(crossposted from Buffalo Ridge Blog)
Greetings from the swamp AKA greater Naples, in Collier County, so named because they actually sold the naming rights to the county to wealthy Barron Collier back in the 1920s. Naples is another republican homeland, and a wealthy one at that- Naples citizens have already showered the republicans with over a million dollars this election cycle, and the worst is yet to come. The republicans have bought and literally own virtually every elected office in Naples and Collier County, dealing with the poorer and more diverse inland precincts by gerrymandering to insure total republican domination. I'm not exaggerating- I'm sitting but 10 miles from the Gulf in a congressional district that extends clear across the empty (of humans) Everglades to Miami on the Atlantic.
Now it goes without saying that any republican presidential candidate needs to visit Naples, if only to replenish the campaign treasury. Thus Newt made his pilgimage to Naples last night in the midst of his prolonged book/speaking tour that somehow got taken seriously and turned into a presidential campaign. The venue was a downtown Naples park bandshell, with plenty of overhanging trees that would make an accurate crowd count impossible... More on that later.
Ever the moto-journalist, I rode in on the 2001 Buell I keep here in my wintertime swamp sanctuary just for such occasions. Blocks from the scene of Newt's event appeared a mega traffic jam. Navigating that mess of wayward republicans's SUVs and innocent locals stuck amongst them, I found a quasi-legal parking spot, correctly figuring that the local police would be too busy with security and such to bother ticketing a deadbeat's motorcycle with Minnesota plates.
I will concede that Newt drew a crowd, but nowhere near the 8000 the Naples mayor, a Newt supporter, estimated. Looking at google maps, the area the crowd covered was about maybe 10,000 square feet. Now if this was a touchy feeling let's hug Obama crowd they might have numbered 5000. But this crowd was predominately older white republicans, who seem to each require around ten square feet of personal space even amongst their own. So the crowd was more like a thousand, and if you didn't know this was Newt's rally you wouldn't know whose it was- there were quite vocal Ron Paul, Romney, and Obama supporters there with at least as many signs as Newt's contingent had.
The event was scheduled for 5 p.m., at the end of an overbooked long day of campaign events.... Clearly the scheduling of a not ready for primetime campaigned staffed by the republican hacks that couldn't get hired anywhere else. This left the local Newt supporters on the well secured stage with an hour and a half more time than they'd expected to fill with ad libs and more speeches, interrupted by patriotic songs from a poor excuse for a band. Newt finally arrived and spoke, Promising (if nominated) to challenge Obama to seven debates. And if Obama won't debate, Newt promises that he'll follow Obama around the country, and probably huff and puff and blow the White House down too...
Seems Newt was barely getting wound up when I noticed that the security detail was already getting their SUVs in a row for departure. After keeping the crowd, supporters and otherwise, waiting for hours Newt (thankfully) closed his trap and left after maybe fifteeen minutes of speechification and shaking not a single ordinary citizen's hand. Leaving the campaign bus behind, Newt ducked into one of the SUVs and they roared off with police escort. Wasn't even 7 p.m. and this was the last public event of the day... Was Newt racing off to a big dollar fundraiser? 'Bout then the owner of the ratty panel van whose hood I'd been using for a desk appeared, a kind old gent who'd been amongst the volunteer Newt supporters on stage. I asked him if Newt was off to a high dollar fundraiser... He hadn't been told a thing, never mind been invited.
And so the circus that is the 2012 republican race for the nomination drags on, having followed me from the safety of the Buffalo Ridge to my swamp sanctuary. Heck, at the rate they're going, I'll still be writing about this circus when they follow me back to Minnesota for the februrary 7th caucuses and return for the South Dakota primary right after Memorial Day. The fun never stops...