Today’s been a very long day – we’re tired but buzzing.
This morning we went to the Obama campaign office on East Brandon Avenue, and were set to work telephone canvassing. The lists we were given consisted of people who had registered to vote by mail, whose absentee ballot had not (at the time of printing) been cast. (Tomorrow is really the last day absentee ballots can be posted – after that, voters can still drop them off at early voting locations or turn up on the day to get the absentee ballot cancelled and cast their vote in the normal way.)
Being a working day, most people were out but we left messages on their machines, urging them to cast their ballot and expressing the hope that they would support Senator Obama. Many numbers we called had been discontinued – a sign of the number of mortgage foreclosures resulting in people losing their homes. In the news we hear about the ‘economic crisis’ but this is the human face of it.
Then we drove over to the Obama campaign office on Bearss Avenue, where Harry was also working. We bundled into his car and set off for Orlando, where Obama and Bill Clinton were due to speak at a rally. Rav was very tired and took the opportunity to sleep – leaving me and the Sat Nav to share navigation duties. On the way there, we came close to Disney World, Universal Studios and Cape Canaveral. There were hundreds of roadside restaurants, mostly empty, as it’s off-season.
Obama and Clinton weren’t due on till 23:00 but we wanted to get a good spot so we’d allowed loads of time. Arriving in Kissimmee at around 16:00, we located the Osceola County Stadium and joined the queue that would be our home for the next four and a half hours. We must have been among the first few hundred to arrive. Ahead of us were some real die hards, including a guy with a guitar whose repertoire seemed to consist of one song – the verse rehearsed a list of failures of the Bush Presidency and the singalong chorus was: ‘Who we gonna vote for? O-BA-MA!’ As you can imagine, the hours sailed by.
One thing that helped pass the time was speculating about the 30 minute infomercial that was to be broadcast tonight, simultaneously on almost all the major television networks here in the US. No-one’s done anything remotely like this since eccentric billionaire Ross Perot in 1992. Is it overkill? Or a unique chance to communicate a message to the American people? We hoped there’d be a screen we could see it on.
The merchandising efforts here were amazing. You could get pretty much anything Obama you’d like - badges (‘pins’ as they call them here), t-shirts, hats – and some of the designs were quite imaginative. Perversely I didn’t buy any, a decision I now regret as I’m not sure if/when I’ll get another chance as I suspect we’re going to be working flat out until after the election’s over. One thing we had wondered about was who gets the money from all this, as the stalls all seem to be run by small independent traders. Rav heard one of the party staffers talking to a trader, setting out the rates for running a stall – so now we know, stallholders pay a small amount for a pitch and then keep any profits they make. This is very different to the UK, where merchandising is primarily done by the parties themselves (though they tend to outsource).
Initially, standing and sitting in the sun, it was hot. Then, as the sun receded, we became increasingly cold. Just as Harry went and bought us each a hot chocolate, the queue started to move! At first it looked like we wouldn’t be allowed to take our drinks in so I gulped mine – then it transpired we could take them in after all. Having cleared security (airline style, with barriers, body searches, thorough examinations of anything like a camera), we rushed forward and made it into what at a gig would be called the ‘golden circle’, which probably held about 500 to 1000 people. We were about twenty or thirty feet away from the stage, where a former President and the next President would be speaking!
Standing as part of a tight crowd in the ‘golden circle’ for several hours, I began to regret gulping all my hot chocolate. (Rav and Harry had wisely discarded theirs when they realised there was going to be no way of getting in and out, and we were going to be there for the duration.) The venue was huge, and there were thousands of people stood behind us (I’ve heard there were around 35,000 there). There were big screens mounted in the stadium but we were IN FRONT of them. This meant we could not see the infomercial – though we could hear it, and liked what we heard.
The evening began with the National Anthem and the Oath of Allegiance. Jimmy Spitz (pictured right) - who played Matthew Santos in The West Wing, a character now confirmed to have been based on Barack Obama - came on and gave a brief speech, in English and Spanish. And then Bill Nelson, the State Senator, came on and introduced Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.
This morning we went to the Obama campaign office on East Brandon Avenue, and were set to work telephone canvassing. The lists we were given consisted of people who had registered to vote by mail, whose absentee ballot had not (at the time of printing) been cast. (Tomorrow is really the last day absentee ballots can be posted – after that, voters can still drop them off at early voting locations or turn up on the day to get the absentee ballot cancelled and cast their vote in the normal way.)
Being a working day, most people were out but we left messages on their machines, urging them to cast their ballot and expressing the hope that they would support Senator Obama. Many numbers we called had been discontinued – a sign of the number of mortgage foreclosures resulting in people losing their homes. In the news we hear about the ‘economic crisis’ but this is the human face of it.
Then we drove over to the Obama campaign office on Bearss Avenue, where Harry was also working. We bundled into his car and set off for Orlando, where Obama and Bill Clinton were due to speak at a rally. Rav was very tired and took the opportunity to sleep – leaving me and the Sat Nav to share navigation duties. On the way there, we came close to Disney World, Universal Studios and Cape Canaveral. There were hundreds of roadside restaurants, mostly empty, as it’s off-season.
Obama and Clinton weren’t due on till 23:00 but we wanted to get a good spot so we’d allowed loads of time. Arriving in Kissimmee at around 16:00, we located the Osceola County Stadium and joined the queue that would be our home for the next four and a half hours. We must have been among the first few hundred to arrive. Ahead of us were some real die hards, including a guy with a guitar whose repertoire seemed to consist of one song – the verse rehearsed a list of failures of the Bush Presidency and the singalong chorus was: ‘Who we gonna vote for? O-BA-MA!’ As you can imagine, the hours sailed by.
One thing that helped pass the time was speculating about the 30 minute infomercial that was to be broadcast tonight, simultaneously on almost all the major television networks here in the US. No-one’s done anything remotely like this since eccentric billionaire Ross Perot in 1992. Is it overkill? Or a unique chance to communicate a message to the American people? We hoped there’d be a screen we could see it on.
The merchandising efforts here were amazing. You could get pretty much anything Obama you’d like - badges (‘pins’ as they call them here), t-shirts, hats – and some of the designs were quite imaginative. Perversely I didn’t buy any, a decision I now regret as I’m not sure if/when I’ll get another chance as I suspect we’re going to be working flat out until after the election’s over. One thing we had wondered about was who gets the money from all this, as the stalls all seem to be run by small independent traders. Rav heard one of the party staffers talking to a trader, setting out the rates for running a stall – so now we know, stallholders pay a small amount for a pitch and then keep any profits they make. This is very different to the UK, where merchandising is primarily done by the parties themselves (though they tend to outsource).
Initially, standing and sitting in the sun, it was hot. Then, as the sun receded, we became increasingly cold. Just as Harry went and bought us each a hot chocolate, the queue started to move! At first it looked like we wouldn’t be allowed to take our drinks in so I gulped mine – then it transpired we could take them in after all. Having cleared security (airline style, with barriers, body searches, thorough examinations of anything like a camera), we rushed forward and made it into what at a gig would be called the ‘golden circle’, which probably held about 500 to 1000 people. We were about twenty or thirty feet away from the stage, where a former President and the next President would be speaking!
Standing as part of a tight crowd in the ‘golden circle’ for several hours, I began to regret gulping all my hot chocolate. (Rav and Harry had wisely discarded theirs when they realised there was going to be no way of getting in and out, and we were going to be there for the duration.) The venue was huge, and there were thousands of people stood behind us (I’ve heard there were around 35,000 there). There were big screens mounted in the stadium but we were IN FRONT of them. This meant we could not see the infomercial – though we could hear it, and liked what we heard.
The evening began with the National Anthem and the Oath of Allegiance. Jimmy Spitz (pictured right) - who played Matthew Santos in The West Wing, a character now confirmed to have been based on Barack Obama - came on and gave a brief speech, in English and Spanish. And then Bill Nelson, the State Senator, came on and introduced Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.They’re both great speakers. Clinton drew a contrast between his eight years in power, and the last eight years. And he set out five key reasons why we believes Obama should be the next President. Obama spoke about the 
challenges he will face if he wins. Two things were striking about his speech. First was his emphasis that the election is not yet won; and second, the content. He talked boldly of ambitious infrastructure projects – new roads and bridges, nationwide broadband cabling, and billions invested in renewable energy. Inspiring stuff.
I’ve already indicated above that security was high. The gates of the car park remained closed until the motorcade had got well away from the stadium. Finally, we were able to get on our way. This was an evening we’ll remember for the rest of our lives.
challenges he will face if he wins. Two things were striking about his speech. First was his emphasis that the election is not yet won; and second, the content. He talked boldly of ambitious infrastructure projects – new roads and bridges, nationwide broadband cabling, and billions invested in renewable energy. Inspiring stuff.I’ve already indicated above that security was high. The gates of the car park remained closed until the motorcade had got well away from the stadium. Finally, we were able to get on our way. This was an evening we’ll remember for the rest of our lives.
(I have other pictures of both Clinton and Obama and will probably put them up with another post in the next few days.)
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