Bill Clinton is coming to my small town Monday! (3/24)

[Indiana_Dem]

They haven't mentioned the times or place but he is making rounds beginning in South Bend to Rochester to Logansport and then Lafayette.

[Indiana_Dem]

1. okay-he's supposed to be here in Logansport at

5:15pm at Lincoln Middle School. If it looks like a bigger crowd, they may move it to the high school!

I'm for Obama as you can tell by my icon on the side but we've never had anything like this come to Logansport! I will be there to see the ex-president no matter what!

The Secret Service will be at my house! Why? The schools are out my back door!!! lol I'm fired up!:bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :crazy: :crazy: :crazy: :crazy: :crazy: :crazy: :crazy: :crazy: :crazy: :crazy: :crazy: :crazy: :crazy: :crazy: :crazy: :crazy: :crazy: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :kick: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn: :popcorn:

[Kevin Cloyd]

2. Rochester

Bill is speaking at the Rochester High School Gym at 3:15. I think Robert F. Kennedy spoke at Logansport in 1967 on his whistle stop tour speaking from the caboose of a passenger train. I saw RFK in Wabash on that tour when I was 13.

[Indiana_Dem]

4. Hello fellow Hoosier!?

I was born in '64 so I've never experienced such a thing! I'm excited!

My grandpa, who will be 100 in September, says that he last remembers Harry Truman stopping by on a caboose sometime in the 40s.

[Kevin Cloyd]

5. yes.

Yup, 15 miles east of Rochester.

[Indiana_Dem]

6. Obviously, you're going, too?!

Do you think people will follow him down from South Bend all the way to W. LAfayette? I'm a little afraid that the turnout will be lower than expected because the Clintons aren't very well liked in my red, red area. But, I'll be in line, nonetheless.

Welcome to DU! :hi: It's rough here but you'll hear almost everything here first!

[Kevin Cloyd]

7. The Clinton campaign called us yesterday

and asked us to attend the Rochester event. I've posted a lot to DU but a computer virus messed up my passwords, I used to post as Madhoosier.

[Indiana_Dem]

8. Oh, I'm sorry about that!

I haven't been on DU much since the '04 elections. I was so crushed that I turned my attention to something else for awhile...but the political junkie bug has bitten me again, so I'm back! That's why I probably wouldn't know your former name.

[Kevin Cloyd]

3. Bill Clinton

In South Bend he will speak at the West Side Democratic Club during their Dingus Day activities, 40 yeas ago Robert F. Kennedy also spoke there on Dingus Day.

[hoosier_lefty]

9. This is very exciting!

I'm going to the Rochester event. I live between Rochester and Logansport.
I'm still in shock. This is going to be awesome!

[Kevin Cloyd]

10. Bill at Rochester

Clinton spoke for nearly one hour and the only time he glanced at any notes was when he thanked the local officials for attending the speech. The speech was excellent, well organized with a great logical flow. His delivery was outstanding, since he was speaking on behalf of Hilary there were many complex sentences and Bill made it look a lot easier than it was. Bill looked great, his health seems to have improved quite a bit since the surgery.

After hearing Bush butcher the English language for seven years it was a pleasant change to hear somebody speak for an hour without bumbling, the only flaw was during the portion of the speech on energy conservation where Clinton spoke about developing a 100 mile per gallon hybrid where after repeating 100 miles per gallon in several sentences he misspoke and said 100 miles per hour.

There was one line in the speech that made chills run down my spine, Clinton stated that Bush has overused the Army and Marines to the point that they are now giving Navy recruits infantry training and deploying Navy men to Iraq in combat rolls.

After the speech Clinton worked the crowd around the stage for half an hour and signed many autographs including my copy of “My Life”, you had to hand the book to the Secret Service then after he left the stage he autographed them back stage, hint write your name on the title page and he will personalize his autograph. (I wrote my name inside the front cover, he autographs the title page)

Joe Kernan gave the introduction and Jill Long was there working the crowd as well though she wasn’t on the stage.

Aside from the Secret Service and political operatives I don’t think there were more than five people in the audience wearing suits, the audience was nearly silent (excluding the frequent interruptions for applause) during the speech to the point that Clinton commented on it. I counted the people in the bleacher section across from me (aprox. 200) and based on that I'd estimate the attendance around 800, which for a work day during work hours I thought was excellent. Since this was a Clinton rally I’m going to assume that most of the audience were main line democrats, the amount of condemnation of the Bush administration from the people sitting near me was overwhelming with unanimous agreement that Bush is the worst president in history.

[Indiana_Dem]

11. Bill at Logansport

My mom was also to shake his hand twice, too! Mark sat up in the bleachers and was able to see when he came in behind the curtains. My mom sat in the disabled section and had a front row seat to the left of the podium. Lee Ann and I stood front and dead center about 4-6 people back. He was an hour late. We stood in line for about 2 hours and then for an hour in the gym. The line wrapped all around the school before the doors opened. The school gym capacity was 800 and it was filled. When the mayor was introducing him, I couldn't tell you a word he said because I couldn't believe I was standing in front of a real live former president! He wasn't as tall nor as big as I thought he would be. He was a very good speaker. He never missed a beat and never used anything to help him remember. That's unbelievable. I just couldn't believe my eyes. When he was standing behind the mayor, he looked kind of more pale than I have seen on TV but as soon as he got up to speak, the color came to his face, he lit up and he came to life! This was his 4th speech so I figured he must've been so tired.

The area phone lines and cell phones didn't get jammed as I had been told was done with Bush when he made appearances. We did see one black helicopter fly over our house and me and one of my neighbors were outside waving at it! We didn't see that many secret service visibly until Clinton was in the house, however, we did lean on a secret service vehicle marked "Homeland Security" parked next to where the line was formed! Someone handed Bill a real saxophone, and several others handed him various books of which the secret service took them all for him. Until I read the Rochester account, I didn't realize that was how the autographing or book signing was done! He didn't sign any autographs as far as I could see out front, either. I didn't have a marker anyway. Anyway, the Secret Service guys standing by him during his speech were a pretty daunting presence.

I really lit up when he started talking about creating jobs by creating green energy and talking about energy independence and what Hillary's plans are for that. I was aware that all the local stations were filming behind me and since we were dead center in front of the podium, I stuck my arm up and gave a peace sign when he was talking about energy independence. Hopefully, my arm shows up on the area news somewhere! lol

It was an exciting day for my memory book and a high point for the history of Logansport. Even though I am voting for Obama in the primaries, I will vote for Hillary if she makes it to the GE. Most of their policies are the same except for some minor differences. But it was a wonderful experience and well worth it!