Liveblogging Philly
Another one, www.exileproject.com
We’ve had some connection issues (I finally just bought a one day pass to a local network), but that’s not unusual for these things, which tend towards controlled chaos. On the plus side, the setup is pretty swank. I feel all New Media.
The stage is in the center of Independence Mall, and a few hundred chairs are setup surrounding it exclusively for veterans (Happy Veterans Day!). That’s all cordoned off by security barriers, behind which the masses are collecting, and teeming. There’s currently a pretty damn decent country/rock band playing (Rocky Lynn?) as the people are gathering. Ron’s on at 1.
I’ve got a photo guy floating around, and will upload pictures as I get them.
First impressions.
i’ve been to a lot of these things by now, and so far this one’s shaping up to be one of the biggest and most professionally done I’ve seen. The campaign was wise to keep it here at the mall right in the heart of the city. They’re also, I would guess, starting to spend some actual frontrunner money on these events, just judging from the giant leap this rally is from even the few I went to last month. It’s come a long way from just being a handful of staff and volunteers and Ron in hotel ballrooms. This is a real deal campaign event. But it hasn’t lost any of its charm, because…well, it’s still Ron Paul people here.
2500 people RSVP’d for this event, and by a wild guesstimate I’d say most of them are here by now (crowd is probably pushing 2000 now), and they’re still streaming in. Like I said, I’m in an ad hoc media section, surrounded mostly by staff and key volunteers, in the chairs are maybe 50 vets already, most of them wearing jackets with patches and ensignias, both military and freedom movement. There seems to be a fair few media people here. And, like i said, streams of supporters.
I got here pretty early (11ish), when it was just the hardcore guys, many of whom I recognize by now. Yellow Don’t Tread on Me flags, guys dressed like founding fathers with Ron Paul signs coming out of their backs, lots of slim jims and t-shirts and yardsigns being slung (god bless ‘em). As is often the case, people seem just genuinely happy to be here, happy to be among fellow supporters, happy to turn out for Ron. It’s cold, overcast (we saw some snow last night on the way here), kind of dank, but nobody seems to particularly be minding.
Also: more curious bystanders than usual. Lots of regular joes just starting to wander in. I met and talked to a guy from Tennessee who had driven up, and had only first heard of Dr. Paul a few weeks ago. For some reason, in the back of my mind, I half expect it to just be the same people over and over again. But, and I don’t know why this should surprise me, it seems to keep growing. It’s really hard to not be wandering through this crowd and not feel a part of something. I’ve been to plenty of political rallies, by a lot of big names, and as I’ve said before, they always seem polite, button-up, competent, and exciting in a very stifled, formal way.
These are different, as most of us know by now. The energy is closer to a music festival. But the thing is, that’s always been true. Now, it’s true but with crowds MATCHING those big name rallies. I was at the Kerry rally where he announced Edwards as his running mate last cycle, and it was nothing like this.
Crowd’s grown by several hundred in the last few minutes. 3000 now maybe? I’ll get an official count for you when the campaign passes it on.
Ron’s on soon. Liveblogging his speech!
Any MSM press there at all, Brad?
Comment by James — 11/10/2007 @ 2:30 pm
Quite a bit. As much as with a mainstream “frontrunner” rally (do they even have those anymore, for Republicans?)
Comment by Brad — 11/10/2007 @ 3:22 pm
CNN covers Ron Paul on the TV and on their homepage. 3000 people show up. Anyone else shedding a tear for freedom?
He speaks about marijuana and hemp — and the CNN camera feed dies on me. Not the web feed, just color bars and a 3000hz or so hum. Wonder what happened???
Comment by ab.dada — 11/10/2007 @ 3:42 pm
After the CNN camera feed went to color bars, they removed the feed from their homepage. Almost real-time. Coincidence?
Comment by ab.dada — 11/10/2007 @ 3:43 pm
Rocky Lynn also played the Iowa Straw Poll; I recall he said something unbelievably stupid about poverty, but I can’t recall what.
Comment by Rojas — 11/10/2007 @ 7:41 pm
Were you conscious during Rocky Lynn in Ames, Rojas?
Comment by Laura — 11/10/2007 @ 7:46 pm
Yeah–I was actually there for more of the early events inside the Hilton Coliseum than most people were, as I had been forced indoors by my little episode. I got treatment at the triage center and went inside the main auditorium just in time for the LaPierre and Gingrich stuff.
Here’s what Rocky said. Good to know he’s full-time behind Paul; it’s a bit strange to think that supporters of One would be Paulites, but it takes all kinds, I guess.
Comment by Rojas — 11/10/2007 @ 7:50 pm
I should have come up and found you in the infirmary–I was probably pretty close to right beneath you in the bowels of the Coliseum–in the “press room” (the area for the non “big time” media folks). There was me, and some foreign journalists, folks from independent press outlets. You could have come down, borrowed one of our computers, and blogged!
As for Rocky, this is one of the strangest assemblies of people I’ve ever been around–even stranger than a major university campus. We’ll take ‘em where we can get them, though.
Comment by Laura — 11/10/2007 @ 11:16 pm
And in retrospect, I should have been kinder to Rocky. I don’t think that his poverty comment makes any sense, but there’s a million worse (and stupider) causes to champion than third-world debt relief. So, my apologies to Rocky Lynn(e), and it’s good to have him with us.
Comment by Rojas — 11/10/2007 @ 11:24 pm
Well, as for myself, I find there’s a lot of cognitive dissonance associated with this campaign when you look at who’s on board. It’s better to just go with it than to try and make sense of it, I think. Otherwise we’d turn into the crazies they think we are.
Comment by Laura — 11/11/2007 @ 1:54 am
You mean we’re not?
Comment by Rojas — 11/11/2007 @ 1:29 pm
Maybe we ARE. After church today I was having a political conversation with a Democrat friend who was bemoaning the fact that he didn’t really like any of the Democrats–especially not Hillary and Obama. I mentioned a similar conundrum in the GOP–told him that there was really only one I liked, and when he asked who, I told him. You’d have thought purple slime was flowing from my eye-sockets, the way he looked at me!
His comment: “HE doesn’t have a chance.” My comment: “Maybe, but take a look at his fundraising numbers this past week and the movement that’s starting to have in the polls.” His comment: “What do you mean?” And when I started to tell him, he said, “Oh, well, by the time we get to vote in Nebraska, the media will have already decided who the nominees are.”
Comment by Laura — 11/11/2007 @ 6:51 pm