Anyone here go to the Kerry rally in Zanesville, Ohio tonight?

[The Blue Knight]

What'd you guys think?

[realisticphish]

1. yeah

great time; got rained on a lot, but i was in the front row, and got to shake the hands of kerry, edwards, vanessa kerry, dennis kucinich, and ben affleck. only 5 protesters, all of whom got shouted down by the crowd, and one almost got his ass kicked by teamsters


:hippie: The Incorrigible Democrat

[The Blue Knight]

2. You see my friends and me hold the "Ohio 4 John John" sign infront of 'em

?

[realisticphish]

3. no, sorry

i was a volunteer, and up near the front waiting to get in; i loved everyone booing and chanting, though, that was great; were you one of the lucky ones with an umbrella, or are you as waterlogged as i am?

:hippie: The Incorrigible Democrat

[The Blue Knight]

4. Oh, man, it was crazy.

We were harrassing this anti-abortion guy, and one of Kerry's lead advance men came up and said "Hey, show your true colors." And we unwrap this banner and it says, "OHIO 4 JON JON" and he told us, "Hold this for me, and I'll personally escort you in before anything happens."

So, we held it up for 3 hours, and we'd just move infront of the abortion people, and they'd get so pissed but the Kerry people just loved it. We held the sign for about 2 hours, through the rain and everything, and no, we didn't have any cover from the downpour.

Then the guy came back and got us, he *held up the line* and got us through the metal detectors.

Then we got taken behind the stage by secret service, and we met Dennis Kucinich back there (that was awesome). Then they had us handing out flags, signs, shirts and glowsticks.

Then we were infront of the press bleachers...about 30 yards from where Kerry spoke. Then aftewords, we went by his bus, and when Kerry walked by we yelled for him, he came over and shook our hands.

It was a completely perfect night.

[realisticphish]

5. that sounds awesome

i was probly directly in front of you, about a row back from the fence; too bad it was so crowded, or you might have seen my DU shirt. let me get this straight; if i had just pissed off some freepers, i could have gotten to meet Koochy? :grr:


:hippie: The Incorrigible Democrat

[Robbien]

7. Wonderful!

And you tell the story so well you make us all wish we could all be there.

Love love love these stories.

[mongo]

8. That was real good work

I was one of many cheering you guys on from the line.

THANKS!

[Sugarbleus]

6. Yet another fabulous report from the campaign trail...

THANKS SO MUCH. So many of us will never get the opportunity to do what ya'll are doing. I've been reading reports from all over today. It's very invigorating. Thanks for reporting back. :loveya:

Stand tall. Stand proud. Remember all of us little peapickers back home are with you in spirit......

[mongo]

9. OK, I have to bitch just a little bit

Kerry, Edwards, Fingerhut, and Terry Anderson gave great speeches. It was all in all a great experience, BUT

Logistically, it was a nightmere. There are better venues in Zanesville than the middle of main street on a three foot high stage. We were towards the back near the entrance, and you couldn't see much.

The way it was set up, the crowd was to the side of the stage instead of in front of it. The area in front of the stage could only accomodate 200 people at best, and behind it was a gigantic press area.

the lighting was the worst. They had a giant spotlight on the other side of the stage that was directly facing the crowd. We were all blinded by it. Some of the early speakers were drowned out by the crowd chanting "turn off the light". It was really bad.

It seemed liked the rally was set up to accomodate the media fliming in front of a picturesque court house. All for a few seconds on the evening news.

Thousands of people never made it into the rally area, because it was way too small. Phil Dirt and the Dozers at the county fair gets a better deal than Kerry did.

Sorry to burst anyones bubble here, I just wish it was handled better.

Here's a pic of Kerry and the spotlight of doom

[realisticphish]

10. yeah

i was helping to set up and they had NO clue; but i know its early, and im sure itll get better. the nuclear spotlight got annoying, but the camera i had didnt have a flash, so its probly a good thing. another thing was the sluggishness of the medics. I saw three instances where medics were needed, and every time, it took about 5 minutes to even get their attention; as you know, kerry stopped his speech to call for one, and a firefighter had to jump off the stage and go to whoever went down


:hippie: The Incorrigible Democrat

[Joanne98]

11. I was there

I saw the John John sign. It was a logistical nightmare. they should have had it in an open space.