Eclecticism

Well, as it turns out, I was too far away from the stage to get any really decent pictures of Dean at yesterday’s rally. Ah, well, not a biggie — actually being there was the point.

Being able to see Dean speak in person was great. I’d heard and read nothing but good things of his comfort in front of a crowd, and it was fun to finally be able to experience that myself. He’s definitely a strongly charismatic man, and handles being in front of thousands of people really well. He doesn’t need to rely on cue cards or notes at all, which gives him a much better connection to his audience, as he’s not constantly looking down to fiddle at the podium. He also ad-libs very smoothly — at one point, someone yelled out, “Give ’em hell, Howard!” and Dean broke off for a moment to relate Truman’s response to the old “Give ’em hell, Harry!” war cry: “I just tell the truth, and Republicans think it’s hell!”

I was familiar with some of the content of his speech, but some of the sections I hadn’t heard before, including statistics showing a drop of around 45% in child abuse, and a drop of around 75% in child sexual abuse in Vermont following some of the programs he introduced as Governor — just astounding numbers.

Prairie and I brought along Prairie’s sister Hope and her friend Ingrid to the event, too. Neither of them knew much about Dean beforehand, but as we left, both of them seemed very impressed by Dean and what he had to say. Possibly a couple new supporters?

The only downside to the rally was that it was somewhat late in getting going — Dean, scheduled to speak at around 6:30, didn’t make it onstage until around 7:15, and we had to listen to a seemingly interminable stream of uninspiring music and speakers. By the time the last speaker took the stage, she was almost drowned out by chants of “Dean! Dean! Dean!” from a restless crowd. I felt a little sorry for her, but the sad truth was that only one of the pre-Dean speakers (Professor Hubert G. Locke) had any real skill as a public speaker, and we were all getting quite frustrated at the delays. Still, once Dean appeared, things got back in gear, and everyone around us as things ended did say that the wait, while frustrating, didn’t dim their appreciation of the man himself.

All in all, a good time was had by all. I picked up a Dean for America sign for my apartment window and a t-shirt, and have a few stickers in my bag looking for homes. I was already solidly in Dean’s camp before this, but being able to see him in person definitely cemented my position — here’s hoping that his momentum keeps growing, and we can get him not just the Democratic nomination, but the Presidency in 2004.

More posts on the event:

• Pleasing to Remember: Howard Dean was Sleepless in Seattle
• Mental Ground Zero: I Saw Dean In Seattle!
• Seattle P-I: Dean receives liberal dose of support
• Seattle Times: Thousands turn out for Howard Dean rally
• Blog for America: Sleepless Summer Seattle 360 Shot
• Blog for America: You gotta believe
• Blog for America: Going the distance (Attendance estimates are now up to 15,000 people!)

I’ll get photos and more impressions up later, but the rally today was really successful — over 10,000 people showed up to the event! Just amazing.

There’s a quick note about today’s event on the Dean blog, and there’s an AP slideshow of Dean’s Sleepless Summer Tour with photos from the Seattle event on Yahoo right now (the first 10 or so photos are from today — this one is my favorite, this little girl was right behind me during the rally).

I spent this afternoon participating in the anti-Bush protests here in downtown Seattle. While Bush actually spent very little time here in Washington — arriving, touring a dam, having a \$2000 a plate lunch, and then leaving, all yesterday — today’s protest was one of several organized in response to Bush’s visit.

The event went quite well, from what I could tell. Starting with a rally at Myrtle Edwards Park down by the waterfront, hundreds of us marched from the park up along Alaskan Way (past all the waterfront tourist attractions and businesses) until we were right by the walkway up to the Pike Place Market, and then turned around and went back down Alaskan Way until we made it back to the park. No arrests, no confrontations, and quite a lot of honks, thumbs-up, and cheers of support from people around us.

That was it for today’s hootin’ and hollerin’ for me, though — tomorrow afternoon is Howard Dean’s stop here in Seattle. I’ll be there, along with Rick, Tim, Prairie, her sister Hope, Hope’s friend Ingrid, and 2500 or so other people. Should be a good afternoon!