's front-and-center location on the convention floor.)

Romney's remarks centered around the difference between John McCain and Barack Obama, from their proposed handling of the economy to the war on terror and the surge.

After his remarks Governor Romney pulled one out of the Dick DeVos playbook and spent a solid twenty minutes greeting folks individually, speaking to anyone who wanted to speak with him and posing for what must have amounted to hundreds of pictures.  Very cool, very real and very genuine.

Romney brought his son Josh with him but he wasn't the only son of a candidate to make an appearance.

Senator McCain's son Andy also stopped by to talk about his father and service and followed in Romney's footsteps, sticking around to speak with anyone and everyone who wanted to say hello.

Ohio Congressman (and University of Michigan graduate) Rob Portman spoke and gave the room a solid dose of red meat for breakfast, hammering Obama's issue positions hard.  After the Congressman we heard from Captain Charlie Plumm, a Vietnam POW who spent time with John McCain in the Hanoi Hilton.  

You could hear a pin drop as he paced the small stage, counting the steps and measuring it before stating, solemnly, that his prison camp cell was nearly the same size... eight feet by eight feet.  He movingly described the times he saw John McCain while both were in captivity and the sort of man he witnessed first hand in the most difficult and painful of circumstances.

The roster of speakers and guests, combined with the amount of time they've set aside to speak directly to the delegation, has been a pretty awesome testament to the importance of Michigan.  You can't go a speech without hearing the words "front lines" booming from the microphone and the McCain campaign is backing up the rhetoric with action.  Michigan is getting serious love.  

Quite a contrast to the Democrats, including Barack Obama and Joe Biden, who earlier in the campaign signed pledges, individually, swearing on their honor to avoid the state like the plague.

A quick follow-up on yesterday's Hurricane Gustav blood drive, Michigan Republicans donated over fifty pints of "qualified" blood.  No word on which delegate (or state party staffer) may have donated a pint or two of "unqualified" bood.

Michigan folks will be following up today on the Red Cross event and the numerous hurricane relief fundraisers by participating in a work project in downtown Minneapolis.  Stay tuned.