It must be said that Sarasota has traditionally been quite the country-club Republican town. It is an affluent part of the state, with a significant retiree population and a younger population that had jobs in housing, building, and professions directly related to the housing market. You can guess what happened. The housing collapse of 2007-2008 hit our economy very, very hard.
Eight years of Bush/Cheney has been a factor, as well. We saw the surge of a democratic voice in our county with the Christine Jennings for Congress race in 2006. FL-13 had the notoriety of being that congressional race in the country where touch screen voting machines scored 18,000 undervotes in the top-ticket race between Jennings and the republican Vern Buchanan. According to voters (including my mother and many good friends who voted early), the touchscreen machine did not register their vote for Jennings. A summary screen helped them catch it, but for 18,000 voters, it did not. Buchanan went to congress with an "official" lead of 369 votes. Florida got rid of its touch screen voting machines.
With this frustration, the democratic voice in our republican town is now bursting out! On Sunday, October 19th, Sarasota held the most incredible community event our town has ever seen. A Women for Obama bridge rally organized by Janet Guttridge, a retired journalist, and Cynthia Craig, a massage therapist, this event was expected to draw 500 people. The local televisions news station estimated the number to be 10,000. The local paper stated the number to be 2,000. Sarasota Magazine estimated 5,000, which feels about right according to what I saw. So, who knows? I do know that at one point, our Women for Obama bridge rally was spanning both sides of the 1.25 mile long bridge.
It's a good thing that the organizers hired a helicopter and a professional photographer. The news media was barely present, choosing instead to cover the local craft fair that night on the news rather than this amazing rally.
Here are the helicopter photos. TRULY INCREDIBLE! (And it shows off our beautiful town.) I got very teary-eyed looking at them.
The bridge walk brought out women, men, children, retirees, liberal activists, Republicans for Obama, Veterans for Peace, and many people that want to see change in our nation. It was a spectacular day -- the weather was beautiful -- a perfect day for the bridge walk.
The following day, Obama came to Tampa and we trecked up there. How exciting to see our future president! Here is our YouTube video of 3 events: our Obama house party (complete with Obama helping out at the grill), the Bridge Rally, and the Tampa Rally on Monday.
Barack's message at the end of the video above:
And at each and every moment, we have risen to meet these challenges – not as Democrats, not as Republicans, but as Americans. With resolve. With confidence. With that fundamental belief that here in America, our destiny is not written for us, but by us. That’s who we are, and that’s the country we need to be right now.
We can do this, America!
Show a little love for Christine Jennings for Congress, in Florida's Lucky 13th district.
Christine Jennings for Congress.
UPDATE: Sleeplessinsarasota directed me to the new YouTube video that came out by the Bridge Walk organizers in Sarasota. Thanks, Sleepless! (I feel sleepless in Sarasota, too. Maybe after the election I can get some sleep!)