Yes, I know it's a bit late, but I have photos and an irresistable urge to share.
(note: crossposted at the campaign blog, blogforbuckey.com)
I was the lucky member of the Buckey team who got to go to the second and final YearlyKos (the new name is probably a good choice). I had a real blast, from the panel on science that somehow had three hilarious speakers, to the chance to see most of our presidential candidates in person, to simply walking around the ballroom and meeting people when the speakers couldn't make it on Saturday morning. Okay, okay, less pontificating, more photos.
Here's one from the Celebration of Netroots Candidates. Thanks to NYBri and the vshift crew for organizing such a great event. Here's Jay chatting with an unknown blogger. If anyone knows who it is, speak up! Maybe it's you?
Also at the Candidates event: Here you can see that Jay and DFA All-Star Charlie Brown have a similar look, to the point that Jay was mistaken for Charlie more than once. That's NYBri on the right and Ron Shepston (aka CanYouBeAngryAndStillDream) in the back.
We went to the "WesPac Bash" at O'Malleys, where Eric Massa gave what I have to call a real barnburner of a speech. Jay was a draft Clark guy, so we had a good time chatting with all of the Clarkies at O'Malley's. That's Eric Massa standing on the chair, to the right.
On Saturday morning Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Chuch Schumer, and Rahm Emanuel couldn't make "Ask The Leaders" forum, but we took the opportunity to walk around and let folks meet Jay. I figure that at least they got a leader, if not the expected one.
Here's the scene at the Presidential Forum. The rise filled with cameras on the right were about 30 cameras positioned right behind our table. I hope the back of my ended up head in a few shots. The forum was very fun. They made a point at the start of saying that we were not asked to be quiet, and the audience let the candidates know when they did or didn't approve, often within the frame of a single response going from hisses to applause and cheers. It was basically the world's biggest focus group, and it reminded many of the house of commons in Britain where there's none of the "my respected colleague from Wyoming," and they make their feelings undeniably clear.
We also ran into Drew Westen, author of The Political Brain. We saw his presentation standing behind the overflow outside, and he was also signing copies of his book. I'd been reading his book on the plane there, so it was a thrill to run into the author. He told us that the most important indicator of voting patterns was party affiliation, and the second most important indicator was the "gut level feeling" about a candidate – and he said that he could tell Jay had it "within 30 seconds of meeting" him.
We met so many different people and saw so many great presentations that it would be too much to mention. This is just the stuff that I was able to snap a good photo of, and only some of that. We met a bunch of knockout candidates, and I'm optimistic that most of those who barely fell short last time will win it this time.
A big vote of thanks goes out to all the volunteers and sponsors that made YearlyKos possible. We'll see you all next year, when the convention will be held in my hometown of Etna, New Hampshire! Well, most likely not, but a guy can always hope, right?
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