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WVXU's political correspondent, Howard Wilkinson will be on the scene for the Republican National Convention in Tampa, FL and the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, NC.

Some Greek bonding for Triantafilou in Tampa

Provided

Hamilton County's Republican Party chairman, Alex Triantafilou, is proud of his Greek heritage; and he's been able this week to do some bonding with some of his fellow Greek-Americans at the Republican National Committee.

Tuesday night, Triantafilou left the floor of the convention to  go up to the concourse of the Tampa Bay Times Forum, where the concession stands were located.

He walked by the Florida delegation and U.S. Rep. Gus Bilirakis, a Greek American, saw his name tag.

"He said, 'hey, Triantafilou, a Greek,'' Triantafilou said. "The two of us stood there talking in Greek for a while."

After talking to Bilirakis, he ran into Reince Priebus, the chairman of the Republican National Committee, another Greek American, who stopped by the Ohio delegation breakfast Wednesday.

"Reince, said, 'hey, Triantafilou from Cincinnati,'' the Hamilton County chairman said. "It was great, running into guys and speaking the language with them."

Earlier in the day, Triantafilou went to Tarpon Springs, a city across the bay that is home to thousands of Greek Americans and is the home of the sponge docks, where, for decades, Greek divers dropped off boats into the Gulf of Mexico to pick sponges off the ocean floor. He had lunch at one of the many Greek restaurants there.

Howard Wilkinson is in his 50th year of covering politics on the local, state and national levels.