Go, Joe, go! Go, Joe, go!

As you may have gathered from the audio posts below (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6), I got to hear both Lieberman and Dean speak at the candidate forum in Phoenix this evening. We also heard from a spokeswoman for John Edwards. I left too early to hear Kerry, Clark, and Kucinich; I needed to get home before the buses stopped running! (As it was, I got to within a few miles of home by 9:20 PM, and then ended up waiting for a cab for two hours. But that’s another story entirely…)

The forum was fun. Alas, Dean was by far the better speaker compared to Lieberman. Hollerin’ Howard was electrifying, while Senator Joe spoke well but inspired very little palpable “Joe-mentum.” He did a good job of criticizing Bush and outlining his vision for America, but he didn’t really make the case for why he’s better than the other candidates. He touched on it at the end (an electable moderate, blah blah blah), but overall, it felt more like the introductory speech for another candidate, to be followed up with, “And now, ladies and gentlemen, the man who can fulfill that vision, the next president of the United States, John [Insert Last Name Here]!” :)

Speaking of the Johns, I’m disappointed Senator Johnny didn’t show up. Everyone talks about how Edwards can captivate an audience with his stirring rhetoric, get everyone in the room on his side, etc. (Hmm… the Voice of Saruman, anyone?) Not surprisingly, his New Mexico campaign manager, who spoke in his stead, was nowhere near as exciting. She felt like a warm-up act for the real candidates — and this was especially reinforced when Dean came out next, to rousing response and many loud cheers throughout his speech. He may be liberal and he may be angry and he may be a little crazy, but YEE-HAW!, that man can get a crowd going. YEAAAARRRHHH!!!!! :)

The most fun part for me — aside from hearing my candidate speak, of course — was interacting with the various local campaign staff and assorted hangers-on, as well as miscellaneous supporters, of the various candidates. I exchanged pleasantries with the Lieberman folks (Janice laughed and smiled when she saw me, and confessed that she had not read my response to her comment on my site), and discussed strategy with the Edwards guy and a Kerry guy (both of whom insisted that their guy is the only one who can possibly beat Bush).

I lied to an enthusiastic Dean girl that, sure, I would consider voting for Hollerin’ Howard if it comes down to Dean vs. Kerry. :) Oh, and it was during my chat with the Edwards guy that my cell phone received the CNN Breaking News alert about the Senate ricin. I read it aloud, and he said something like, “Oh…wow.”

Getting back to Senator Joe’s people, they informed me that, absolutely, they’re going to win Delaware… it’s a lock!! Hmm. No comment. :)

Notwithstanding his staffers’ faith in Senator Joe, I picked up two Kerry stickers and an Edwards sticker — you know, thinking ahead to possible future allegiances. :) I also picked up an abandoned Dean sticker that someone had dropped at the bottom of the escalator. So my collection of 2004 campaign paraphernalia is growing. See cell-phone photo-post:

The least fun part of the evening was the endless parade of boring, self-congratulatory speakers who came on stage before any of the candidates did, all promoting the organization that was putting on this event, the Arizona branch of the League of United Latin American Citizens. This is, in my experience, an epidemic among private groups putting on events for the public: they feel the need to loudly, repeatedly, annoyingly trump their own wonderfulness, thank everyone who helped “make this event possible” (from the chapter president to corporate sponsors to the secretary’s wife’s dog), and express over and over their pride that this “wonderful night” has been allowed to happen — all before anything has actually happened. Memo to groups putting on events: no one cares about that sh*t. Let the event speak for itself. People didn’t come to hear you toot your own horn; they came to hear presidential candidates speak. Get to the speakers sooner, and people will like your organization a heck of a lot more.

Back to Lieberman for a second. He was very funny when talking about the Arizona Republic, which co-sponsored the forum. In thanking the various sponsors, he paused on the Republic — which, of course, endorsed him — and lavished praised on the paper, saying it should win Pulitzer Prizes and such. Heh. That was a highlight — that, and when he got the expected applause upon noting that “a lot of people, including me, think I won the vice presidency in 2000.”

A lowlight came near the end, when I believe he messed up the governor’s name. He had already thanked and praised AZ Gov. Janet Napolitano (and indeed, compared himself to her, as a moderate who can win a state like Arizona), but then a few minutes later he made some reference to something that “your great governor” had done, and the name he mentioned was definitely not Janet Napolitano — it was some man, I can’t remember who now, but I’m guessing perhaps it was the governor of New Mexico, where Joe had just been. Anyway, I can’t personally fault Lieberman for this; I’m amazed that he (and all the other candidates) can remember as many trivial facts and miscellaneous names as they do; it’s an incredible feat of memorization, really. But politically, it’s obviously a major boo-boo to mess up the name of the governor of the state that you’re in. Especially when she’s in the room, and you just compared yourself to her. :)

Well anyway. I should go to bed now. Tomorrow is Primary Day, of course, and in the morning I will try to post some more pictures from tonight’s event. I will undoubtedly provide an update or two from work, as Drudge and others report initial results (”Edwards leads Janet Jackson’s breast in early S.C. returns, 33% to 30%…”), and then in the evening, as the results come in, I will be manning both this site and the Command Post, as I did last Tuesday. I may or may not provide live coverage from our local Mesa polling place at 8:00 PM — we shall see.

Go Joe Go! Win Delaware!

Go Johnny Go! Win Oklahoma!

Down with Wafflin’ Wes! Down with Hollerin’ Howard!

Beat the Bruins!!! (oh wait, sorry, wrong sport)

GO SENATOR JOE! GO SENATOR JOE! :)

UPDATE: More pictures here!