Complete Coverage

Reporter's Notebook

New York

Ashlee Hasselman, at the age of 18, one of 2,509 delegates at the Republican National Convention, is drawing the sort of attention that many activists would surely covet. It's the first convention for the Pacific, Wash., native and recent high school graduate, and according to Republican Party officials, the youngest delegate. As such, she's drawing waves of notice from the 15,000 reporters on hand who are on the lookout for new angles.

On the other side of the cavernous hall, Charles Peavyhouse, 75, a retired principal from Tennessee, is as seasoned a delegate as Ms. Hasselman is green. Mr. Peavyhouse, an alternate delegate who worked in Chattanooga-area schools for almost 40 years, is attending his sixth GOP convention. Dallas, New Orleans, Houston, San Diego, and Philadelphia: he can remember all of them, though sometimes recalling which presidential candidate was nominated at which convention can be difficult. He's a longtime party activist, who's worked on several Republican campaigns in east Tennessee—including those of current U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander—in which his...