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Yesterday, I took the afternoon off work. ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
curiousangel and I drove up to Philadelphia for a Howard Dean rally that - amazingly - drew more than 3,500 people, the largest crowd he's ever drawn anywhere.
I don't think I've ever been to a candidate rally before. All my previous political enthusiasms have been around ballot measures, not candidates. My immediate reaction was that it was strange to see Dean up there on stage after seeing him on TV and in pictures so many times - I remember thinking, "Wow, he really looks like that in person!" (In retrospect, obviously, that makes no sense whatsoever. What else would he look like?)
Unfortunately, Dean was way delayed by weather. He called in at 5pm, which was when he was scheduled to speak, to say that he was "on the runway" and would be there in 40 minutes. At first we assumed that he had just touched down in Philadelphia, but he must have still been on the runway in Washington DC - he didn't arrive for another hour and a quarter. At that point, the opening speakers - who had initially done a fine job - were repeating themselves several times over and people were getting cheering fatigue. The applause lines were definitely beginning to fall flat. Once Dean took the stage, though, the energy went through the roof. I screamed. I was so excited!
His speech was very brief (he was supposed to be at a candidates' forum) but it didn't matter to me. It was great to see him and to hear his voice. He really is incredibly charismatic when he's speaking to a crowd. I'm looking forward to seeing him again - he'll be in Maryland on September 8th - and getting to hear his whole speech. After he spoke we walked him up to the Constitution Center, where the candidates' forum was being held. I noticed the strange absence of supporters of any other candidate - I mean, I know that Dean was the only one who gave a talk outside, so I didn't expect there to be hundreds of Kerry and Lieberman and Kucinich supporters... but you'd think there would be some. It was odd.
curiousangel seems to be leaning slightly Deanward. I'm trying not to pressure him - I know that my enthusiasms can be a little bit... overpowering. But it would sure be fun to volunteer for the campaign together.
curiousangel and I drove up to Philadelphia for a Howard Dean rally that - amazingly - drew more than 3,500 people, the largest crowd he's ever drawn anywhere. I don't think I've ever been to a candidate rally before. All my previous political enthusiasms have been around ballot measures, not candidates. My immediate reaction was that it was strange to see Dean up there on stage after seeing him on TV and in pictures so many times - I remember thinking, "Wow, he really looks like that in person!" (In retrospect, obviously, that makes no sense whatsoever. What else would he look like?)
Unfortunately, Dean was way delayed by weather. He called in at 5pm, which was when he was scheduled to speak, to say that he was "on the runway" and would be there in 40 minutes. At first we assumed that he had just touched down in Philadelphia, but he must have still been on the runway in Washington DC - he didn't arrive for another hour and a quarter. At that point, the opening speakers - who had initially done a fine job - were repeating themselves several times over and people were getting cheering fatigue. The applause lines were definitely beginning to fall flat. Once Dean took the stage, though, the energy went through the roof. I screamed. I was so excited!
His speech was very brief (he was supposed to be at a candidates' forum) but it didn't matter to me. It was great to see him and to hear his voice. He really is incredibly charismatic when he's speaking to a crowd. I'm looking forward to seeing him again - he'll be in Maryland on September 8th - and getting to hear his whole speech. After he spoke we walked him up to the Constitution Center, where the candidates' forum was being held. I noticed the strange absence of supporters of any other candidate - I mean, I know that Dean was the only one who gave a talk outside, so I didn't expect there to be hundreds of Kerry and Lieberman and Kucinich supporters... but you'd think there would be some. It was odd.
curiousangel seems to be leaning slightly Deanward. I'm trying not to pressure him - I know that my enthusiasms can be a little bit... overpowering. But it would sure be fun to volunteer for the campaign together.