I've just returned from over 15 hours jaunting around Maine. Out the door by 5:30 AM, back home at 9:00 PM. I have spent the day traveling to Orono and Bangor, in my official capacity, checking out the Hillary town hall at UMaine, and the Obama rally at the Bangor Auditorium.
I will give you the down and dirty play-by-play, and some of that editorializing that you have come to expect from me. Some big pics, 640x480, so patience if you're on dialup!
(Some of the images here are courtesy of Debbie in ME. Thanks, Debbie!)
(Update: ...whoa. Does it bode well for my predictions of the state if I also predicted this would be my first reclist diary? Thanks, gang!)
On the road again...
Somewhere on I-95 North toward Orono, sometime between 6:00-7:00 AM. Debbie in ME, Rita Moran, DNC Woman (and my county chair) and her partner and I made the 90 mile journey north to check out the Hillary rally. Before that, my car was captured by the snow trolls in her driveway, and we had to free it from their grasp. Much coffee was consumed.
Rita has a handicap, nothing life-altering, but she has a bad hip. She can't stay standing for long periods of time, has trouble walking, etc. When we got to the Hillary rally, the two observations I made first were that there was no available handicapped parking, despite the half-empty cordoned off parking lot. The policeman blocking the lot was incredibly rude, while the county sheriffs were very helpful. We dropped Rita and Debbie off, and parked the car and headed back to the line. On the way back, I took note of the signs, which said "Massachusetts for Hillary". "Massachusetts" was a piece of paper taped over "New Hampshire". I thought it was Maine, but okay.
Both events had heavy Secret Service details (who are extremely polite, I'd like to note), and TSA agents from the airport screening everyone before they entered (and they are incredibly rude). We made our way through, and Rita's partner was delayed. But we had to keep moving, and did. As we looked for seats, Hillary's people redeemed themselves, and their staff gave us seats in the reserved section in the third row because Rita was having trouble walking and we couldn't find seats. So you will see that there are much better pictures from her event.
Rita's partner made his way to us, and we discovered why he was delayed. He had forgotten that he had a six ounce flask of Yukon Jack in his coat. Which they were fine with him having... but he had to drink it first to prove it wasn't poison I guess. So he was happy to oblige. With this information, we decided drinking was an acceptable activity, and wiped out a section of the flask during the Hillary event.
Hillary's crowd, taken before her speech
She chose the size of her venue well. A high estimate of her crowd would be about 1,500. Depending on who you asked, 300-500 were turned away because the event had reached capacity. Hillary did not go address them.
John Baldacci, the governor of Maine, and Emily Cain, the youngest woman in the Maine Legislature (and the local state rep.) introduced Hillary to the crowd. She gave a very energetic speech, and after listening to Obama later, I realized just how much they had in common. Many of their views are similar, including some form of optional national service, increasing the amount of jobs in alternative energy, getting out of Iraq, and so on.
Youthful enthusiasm?
I probably would have been more into Hillary's event, but as you can see from the picture above, no one was terribly excited.
I really tried to hear Hillary out. But the crowd was bored, and not into it at all. There was plenty of applause, and a little cheering, but no true excitement. So it was tough to walk in there already not liking her much, and trying to improve my opinion when no one was really encouraging me to.
The most upsetting thing about the Hillary rally was that over half the questions in the Q&A section were planted. It was made obvious because the girl with the mike was already near most people before Hillary pointed to them, and she actually called on one person who was behind her without ever turning around to look. And with five hands raised back there, she knew to speak.
Hillary shows the love.
One of Hillary's best traits. She is incredibly engaging one-on-one. She took a lot of time to sign autographs, and answer questions.
My state senator, Libby Mitchell, is a leader of Hillary's campaign in Maine. So she took a moment to introduce Rita to Hillary, as the DNC Woman. As you can expect, Hillary's eyes got very wide. She asked Rita for her support, which Rita was happy to give- because support is not a request for a vote, and Rita does indeed support them both as great Democrats. Her vote, however, remains up for grabs.
And so we headed off to lunch, and the next event, after we helped Rita limp the 1/4 mile between the doors and the car...
*******
The event that I actually came for.
As you can see, this crew is immediately more amusing.
Immediate impressions from the Obama event: the line was effing huge! At least a mile long. Thankfully, Obama one-upped Clinton, and there was an entrance for people with disabilities, so we were whisked through. The seating for the ADA people was well-positioned with a decent view, so Rita was happy.
(I will state that the ignorant Obama volunteer who dropped the door on the foot of someone in a wheelchair almost got hit upside the head by me.)
The odd thing was the woman who was standing watch over the ADA section. She was approaching people who were obviously limping along with canes and basically alerting them that they were apparently not disabled enough to sit there. I was accosted by her because I was obviously not disabled, but the section was designed for both the person with a disability as well as their party. She tried to make the three of us move, and have Rita stay there. It didn't happen.
(In the end, the woman was such a Seat Nazi that 2 people sat in those seats, and they were later filled by people who were not disabled.)
Now this is what I call a crowd.
The crowd that we thought was there was 6,000. MSNBC said 7,000 earlier. Keep in mind, the total number of those who caucused in our record 2004 caucus was 17,000. Either way, Obama brought out over a third of the total from the entire state, and put it in one room. Update: Thanks twcollier, for the reminder: 2,000 was the official "turned away" count. Obama met with them outside before he came in, so they didn't go away empty handed.
The picture doesn't include the bleachers that look the same behind us. So this is roughly 65% of the crowd or so. If you compare the looks of the crowds, this one is jazzed. Lots of color in the room, and I don't mean of people's skin... their outfits and stuff, too. This room was full of energy, spontaneous chanting, and cheering. And we talked with those around us, and I gave my info to someone who will be checking out this diary. (HI!)
The other thing I noted: twice the press here compared to Hillary's event.
Barack was introduced by Sean Faircloth, the state house's majority whip. I've never seen him in front of a crowd, usually he's fairly laid back and relaxed. Today, he was looking damn good. He was on fire. I was totally impressed by him today, he sounded like Barack would if he were, uh, white. Heh. After him, was my friend, Lael Stegall. She was big on starting EMILY's List. And she's a friend of the organization that I work for. Getting to know her was a great privilege, and she is a true "Obama Mama"! Last but not least was Glenn Cummings, the Speaker of the House. Who I like, but he should have been first, and Sean should have been last, just because Sean was so incendiary (in a good way). And then, on to the big show, but first:
The next generation.
This kid rocked. So energetic. In 2016, he'll be kicking ass and taking names. For now, he can really wave a sign in turbo.
Now for the main man:
Obama works the crowd.
This man is flat out awesome. Period. Need I say more?
I'm in what I assume is mostly a diary of Obama supporters, so I won't repeat the stump speech. Yadda yadda hope blah change blah caucus tomorrow blah. (grin) Seriously, I love listening to this guy speak... and if you haven't done it in person, do it! If you saw the Virginia JJ Dinner tonight, that was basically Obama's speech today, for the most part.
The Obama "Choose Your Caption" pic. If you can't take a joke, don't click the link.
*******
All in all, both presented themselves very well. But I'm an Obama supporter, and I think he did the best job. Not so much because of what he did, but because of the crowd, and how it energized me, and how we all did it to each other. When we left Hillary's gathering, we felt informed. I felt better about her as a candidate. But it was Obama and his people that made me feel inspired and driven to caucus. Being a Dodd supporter until just recently, I can state this opinion from the position of someone who's with Obama based on burning through four candidates already.
I will, once again, reiterate my position from yesterday: Obama 60%, Clinton 40%. Geekesque has promised me a diary tomorrow if I'm right. I will also, certainly, admit if I'm wrong and Obama somehow loses. But all I know is that when this many people turn out in one room... imagine what will be happening in caucuses around the state tomorrow.
I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it.
I'm fired up and ready to go for tomorrow! Debbie seems to agree, as she takes my picture too.
The projection for the city of Portland is 5,000 Democrats. In one caucus. Are we ready?!