California Congressman Duncan Hunter (R)

GOLDMAN: I was interested in knowing – are we making progress with the building of the fence, and where things stand now, and how many miles have been…

HUNTER: Yeah, we’re going to have — we’ll have about 380 miles of what is known as pedestrian fence completed by December 31st. That’s the goal of the administration. They don’t have it done yet, but we are building in Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and California.

GOLDMAN: Is there any chance, should, God forbid, Obama win the election, that the program for the fence could actually cease, or is it guaranteed to proceed regardless?

HUNTER: No, you have to, obviously, you have – any program requires one thing – money, funds, appropriations. If you have a president who is not inclined to finish the fence – John McCain is committed that he will finish the fence. Senator Obama is probably not friendly with the idea of the fence project. So, if he has the cooperation of the Democrats in Congress, Obama could stop the fence construction.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R)

GOLDMAN: Do you think ANWR is on the table now that…?

GINGRICH: Look, I think that’s a conversation that President McCain and Vice President Palin will have to have after the election. But, I think for the moment – we have a commitment for drilling. We have a commitment for clean coal. We have a commitment for nuclear. I am thrilled, and I think that where we are positioned on energy is such a radical contrast with the higher cost/lower production position of the Democrats, that I am just thrilled with where Senator McCain has gotten us.

CBS News’ Chief Washington correspondent/anchor and moderator of Face the Nation, Bob Schieffer

GOLDMAN: Were there any surprises that you found in tonight’s speech?

SCHIEFFER: No, I thought he came off – this was John McCain. He was much more personal than John McCain usually is. He really doesn’t like to talk about his experiences as a POW. He just doesn’t. And tonight he shared that. And, I thought he came off very well. I thought it was a good speech. He sort of appealed to our better angels. And, I think it promises a very good campaign for America. And I’m really looking forward to it.

CNN’s Chief National Correspondent, John King

GOLDMAN: John, any surprises by tonight?

KING: I don’t know — how do you define surprises? I thought he gave the speech he wanted to give. And you can already tell by all the e-mails coming in. Republicans say it was great. Democrats say it was lousy. Welcome to politics. I think that there was a question coming into this convention just like there was with the Democratic convention. Can you bring everybody together? Will people leave with energy? I think you saw the last two nights here – there’s a lot of energy. And, if that energy carries over into the next nine weeks, then we’ve got a hell of an election on our hands. And, I was just looking up at my map, and state-by-state, Obama has an advantage right now, without a doubt. When you look at the electoral college, he has an advantage. But, two months is a long time, and a lot of the states that are in play, are states that Bush carried twice. And, they’re leaning either into the toss-up column, or some are leaning slightly Obama right now, but they’re more than gettable. They’re more than gettable. McCain has to get all the Republicans. He has to reach out to Democrats — a small slice of Democrats, and a bigger slice of Independents. Now, we’ll see. It’s going to be fun.

GOLDMAN: Is there any one single state that you think is going to make or break this election as Florida did in 2000 or Ohio in…?

KING: I was just going through a scenario – look, if John McCain doesn’t win Ohio, he’s not going to be the next President of the United States. It just doesn’t — the math doesn’t work. There are other ways, but they’re in a — you’re in such a rare scenario, a hard-to-find scenario. Republicans have to win Ohio to win the White House. I was just going through one scenario where it came down to New Hampshire. You know, a little tiny state. That little tiny state could be Colorado. It could be Nevada. It could be conceivably a Wisconsin or a Minnesota. You could get a situation where one state does it again. At the moment, the electoral map is leaning Obama, and McCain literally has to grab it, and push it back by turning some states that voted for George W. Bush that are now leaning blue. This would be one of them. This is a state that has voted Democrat that is available to a Republican if you run the right campaign. It’s a close swing state. Wisconsin is a really close swing state.

I also wanted to share with our Race 4 2008 readers a priceless moment that occurred Wednesday evening. After delivering a sharp-witted keynote address, in which Rudy Giuliani unleashed a brilliantly sarcastic, scathing attack on Barack Obama, Hizzoner, unbeknownst to most, returned for an encore performance that night at a post-convention party, to which Kavon and I were privileged to be invited.

Attendees of this soiree were treated to a selection of fine cigars upon entering. Not being much of a smoker (for which my cigar-chomping father deserves all the credit for eliciting my stogie-smoking aversion), I nonetheless decided to partake at this posh, surreal event, in which Mr. Nikrad and yours truly were admittedly, and humbly, perhaps the only two political writers there who were not (yet) nationally known. (See Tony Blankley, James Taranto, Daniel Henninger, Andrew Breitbart, Barry Casselman, Roger Simon, etc., etc.)

Moments after making his second speech of the night, Rudy made his way toward the spot I was standing. There were several people surrounding America’s Mayor, with pen and paper, seeking Hizzoner’s autograph. Despite having neither paper nor pen in hand, I didn’t want to pass up the opportunity to secure Rudy’s signature. Realizing the only pieces of paper I had on me were tightly-rolled tobacco leaves, I improvised, and asked Giuliani if he’d sign my stogie that had already gone out. With comedic chops on par with Dennis Miller, who we, incidentally, just missed meeting at the party by an hour or so, Rudy turned down my request, deadpanning: “I’m not signing your cigar. That’s something Bill Clinton would do.”

If he doesn’t land the top gig at the Justice Department, or decides he doesn’t want to play Paterson’s part in Albany, perhaps Rudy could parlay his star power and acerbic wit into a successful spin on the comedy club circuit, or maybe a full-time slot on SNL.