My most cherished memory: It was just a day or two after Kerry had chosen Edwards as his running mate. I was really happy and excited about this, and then I saw they were kicking off their combined tour in Ohio. I'm about an hour and a half from Dayton, and I couldn't miss it. Hauled my brother's girlfriend along as well. I'd been to a couple of Clinton/Gore rallies in the past, but this was her first.
We got there early, stood in line for about an hour before even getting in, then stood for hours and hours more, first while waiting for things to get started, then standing through the endless introductory speeches by people we had, for the most part, never heard of. Every time one of them concluded with "It's now my great pleasure to introduce-" I straightened a little in anticipation, sure that the
next introduction would surely be the the guy we'd waited so long to see. But, the preliminaries went on and on. Now, I understand that the local Dems need to use the appearance of the big names to grab some coattails (and I
was impressed with Eric Fingerhut, and it was neat to see John Glenn), but I was having a hard time standing up by then. Several times I had to just sit down on the hot asphalt amidst the crush of the crowd. My back kills me if I stand in one place too long. But finally some of the people whom we'd been expecting, started to take the stage. First Elizabeth Edwards. At that point I was trying to keep on my feet, so I unfortunately missed much of what she said. Then Teresa. I'd never heard Teresa speak before, and I was beyond blown away by her - the calm demeanor and absolute confidence, the references to having travelled the world. I had an irrational desire to invite her out for coffee and chat, because here was someone who had seen the world from many angles, someone who was not bound by the borders and provincialism of a single country, someone who had a unique and intelligent perspective, someone with whom I'd dearly love to have been friends and exchanged stories.
Then John Edwards arrived. By this time I was in pretty intense pain, but I pushed it aside and heard him address the problems of my daily living: "Not only are you unable to stash away savings, but you're also in debt." No kidding, I thought. He remembers what that's like, he understands and wants to help.
Finally Kerry took the stage. Wow! Though I was far too far away to have any hope of shaking his hand (who are these special people who get the close-up "blue tickets," anyway, and how does one join that elite club?), the energy and excitement between him and JE were breathtaking even from a distance. You could see how quickly they'd become a team, how they'd really hit it off as friends, and how their personal styles played off and enhanced one another. It was that friendship and energy between them, that really made me fall in love with both of them that day. There are only a few things I recall specifically of what Kerry said - for instance, that his father had been stationed at nearby Wright-Patterson Air Force Base and his sister was born there (I'd lived there for several years as a kid, so that was a neat personal connection for me), and he mentioned Sunwatch Village, an ancient Indian settlement near Dayton that's been excavated and restored over the years. It's one of my favorite places to bring visitors, and I thought it was super-cool that Kerry knew of it and mentioned it by name. He said the Indians of Sunwatch Village had a medicine man who came around to every lodge if someone was sick. They had a better health care plan than the one Bush wanted to stick us with! That's telling it like it is! So those are personal bits I remember, not so much the "big plans" that he spoke of, but the emotional impact of that rally which will stay with me forever.
At the end, the music came on ("Go Johnny go!") and a storm of confetti rained down over the crowd. As people started to disperse, I picked up some of that confetti, trying to get one piece of each color, as souvenirs. I still have them, and guard them jealously as precious keepsakes. Whenever I look out at the cold winter sky and get too sad and hopeless, I mentally take myself back to that hot July afternoon, when hope was new and the world was beautiful. Whatever happens, the rethugs can never take that memory away from me.
To conclude, here is my very favorite picture of the Dream Team, from that happy summer's day: