When I heard that Texas Railroad Commission Chairman Michael Williams would be speaking to the RNCC tonight, I hoped, dorkily, that he would be addressing plans for improving America’s public transportation infrastructure. But Williams didn’t mention railroads at all. Instead, it appears that he is here for little other reason than to be the face of a Black Man Who Doesn’t Support Obama. His biggest applause line:

I am here with you in St. Paul, rather than being in Denver last week, because I believe values and ideas take precedence over the politics of demography and identity. And, because I know John McCain is ready to lead.

—Dana Goldstein

Dana Goldstein, a former associate editor and writer at the Prospect, comes from a family of public-school educators. She received the Spencer Fellowship in Education Journalism, a Schwarz Fellowship at the New America Foundation, and a Puffin Foundation Writing Fellowship at the Nation Institute. Her journalism is regularly featured in Slate, The Atlantic, The Nation, The Daily Beast, and other publications, and she is a staff writer at the Marshall Project.