Elections 2008

St. Paul, Minnesota

By Chris Krohn

Follow-up on the demonstrators…yes tens of thousands of demonstrators hit the streets in St. Paul…police say 10,000, protesters say 30,000…originally organizers said they were expecting 50,000. Having covered and participated in numerous demonstrations, I am fairly sure there were over 20,000 marchers yesterday.

The ‘Coalition to March on the RNC’ was months in the making, planning, and filing of law suits—3—against the City of St. Paul for better access to the actual convention site itself.  The coalition is made up of national peace and anti-war organizations like United for Peace and Justice, Answer, and Troops out Now,” according to Coalition spokesperson Meredith Aby.

The main issue for the rallyers? “We want the war to end, troops to come home now and to fund human needs not war,” says Aby, obviously harried, wanted by other media to do more interviews. With the RNC immobilized by Hurricane Gustav, many more reporters than might normally be here were present to cover the march-rally. Certainly the one large march in Denver was barely covered, but the national media is definitely at this St. Paul event, even checking into the organizers media tent and receiving credentials. “Our government continues to prioritize killing people in other countries rather than taking care of people in this country,” says Aby as if reading from a script.

Why is it so many more protesters are here in St. Paul than Denver? “It’s harder to rally people [against Obama] rather than against an administration that is conducting a war.”

They are now calling delegates back to their seats. (Originally they said this session would only last 2-2 1/2 hours to do only necessary business, like Sen. Coleman indicated, but someone mentioned perhaps they changed that.

Laura Bush is introduced to a great ovation, minute and a half…she acknowledges the large Texas delegation and the group, decked out in denim blue shirts and cowboy hats goes crazy. First Lady Bush says,”Our first priority is to assist those in the Gulf Coast region…the effect of Hurricane Gustav is just now being measured.” She went on to say that President Bush is in the national hurricane center in Austin, Texas…projecting command and control this time around, unlike Katrina…Laura introduces taped video messages from 4  Gulf Coast governors, “All Gulf Coast governors happen to be Repulican,” she says. The four governors who taped messages are Rick Perry (TX. Bob Riley (AL), Charlie Crist (FL), and Haley Barbour (MS).

After the taped messages Laura Bush leads Cindy McCain, hand-in-hand, back to the podium. Cindy McCain’s main message is “As John has been saying, this is the time when we take off our Republican hats and put on our American hats.” Together the current First Lady and the First Lady wanna-be made a pitch for money and then they were off the stage. A motion was made to adjourn at 5:04pm (central time) and accepted by acclamation. The convention day was over…no Bush, no Cheney, no Schwartzenegger…no prime time TV. The question is do these speakers get integrated into the next 3 days of programming, or does McCain breath a sigh of relief given the low approval rating of the President and VP Cheney…but the California gov he really wants doesn’t he?.

PS My sources tell me the the California delegation of 173 is occupying some 500 rooms in Bloomington, Mn., 18 miles from the St. Paul Xcel center…very different than the 441 Dem delegates in Denver…they were 2 miles away from the Pepsi Center…much easier to track down.

Inside the RNC convention hall (St. Paul’s Xcel Center)…why don’t they have wireless inside these convention halls? (They didn’t at the DNC in Denver and they don’t here…seems like we have arrived at the point that wireless should/could just be available…just a minor complaint…)

I just arrived at the Xcel center and the first order of business was to dismiss 4 committees for an hour and then they would come back and make a report. Compared to Denver, not may people are here in terms of spectator numbers. The floor is full of delegates but not many people in the gallery (stands of a basketball stadium.)

A few moments ago I caught up with Minnesota Senator Norm Coleman to ask him what the silver lining here is since scheduled to speak today was to be the President and Vice-president along with the Governor of California.  He said, “I don’t think you look for a silver lining.” But the convention has been has been drastically changed Senator? “No regrets. No laments. It depends on what is happening on the Gulf Coast.” And what will exactly happen today? “We will do our business that we have to do by law. I anticipate we will be back in business shortly.”

Meaning…probably tomorrow the schedule will go on as planned he intimated. So Senator, do you think what’s happening now is a direct response to how Katrina was handled? “Katrina was a disaster,” said Sen. Coleman, “at every level, local, state, and federal.” I guess the Republicans are trying to get it right this time.

For theme, “Country First,” is plastered everywhere inside the arena and lots of McCain ’08…not so many McCain-Palin signs, one big one…

Side not…I asked if people watching the demonstrators who identified themselves as Republicans, if they were aware of the breaking story, i.e VP candidate Sarah Palin’s 17 year-old daughter is 5 months pregnant…nobody was really aware of that yet…they seemed skeptical of what I was telling them even).

St. Paul, Mn.—— What if they threw a convention and nobody came? It is looking and feeling a bit dismal and downtrodden on the Republican front right now. Why do I say this? Taxi Driver Gilman Bernstein from St. Paul told this reporter this morning, “I sat here [taxi stand in downtown St. Paul] and I had three pickups in eight hours.”Another driver, Richard Timm, a taxi driver also from St. Paul said turning to his friend, “Oh yeah, I was out at the airport for ‘one hundred fifty-five minutes’ (almost 3 hours) yesterday and I picked up zero passengers.. They built it up so high like the cab drivers were going to make a ton of money. That’s a farce.”

Are the Republicans good tippers?  Bernstein was quick to answer, “Yes, exceptionally so, I had a $22 fare and they gave me $35, but ya have to find one [fare] first.”

Thomas Davis is a retired 3rd generation Democrat from Toledo, Ohio. He’s here to collect political buttons. He says the city did not really lay out the welcome mat. “St. Paul blew it. Where’s the welcome for the Republicans? I don’t see streamers off the light polls. I don’t see any great outpouring of enthusiasm.” He says he was at two past Republican conventions, Philadelphia (2000) and Detroit (1980). He also says he has yet to encounter many people selling political buttons.

Example number three of a tamped down RNC is that the head of the Congressional press office who is in charge of coordinating press credentials just told me he has had “many” calls to hold media credentials as a lot of the national press are heading to New Orleans to cover the hurricane.

As I write this, the “The Coalition to March on the RNC” is massing thousands of demonstrators on a lawn right outside the state capitol rotunda here in St. Paul. The protesters are streaming in from around the state of Minnesota arriving on school buses. Some from North Carolina and groups from the DNC protests in Denver are here as well. At first glance, it seems like there are many more protesters gathering here today than were seen in Denver. Spokesperson for the Coalition, Meredith Aby, said the march is set to leave at 1pm after several speakers, including Code Pink’s Medea Benjamin address the gathering. Aby said, “We want the war to end and the troops to come home now. Our government continues to prioritize killing people in other countries rather than taking care of people in this country.” The Coalition is made up of several groups including, United for Peace and Justice, Answer, and Troops Out Now.

Walking the parade/march route this reporter saw dozens of riot police units dressed in what can only be called heavy armor. It looks like a baseball catcher’s clinic. Each cop is dresed with shoe, shin and knee guards along with huge chest protectors and helmets.

Stay tuned!

Wow, what a night! From Sherryl Crowe to Stevie Wonder to Al Gore…all played extremely well as this stadium built for around 70,000 was quickly filling to more than 80,000. The bar was being set very high for the main event, el presidente-in-waiting, Barack Obama. He began a few minutes after 8pm mountain time with a load of thank you’s–Hillary Clinton, Ted Kennedy, Bill Clinton, Joe Biden, Michelle Obama, and his two daughters, Sasha and Malia…nice touch.

The constant theme of the night was how American can you be…he went through his story–Kenyan dad, mom from Kansas, grandpa served in the military and benefitted from GI Bill, grandma worked her way up from secretary–he called it “the American promise” more than once.

The high notes…the standing ovations…Americans are not “whiners” (which Texas Republican Phil Gramm had called them earlier in the campaign acting as McCain’s surrogate) Obama responded: “They work hard. They give back. These are the Americans I know.” Next, “It’s time for them (the Republicans) to own their failure” since they are so big on the ownership society. He also added, the American promise, “a promise that is the only reason I am standing here tonight.” Next rousing ovation came when he talked about individual and collective responsibility, “I am my brother’s keeper” (and in Santa Cruz anti-sexist language he came through) “I am my sister’s keeper.”

Tax and spend liberal? “I will cut taxes for 95% of working families.” Continue dependence on oil from the Middle East? “In 10 years we will finally end our dependence on oil from the Middle East.” Money for education? “Michelle and I got a chance to get a good eudcation. I will not rest until every child has that chance.” (bigger than usual applause) Community service for a college education expenses received a loud applause as well. Bin Laden was next…Remember John McCain said he would follow Bin Laden to the gates of hell, “John McCain won’t even follow him to the cave he lives in.”

A divided America? “They (US troops) have not served a red America or a blue America. They have served the United States of America.” (Big ovation) Striking back at McCain’s Paris Hilton/Britney Spears celeb comments: What the naysayers in Washington don’t understand “this election is not about me, it’s about you” the American people.

Maybe some of the biggest applause came when Obama recognized that 45 years ago to the day he was giving this speech, Martin Luther King jr. led the march on Washington and put forward the speech that will live on, “I Have a Dream.” Obama invoked the “Our destinies are inextricably linked. We cannot turn back, we must hold to that promise.”

Whatever else you read the punditocracy say about this speech what I noticed is how united the Democrats are, how Obama continues to just strike the right oratorical chords consistently, and through out the speech he kept coming back to the heart and human words:  respect, empathy, kindness, spirit, “imagine what it is like being in somebody else’s shoes,” change, family history…” Some amazing stuff. Probably not stuff you will hear in Minneapolis (RNC site).

Next…what might progressive Santa Cruzans take issue with in Obama’s speech? or, the low lights…

It is 7:15 and the stadium is 3/4 full. They move all the people in here pretty well…crowd is incredibly jovial, high spirited, so nice to each other, so apologetic if they bump into you…Stevie Wonder just about brought the house down…and now it’s Michael McDonald (somebody said…) The stadium seats over 70,000 for football…there will be many more than that tonight with the whole field filled with media and delegates, that’s well over 10,000 more.

Al Gore received a standing ovation for the same amount of time Hillary Clinton did, about 1 minute and 30 seconds. His line about recycling was his best line: “I believe in recycling [McCain for Bush] but that’s ridiculous. The war in Iraq is seemed to be Inconvienient Truth Al Gore’s biggest issue. “Take it from me, if I were elected we would not be bogged down in Iraq.” He said this BEFORE talking about the environment, and believe it or not. It was his first policy issue in the speech.

Obama, Hottest Ticket in Town

August 28th, 2008 · Add a Comment

It is 1:15pm and a frenzy to find Obama tickets for tonight is underway here at the Sheraton Hotel  in downtown Denver where California delegates are staying. People who do not have tickets–friends and family of delegates–are frantically looking for tix to the big show…others are boarding buses for the ride to Invesco-Mile High stadium where Barack Obama is scheduled to speak at 8pm Denver time, 7pm Santa Cruz time. The program starts at 3pm though. Most likeley the same pleas are going out for tickets all over this town for tonight’s speech.