They had the Tacoma Dome exit off the freeway closed (no surprise there) and were routing everyone through downtown, which was nuts. So we took the Port of Tacoma exit and parked in the Freighthouse Square garage. People apparently didn't know about that garage (which is free), as it wasn't full. We ran into Alyssa, Pat's campaign manager, on the way in, and were walking with her, but lost her somehow when we moved from the line for the white Internet tickets to the line for people with the blue tickets. We ran into Tyler in that line, and went in with him. Once inside, John and I decided we'd rather sit in the bleachers a little further away than in the middle of the crowd, where I'd never be able to see.
While we were sitting there, I saw Geoff Simpson standing over with the firefighters, and told John I was going to go over and say hi. Geoff asked me if we wanted red tickets, to get up by the stage. I said, oh hell yes, and he went and got me red tickets. Oh my word. We went into that area, and we were only four people back from the security rail - no more than 20-30 feet from the stage. And I told John not to bother bringing the camera, since we'd probably never get close enough for a decent picture! Dammit! We were standing right by State Treasurer Mike Murphy and Ted Wilhite, though, both of whom had cameras, so I may see if Ted will email me a couple pictures.
Norm Dicks spoke, and Patty Murray, Garrison Keillor again, and then the motorcade arrived. First General Clark spoke - and a great speech it was, too - then Jim Rassman, then finally Kerry. He gave a wonderful speech, much better than the one he gave at the Convention. It was phenomenal to be standing there, literally right in front of him, so that it seemed at times that he was speaking directly to us. Certainly he was looking directly at us. After the speech, he shook hands along the rail. I couldn't get close enough (there ARE disadvantages to being so short), but John had put his Vietnam service pin on his Veterans for Kerry sign, and Kerry spotted it, and reached over the crowd to shake John's hand. That was worth the whole three hours of standing in the sun!
Most of my fellow delegates were up on the stage. I found out why when we went home and I checked my email. Looks like I was supposed to be up there too. Oh well, I think I had a much better vantage point with the red tickets Geoff gave us. I said hi to quite a few of them as they came off the stage. We waited until the place completely cleared out so that we could thank Geoff for the tickets.
My wrist tattoo - holding up a sign - shows up in one picture, and John shows very clearly in another (we're in the lower left of both pictures) :
We were starving (it was 3 p.m. by this point, and we hadn't eaten a thing), so we went over to Freighthouse Square to get something to eat. Ran into Bryan Kesterson and Evelyn and Mike Reymond of the 47th there, and sat with them and talked while we ate. Bryan's going to run for district chair, and we talked about whether I should run for vice chair. After talking to Tyler, though, it looks as though I can't run for either chair or first vice chair - both positions have to be elected PCO's, and John's already started talking to neighbors about his write-in candidacy, so I'm not going to confuse the issue by running against him. Maybe I'll talk to Betty and Dennis about the treasurer position.
We doorbelled for Pat and Geoff on Sunday. John and I went with Tyler to a precinct that was 95% apartment complexes, one of which was the Summit. Since they're gated and signed No Soliciting, and since John's bidding on a big job there, we skipped doorbelling in the Summit and went over to the complex next door. It's a pretty run-down place, and probably doesn't get doorbelled much. Most people didn't open their doors, and the first ones who did, it was obvious we'd woken them (10:30 on Sunday morning is too early for doorbelling, I think). After I got two in a row who were not wearing clothing, I decided John and I should work as a team! We didn't get anyone who was overtly unfriendly, and the very last one we got made my day - she had her screen door locked, but when she opened the door, she saw our badges and said, "Oh, you're Democrats? You can come in then!" and opened the screen. :-)
Doorbelling scares the hell out of me. I may have to get over my phone phobia and do phone banking instead. At least then you don't have to confront the naked ones! I'm working some overtime next Sunday so I can take primary election day off and work in the Coordinated Campaign office, inputting data into the computers. I'll have to use the phone to do that, so maybe that'll help some with my irrational neurosis.
Greg Palast's column today has some really interesting information on how Bush got into the Texas Air National Guard and the payoffs for getting him in, after he was made governor of Texas: http://www.gregpalast.com/detail.cfm?artid=365&row=0
Oh, and yet more ethical violations, sleazy connections and general idiocy from the Swiftboat Veterans for Lying Viciously About the Records of Other Veterans: http://www.democraticunderground.com/top10/index.html#1
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