A couple of closing thoughts from the NRA convention in Charlotte:

* Newt Gingrich is really starting to look like an elder statesman. Then again, sooner or later we all do.
* There were more than 600 booths at the NRA convention; I would be lucky if I could name 50 of the companies. If you’re wondering where America’s small businesses went, here they are: small manufacturing companies from just about every state in the union, making sights, hunting equipment, knives, holsters, safes and cases, gloves, winter gear, and of course, firearms.
* I watched Glenn Beck’s address to the NRA audience at the Time Warner Cable Arena from the floor of the convention center after it was closed. A couple of the cleaning guys who were around to vacuum the carpet and clean out the trash cans stopped to watch a good ten minutes of Beck’s speech. They are, I expect, not who the MSM pictures as Beck’s demographic of fans.
* I’m informed that David Keene, member of the NRA’s Board of Directors, said Smith and Wesson sends a survey with every gun sold. In 2008, 9 percent said that it was their first purchase of a firearm. In 2009, it was up to 30 percent.
* This year’s turnout at CPAC hit a record with more than 10,000; this year’s NRA convention had “close to 80,000 attendees.”