Kerry in Madison, Wisconsin
Wednesday September 15, 2004
A similar picture was on the front page of the Wisconsin State Journal Thursday morning, 9" across, above the fold, headline "Kerry Makes his case". The article was great, led inside to others, a full two-page layout. This is a conservative, large circulation daily published in Madison and reaching through southern Wisconsin.
I decided I was going to go, hell or high water, and it was possible because the rally was midday and I work nights as a teacher. It's always fun to have company, so I dragooned a retired neighbor and my daughter, a University of Wisconsin student who (it developed) would be between classes. It didn't take much convincing.
I got bombarded about it from Tammy Baldwin (our US Rep), the Kerry campaign, and my union (eMails and automated phone calls). Kerry's campaign called at the last minute -- I was eligible for VIP tickets to get us right up by the stage, had to pick them up at campaign HQ (YEA!).
The venue was changed at the last minute for fear of rain (good thing, because rain it did), to an exhibition hall a couple miles from the capitol square. The square is always the best, because we have the finest state capitol building in the country, modeled after the US Capitol and with a bigger dome (not higher due to becoming modesty). Clinton got 30,000 there in 1992, Gore 20,000 in 2000.
"Gates open at 11:00 am" and I knew it was good when I hit the line in traffic a half mile away at 11:05. Get to a big field of a parking lot at 11:30, walk over to the hall and get in line again, long snaking line. Pass the AFT table, my union, and see some comrades with AFT-Kerry shirts. I ask, "What does it take to get one of those shirts?" They say, "You have to sign in and promise to work." I reply, "How about if I sign in, give you ten bucks, and work in my own way?" So without further ado ("I know that bum, he'll do it"), I don my shirt.
The County Executive speaks, the Mayor (much fun on Cheney, who enjoyed his draft deferments here during Vietnam days), the Governor. The Mayor and Governor elicit chanting ("George Bush did this ... the wrong choice; George Bush did that ... the wrong choice" Wrong choice ... Wrong choice. Just like the old days I tell my daughter, except then the chant was, "One, two, three, four, We don't want your f***ing war."
The mayor says he's so happy seeing us all he doesn't even mind being the warmup act for Sheryl Crow. That's right, Sheryl Crow, who does a four-song set (A Change Would Do You Good).
Kerry comes on at 12:30, 12:45. Kerry ... Kerry (emphasis on the second syllable Care-EE), I couldn't hear myself think, packed into the "VIP section" like sardines with 5,000 others. Pumped up, but the mellowest crowd I've ever seen.
Kerry is a dynamic speaker in a way that doesn't come across on TV. He strides around with the mic, points, takes a little time to develop a point. People were going absolutely ballistic, 10,000 at least. Pro-choice stickers on many shirts (handed out while standing in line). Women's and union posters everywhere (UNITE, Teamsters, SEIU, AFSCME, Laborers, AFT), raised in unison at dramatic points. Union tee-shirts everywhere, the older guy behind me had on an IBEW shirt and a "Navy Veteran" cap.
Wisconsin is a big turnout state (15% over national norms) and even more so in Madison -- 85% of eligible voters vote in this town, to the point where Senator Feingold's wingnut loser challenger in 1998 called him "The Senator from Dane County" (the county Madison is in), so overwhelming were Feingold's margins here in a close race. Don't forget it pal, because that's what's coming down the pike again in 46 days.