Teresa Kerry in State College PA ELIZABETH EDWARDS PLEASE READ!!!!!

[sjr5740]

I just got back from Teresa Heinz Kerry Speaking in State College PA on the Penn State campus.

She was originally supposed to speak outdoors on the steps of Old Main but this morning they changed the place to a small auditorium which could only hold 900 people.

There were over 5000 people who came to hear her speak. Quite a few veterans but more importantly a large number of PSU students. We trumped and thumped the 30 or so * supporters who were just there to argue and start trouble.

I was not able to get in along with over 4000 people. We waited around for an hour and to her credit Teresa came out and shook hands and said hello.

However, PA is an important swing state and I think some students were turned off by not being able to see her speak. Since the youth vote is soooo important the Kerry campaign should be doing all it can to speak directly to kids.

I think the turnout was larger than expected but there are many auditoriums on campus which can accommodate those who want to come see a speaker.

Bob Langer (a very big engineer in the field of biomed eng.) is giving a talk tomorrow and he is afforded a larger auditorium than Teresa!!!

I know Elizabeth Edwards reads DU and I hope you see this because I am trying to stress how important it is to have everyone hear the democratic message. Elizabeth please try to get one of the two Johns to speak here!! We will make it worth your time and help make sure PA is blue on Nov 2!!!!

Regards,

SJR

[featherman]

1. whose is the "they" that changed the venue?

and couldn't it be changed again to accomodate the crowd. I'm a little confused here.

[sjr5740]

4. The they is the centre county democrats (i think)

I have heard that centre county democrats are really disorganized and have their head up their *ss.

There was rumors of rain (which didn't happen) and i think security may have been an issue as well with a big open outdoor venue but i don't know who changed it. It was just announced this morning that the location changed.

it really sux. They should do their best to accommodate everyone who want to see them speak.

[Momof1]

8. Disorganized? Thats putting it mildly

Unorganized its...rather pathetic. And it is simple things that they screw up. There was a fair a few weeks ago, and the repub stand was right next to the dem stand. And everyday the repubs had balloons. I could not go near those stands, cause my 4 yr old was freaking out wanting a balloon.

And there was NO WAY I was walking around with a Repub balloon.

You know, I think Clinton was at Penn State 3 times before his first election, and Hillary visited often. Its almost like they washed their hands of Penn State and Centre County.

But who can blame them. The republicans actually voted for Toomey in the Primaries, and he carried Centre County.

:puke:

[PSU84]

9. Hillary's brother was a PSU alumnus, as I recall

There were definitely Rodham family ties to PSU.

[sjr5740]

12. Its true

Its in her book living history

[slor]

2. I love Mama T...

I was hoping to see her at the Springfield rally.

[PSU84]

3. John Kerry should visit PENN STATE!

I grew up in PA graduated from Penn State in the mid 80s. Although I have lived in Maryland since then, I still have many friends and relatives in Central Pennsylvania and I visit there often. I can tell you they REALLY WANT TO SEE JOHN KERRY in State College PA! He should visit Harrisburg and Altoona and Johnstown, too. Those cities feel like they have been given up on by the Democratic party. (It did not help when James Carville called all the places between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh "the Alabama part of Pennsylvania" several years ago.)

Show us you care, Sen. Kerry. COME TO PENN STATE UNIVERSITY!!!

[gauguin57]

5. The Johns, their wives and kids DID come to Harrisburg,

the day after the convention ended. There were 25,000 to 30,000 (Secret Service estimate) people there to greet them at the state capitol building. I was one of those people. It was an electric night.

Edwards was supposed to be in Johnstown in the last couple of days, I think.

Political types are now calling the "alabama" part of Pennsylvania the "T." (The conservative part across the top of the state and down the middle, between Philly and P-burgh).

In Lancaster County recently, the Kerry campaign put out the word that they wanted people to greet Teresa outside a private panel discussion venue ... so a bunch of us stood in the rain for over an hour, and then they took her in the back door -- we never saw her, she never saw us. And no one came out to explain anything to us. So the volunteers who had shown up -- most with a half-hour's notice -- went home wet and disgruntled.

Sloppy, sloppy logistical planning! (Could be Secret Service intervention -- in the case of PSU, Old Main lawn is pretty open territory).

And hell YEAH, Kerry should go to Penn State/State College. He could reach SO MANY PEOPLE that way. Too bad Joe Paterno is a Bush-hugging Repug, or they could have had the rally in Beaver Stadium!

[PSU84]

6. I will be so happy when ...

...JoePa's troglodyte son gets his ass whipped on Nov. 2 by Tim Holden. Scott Paterno doesn't even live in the 17th District! (My mom and dad do.) Joe's ignorant son said he would balance the federal budget by elimininating "useless" agencies like the National Endowment for the Arts (which spends about .00001 percent of the budget.)

Scott "Vote for me, my dad used to be a winning football coach" Paterno is going to have his fat, empty head handed to him on a platter on election day. And his old man should have retired about 10 years ago.

[sjr5740]

7. Well said

The boy looks like he eats like a football player but exercises like a sunday football couch potato.

He just tows the party line and as one of my colleagues said "You dont have to be smart to be elected to congress"

There was a post on DU about him buying a $200K+ house in the 17th district but never filing a tax return declaring more than $10K/year in income. Sounds like we got another one who gets by on his daddy's name.

SJR

[noamnety]

10. I saw Teresa in Southfield Michigan

We had a little disorganization there too. I had called ahead of time, they took my name - I even had to spell it for them. Then when I got there, my name wasn't on the list, and of course way too many people showed, so we had to have an overflow room and watch on a giant tv screen.

I figured I knew enough about her character to know she would come in and talk to us afterwards, so I wasn't upset ... and sure enough, she did - not just a short little handshake session, but she talked quite a bit, like a second shorter speech off the top of her head. So that was cool.

I think the big lesson for the campaign is that there's a good chance more people than they expect will show up, so they should always have a backup plan. I guess we could have worse problems than too many supporters, though. ;-)

[sjr5740]

11. true .... but

I think the big lesson for the campaign is that there's a good chance more people than they expect will show up, so they should always have a backup plan. I guess we could have worse problems than too many supporters, though. ;-)


If people are consistently turned away they will be turned off and not vote or even worse vote for *.

The campaign should be able to anticipate the turnout. In my situation it is ridiculous to assume less than 1000 people would show up on a campus of 40,000.

SJR