IN THE FIELD HOUSE
As the big garage door opened up people rushed in. There was a smidge of a stampede to get to the front/center so I dashed to the left and kicked it in to high gear ending up in the corner just below the band. Folk filed in for about 45 minutes. I was low and in front so had no idea how many folks were there. Had some good conversations with local supporters, undecideds, and the blond secret service lady that you might of seen walking around. The crowd was kinda sedate after the initial rush as we waited for the band and Clinton folks to deal with some technical difficulties (thousands of feet of wires and something comes unplugged DOH!) About a half hour before the event started the band started playing. They were actually quite good and are just putting out their first single. The lead singer/guitarist was very personable and engaging. His best comment "Ok guys. We usually play bars and small venues. This is the biggest crowd we have ever played in front of. Just to boost our egos, for the next 12 seconds can you guys pretend you are here to see us...." and the crowd went nuts. So funny. He later indicated that Mrs. Clinton's daughter brought us, which I though was kind of odd (back to that later). While they were playing a certain General quietly emerged on stage. As people realized who he was the cheering increased exponentially. Unfortunately I was on the far side of the stage so did not get many photos of him, but he was sitting with two ladies, one of who Hillary mentioned in her speech (the one with the kid with heart surgeries/CHIP). They seemed to be having quite a good conversation with him. Lucky ladies. As the clintons approached the rest of the secret service deployed in stoic almost zombiesque fashion. On stage a young clinton staffer and two kids were throwing out t shirts to get the crowd rilled up. The girl, Emma, had one bad throw that nailed one of the "zombie troopers" in the back of the head. For half a second I thought he was going to shoot her. :O Fortunately he realized it was just a t-shirt as he spun around but he was definitely not as ammused as the rest of us were. :D
Then Hillary came on stage to a rauckus crowd. While the cheering continued for several minutes Chelsea and eventually Bill joined her. At first it was hard to hear her over the crowd but as her stump speech got in to gear she quickly took command. You all saw the speech so I will not go into too much detail, but she looked really up beat and had the crowd in the palm of her hand. Their were moments of absolute silence, laughter, sympathtic claps for the people she was talking about, and most of all genuine excitement in the crowd. One thing I had not heard from her before was the part about open governments, placing the various departments budgets on the web so everyone could see, and once again fiscal responsibility. In another time I might have been a New England fiscal "conservative"/social liberal, but my type of conservatism has long since died and it is why I joined the Democratic party in 2003. Hearing her bring up these points in addition to our other core Democratic values really struck a not for me. you can view the event on CSPAN for more details. Better than I could ever hope to present here.
At the speech ended, Hillary came down the steps right in front of me and began to work the line. I did not want to hold her up so simply wished her good luck, shook her hand and let her pass on to the adoring fans.
A few moments later Bill and Chelsea went down opposite sides of the stage. What I originally thought was unfortunately Bill went to the far end and Chelsea headed over to my side. She kind of lingered a bit as she is not the "star" but simply a 27 year old young woman. I have to admit a feeling of personal disgust and embarassment came over me when I realized she was the same age as my last girl friend. God I need shower every time I think that. I remember her as a "kid" but I guess then I was just in high school myself. She is only 5 years my junior still it just seem WRONG. Anywho back to the story. The couple next to me asked her a question about how we are paying for everything we are doing while cutting taxes and she gave a great answer about borrowing from China, raiding social security. As she moved on to me I decided to lighten the mood a bit after that weighty question saying something stupid like "I heard you brought the band". Turns out the lead singer was one of her best friends in high schools. I don't know but for me that somehow made the clintons much more human. I guess I never imagined Chelsea having high school friends considering the life she grew up in. AS she started to walk away and work the line she saw my "Get some starch" button and asked what it meant. I told her and she said "General Clark is one of my favorite people." Kid has good taste. :D She then went on to work the crowd amazingly well. Guess it is in her genes. Anyways I came away from the event with a much more human feel for the Clintons and a great respect for Chelsea herself.
More here:
http://securingamerica.com/ccn/node/14358
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