Obama table at Farmers Market Diary V.1

[zulchzulu]

I'll try to do a continuing saga of the efforts of people like myself with some grassroots activism at the Madison Farmers Market. The event happens every Saturday morning from around 8am to around 1pm or so. Rain or shine.

This morning started like many Farmers Market mornings in the past. Having printed out some homemade Avery 5160 stickers and some signup sheets, I met my fellow longtime table comrade there.

Just after getting the table set up, some old codger walked by and said "hey commie!" to me. I said "excuse me?" to his response "well, you are a Democrat, right?" pointing to the Obama sign. I answered that I'm mostly independent with some progressive views and believe in fiscal conservativism in most cases...it was too much for him. His profile was probably Korean war vet, in his late sixties or so. He mumbled something as he walked away (I'd say escaped) about supporting the troops... OK, where's that coffee. It can only get better from here.

Then someone who had a nearby table came by and is supporting a Draft Rusty campaign. Rusty is Russ Feingold, as he was called in high school in Middleton. We talked about about great he is and I interjected how it was a shame he wasn't going to run. More talk about the scrutiny of running for President.

There was a steady interest in signing up for the Obama campaign. A few other volunteers showed up and we discussed the political scene so far. One fellow was an Obama supporter with his wife taking care of an Edwards table on the other side of the Capitol square. She was very nice, but threw some jab about Obama fans being like cult followers or something and somewhat dissed Kerry and how Edwards would have been better. I told her to have a good day and continued talking to people showing up to see what was going on.

Minutes later, Russ Feingold showed up and posed for a photo with the Draft Feingold guy. I shook his hand and he said something like "Obama!" and walked up the stairs to a probable meeting with constituents.

More volunteers showed up and some student group activists talked about getting a fundraising concert going on soon. There was a lot of enthusiasm overall. It did get windy and a Republican family walked by and the Obama sign tethered to a extended microphone stand just missed the mother as the wind blew it over.

As the day went along, some people protesting dirty coal and other environmental issues performed a skit about drowning polar bears. One person came up to me and discussed where Obama stood on the war. He didn't know that Obama was against it from the start. He wanted Obama to say something about withdrawing immediately. I discussed how he wants to have a lot of the forces out on a steady timetable fairly quickly, with the date being somewhere in 2009.

As the day ended, more people seemed to show up. Some Europeans were curious about Obama and liked him a lot, based on BBC reports and such. Many people from out of town were very interested in getting involved where they live.

We got 59 signatures from people, with a large majority interested in volunteering. Besides the Edwards table, there were no other tables for other candidates.

Week one... there's nothing like meeting people on the street and talking eye to eye about politics. I highly recommend it, no matter who you support. Don't wait for the Cavalry to arrive...because you are the Cavalry.

[The_Casual_Observer]

1. This is all very nice, but I still think you're a commie.

:thumbsup:

[flpoljunkie]

2. Enjoyed very much reading your report from the front lines, zulchzulu. If I'm not mistaken, Obama's

plan for Iraq would have the troops out by March 31, 2008--the date put forth by the Iraq Study Group.

I really like your Obama bumper sticker signature.

[sam sarrha]

3. was he wearing a Armoured Vest, how many snipers and Apachie attack helo's were there..??

[zulchzulu]

5. The really scary part about the man was that he...

...looked like so many people's grandfather.

To hear such hateful ignorance come out of that man's mouth on such a lovely morning with so many happy faces was surprisingly shocking.

I initially smiled at the man when I heard him say something to me not really thinking that someone would be capable of viewing the World and others with such vile discourse.

I pity the poor man having to spin his daily web of thoughtlessness every day.

[zulchzulu]

4. Some disturbing things I forgot to mention

A number of people who signed up or talked about Obama kept thinking that he was going to get shot. That was very disturbing, especially snce I watch the movie "Bobby" the night before...

As we all well know, there are no shortage of twits out there.