Cross posted at Turn Maine Blue
Yesterday I found myself at the home of Patty Carton and John Newlin, hosts of the Yes We Can! Country Fair, in a rural area of Brunswick. Along with pony rides and horse drawn wagons, there were many games of skill and athletic events (including archery and a tennis ball slingshot) for the kids. And politics for the older kids.
I was there for the speeches, but was happy to run into my old friend Geoff, who was manning the slingshot. Also there were Sen. Sherrod Brown, Rep. Tom Allen, ME-1 candidate Chellie Pingree, Tom Andrews (head of Win Without War) Maine Senate President Beth Edmonds, Maine Speaker of the House Glenn Cummings, as well as House Whip Sean Faircloth and local legislator Stan Gerzofsky.
Make the jump:
He then introduced former Rep. Tom Andrews, a man of considerable energy, who noted that:
Putting lipstick on a pitbull is not change.
He also said that the country owes a debt of gratitude to the people of Ohio for electing Sherrod Brown to the Senate, and of how important it is for Dems to achieve a 60 seat majority in that body.
Sen. Edmonds was up next (the pace was fast!), and lamented how:
...George W. Bush for the last eight years starved the states for money, funds for highways, education...make it so government doesn't work.
Edmonds also addressed a subject head-on that I think needs to be forcefully dealt with - the latent racism that is still prevalent amongst many Americans:
For the country to put a person of color at the top of our government will make a huge difference in the rest of the world.
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Racism is abounding and we must stop it.
She urged everyone to leave their comfort zone and talk to people about it. (my apologies to Sen. Edmonds - I didn't take a good photo of her, despite the half dozen that I shot - my bad.)
The band Old Grey Goose performed old timey music before the speeches began, and Chellie Pingree, the next speaker, thanked them for doing so, and noted how well traveled they are - more traveled than the GOP vice presidential nominee. She wanted to emphasize her own qualifications in this new era:
I have never field dressed a moose, but I did beat Charlie Summers in the cow milking contest last week. I am prepared for Washington.
She also said that she is not taking her race for granted, noting that the GOP sees the 1st District as an open seat, and how the gave Summers a speaking slot in St. Paul, and how different things are now than when she ran against Susan Collins in 2002 - like it is a different country.
Despite the pace, things were running a little late, and Rep. Allen took that to heart, speaking faster than I can write. He asked the crowd to compare his record to that of Collins, and to talk to others about the differences. As an example:
If you thought the invasion of Iraq was a good ides, and that the occupation has been handled well, and that proper oversight by Congress was done, then vote for Susan Collins.
If want the opposite of that, then vote for me [Tom Allen].
He also noted that he is the only senate candidate with a plan that would provide as a minimum the same health care coverage that members of congress have. He spoke about what world we would be leaving for our children and grandchildren (he and his wife Diana understandably dote on their first grandhild Charlie), and how Washington typically only calculates as far as the next election, and how we can do better than that. He closed with this forceful statement:
Rep. Cummings was the Master of Ceremonies, and spoke a little about the recent GOP convention, reminding the assembled crowd of two things that were not mention last week: George W. Bush and the economy (this parallels Sen. Joe Biden's speech from last Friday). He also noted that since Sen. Beth Edmonds had been elected twice to be president of the Maine Senate, that she is twice as qualified to be vice president as Sarah Palin is.
We are moving, and we are going to win this race. I promise you that; I promise you that.
Sherrod Brown was the last of this impressive line, and he did not disappoint. This was his 4th trip to Maine, and he began by thanking political activists for the changes that he's seen since 2006 - activists from movement politics such as labor or the environment:
This time in 2008 is the time to start a new progressive era...to change energy policy, end the war, increase the minimum wage...things that we care about.
He urged those there to do what he asked his supporters of his 2006 campaign to do: to find five people and adopt them, to make it your responsibility to get them to vote for Barrack Obama, for Tom Allen, for Chellie Pingree and Mike Michaud.
And then they were off, while everyone else remained to enjoy a grand day despite the overcast skies.