So we went to the big debate last night to do visibility outside the event. The crowds were huge and the signs and totems were huger. We'd heard rumors that 2500 Kerry people were going to show up but Dean People outnumbered everyone at least 2-1.
The Kerry folks finally showed up with a bagpipe band (isn't he not really Irish or something?) and a bunch of rowdy, pointy-elbowed fire fighters. The Kucinich people and the Clark people mixed surprisingly well. The Kucinichistas added funky down beats to the Clarkies millitary drums. Lieberman had the wackest chants (J to the O to the O to the E... I don't remember, we just started rapping, Jay to the Izzo...) and they had Teamsters protesting them because the Union Leader endorsed him and their in a contract dispute with the Teamsters. The Billionaires for Bush were there and some Social Security privitization nuts who had awesome ostrich costumes (I guess democrats are sticking their heads in the sand on the important issue of privitizing social security.) I scored a XXL AFSCME for Dean shirt off a very friendly AFSCME organizer (Join a union, they'll give you the shirt off their backs. Literally!)
After the Gov and Trippi rolled in at the last minute, we stormed the car and gave him the Beatlemania treatment. Then we went to a restaurant to watch the debate and the Diane Sawyer interview.
I can't tell you how emotional it was in that place. There were hundreds of Dean supporters and staffers who were honestly scared to death that 15 seconds of rally footage and a few crappy Jay Leno jokes were going to destroy everything we've sweated, bled, and cried for for the past year. According to the reaction in this admittedly biased room, the Gov kicked some serious ass. Every asnwer was consise, intelligent, on message, and answered the question. Clark seemed flustered and had trouble keeping his footing (this is what, the second or third debate of his entire career?) Kerry kept doing that creepy lizard-man thing with his tounge. Edwards answered a tough question about gay-marriage by reminding us there are children who go hungry in this country. I think everyone did fine, and the Gov didn't necessarily stand out, but he held his own and gave a good old fashioned, solid Howard Dean performance.
Then came Diane Sawyer. It's been interesting hearing people who watched in their own homes saying, "God, I hate that Diane Sawyer, what was with those questions!" In there it brought co-workers to tears. We were convulsing at how...I can't even describe in words how amazing the feeling was. We went from despondent, to steeling ourselves for struggle to this unbelievably adorable interview with Judy and Howard and we were just elated. High. Walking on air. I'm still buzzing about the pure sacharrine cuteness of it all, and I'm the kind of guy who kicks kittens when they try to rub up against me. Every line, every answer seemed scripted to produce exactly the right effect. He explained his Iowa yelp perfectly and made that camera blow-up look like he was sticking up for some poor woman who was getting her head konked by asshole photogs. When he said, "I'm not a rock star" I couldn't help but shout back, "YES YOU ARE HOWARD! DON'T LIE". Some other staffers gave me a dirty look. Others winked and smiled. The press was crawling around our party so I had to be on my best behavior.
Oh and Joan Jett was there. Just chillin'
Well now I need to get back to setting up for a volunteer appreciation event. The Gov's going to make some calls with some UAW people. I spent all day replacing busted phone lines so if anything breaks, the whole rooms going to look to me.