Capitol Alert

Jim Brulte, California Republicans, relax ahead of convention

California Republican Party Chairman Jim Brulte, in Ohio to attend the Republican National Convention, floats in a pool at the Kalahari resort in Sandusky, Ohio, on July 17, 2016.
California Republican Party Chairman Jim Brulte, in Ohio to attend the Republican National Convention, floats in a pool at the Kalahari resort in Sandusky, Ohio, on July 17, 2016. The Sacramento Bee

As California delegates meandered into the Kalahari Report on Sunday, their chairman, Jim Brulte, did a little water “meditation” in the shallow pools in preparation for the week-long national convention nearly 60 miles away in Cleveland.

Brulte, also the state GOP chair, spent Sunday morning sprawled out in the small pool after hitting the Tanzanian Twister, which the park advertises as shuttling visitors “into a whirling vortex of fun.”

But the former legislative leader wasn’t able to use the facility’s pools as the site for his much-hyped cannonball contest.

An aide said he worried that the 4-foot to 5-foot outdoor pools would not accommodate the expected considerable displacement of water.

“We’re still looking for something deeper,” Brulte said.

Relaxing poolside, joined by Republican Assemblyman Jay Obernolte of Big Bear Lake, Brulte posed by a large elephant statue and then pulled out a favorite t-shirt that soon may become a collector’s item.

“OMG,” it read: “Obama Must Go.”

Christopher Cadelago: 916-326-5538, @ccadelago

This story was originally published July 17, 2016 at 12:27 PM.

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