My girlfriend and I just got back from Faneuil Hall. We showed up at 6:00 and found absolute chaos outside. Kerry and Dean supporters were lined up on opposite sides of the long barricaded entryway for the candidates, cheering and countercheering. Some of time they even cheered the same things (Anybody but Bush, Bush and Cheney must go, etc.) One thing I noticed that might or might not mean anything: traffic was severely backed up as a result of either the debate itself or all the supporters outside. I think it probably wasn't very good public relations to be the cause of all that traffic congestion... at least for the tired motorists trying to get home from work. On the bright side, most of the people facing that side of the street had Kerry signs.
A helpful Dean staffer led us around to the Kerry side of the fence, where we found a few other Dean supporters and unrolled our banner. My girlfriend got tired of holding her end up in the air because of the strong gusts of wind, so I asked a random guy to hold the other end for a while. He cheerfully agreed... it wasn't until we started to pack up that I found out that he wasn't even a Dean supporter, but was just there to find out what all the fuss was about... This thing is 4' by 16', on 8' wooden dowels, so he really did a great job. Thank you random guy, wherever you are.
While we stood out there, the candidates came in. They are all so short, it's funny. Kerry's the only tall one. I think I knew this intellectually, but seeing it in person is a whole different story. I was trying to count them as they came in, and I knew one was missing but couldn't remember which... it turned out to be Gephardt... no one around me could remember who he was either... a good sign!
Kucinich, Carol M-B, and Al all got cheers. I think Bostonians like a scrappy underdog... All 3 are very popular.
Kerry supporters had prime position up and down the barricades, with Dean people behind them a little, with a little fence space. I think Dean might have been a little confused when he walked down the line that no one wanted to shake hands with him, but Dean supporters started breaking through the Kerry people, some of them even throwing themselves half over the barricade to shake.
Kerry, Dean and Sharpton worked the rail, the rest just walked in, some faster than others. Clark positively flew by.
There was a group of Clark supporters who didn't have any fixed position in the crowd, but rather moved around in a large shouting congo line type deal. There were also a few (maybe 5-10) people with Larouche signs. There was also a small, belligerent group of Bush/Cheney supporters.
Crowd behavior was mostly good, with some goodnatured back and forth between rival candidates' crowds. Kerry supporters were generally polite to Dean, although one woman next to us hissed at him as he came by on his way in. The only negatives were towards the Bush/Cheney people, who were roundly booed.
After the candidates all went in, we started over to The Rack. On the way we ran into Bruce Henderson and some other MassForDean.org people, who had set up a portable screen, projector, and sound system, and were playing Dean speeches. A brilliant idea, because for the most part there were a lot of bored people waiting around to catch a glimpse of candidates. There was a huge line to get into the Rack. I figure about 300-400 people. Kind of a SNAFU, as people just wanted to get inside and watch the debate. As it was, we were at the end of the line, and it took a while to get in. We just caught the end of the Dean attacks on the flag, but we got to see some of the candidates kind-of defend him. I'm pretty sure we haven't seen the last of this issue.
You all saw the debate, but I can tell you that the crowd in The Rack cheered at much different times to the people on TV. GLBT remarks, especially from Dean, got the best reaction, better even than anti-war stuff. Some thoughts on that:
Kerry seemed to jump in w/ his Marijuana comment right after Dean said, we're probably not going to answer that... did he do that to make Dean look bad? Was Al Sharpton's comment about Kerry's wife meant to be a put down? My gf says that Teresa is very blunt, and has had a very interesting life, and is a pretty hip person, but it sounded like a putdown to me.
Anyway, highlight of the evening... heading back to the car and we ran into Emily from MassForDean and some other Dean volunteers trying to organize people to stand at the exit w/ signs, etc. So we sauntered over and unrolled the banner again. We were just standing there after unraveling it when Joe T sauntered over, hands in his pockets... He stepped back and read the banner, then grinned a little, and came over to shake hands. He was very nice in complimenting our Kingergarten colors / paint job, and we chatted a little about the campaign, the debate, the post-debate spin, our local efforts in Mass., etc. A young woman with a videocamera was filming parts of this... she looked familiar.. was that Kate O'Connor?
Joe's main message: Keep signing people up. That's the single biggest thing you can do. What a great motivation!
Afterwards, my girlfriend, who, at the other end of the banner, couldn't hear the conversation, said "That's the guy, the guy who sends me the E-mails!"
Keep up the great work, Joe and co!
