Report on Jim Hightower at Barnes & Noble

[dflprincess]

When the store manager introduced Hightower she said this was the largest crowd that store had ever had for a book signing - and this was at the Barnes and Noble at the Galleria in Edina! (Never have so many car with so many liberal bumperstickers been seen in Edina before.)

I arrived at 6:30 and found out the signing didn't start until 7:30 so I bought a copy of the book and headed down the hall to Sydney's to get something to eat. I ran into LydiaLeftcoast on my way to the restaurant and she came along with me. While we were sitting at the counter who do we suddenly see come in and sit down at the other end of the counter but Jim Hightower!!! So, I grabbed my book, went over to him and got it autographed. I am pleased to report that he was very pleasant and gracious and if he didn't like being interrupted by a fan before the signing officially started he didn't show it.

Lydia and I finished our dinner and trotted back down to the bookstore. As I said, it was packed and we wound up sitting on the floor right in front of the podium. (Great seats except for getting off the floor afterward.)

Hightower gave a great talk and took a lot of questions. The crowd loved him and everything he had to say. I think he had everybody ready to go out and get active. One woman who asked a question was nearly in tears when she spoke how ashamed she's become of her country. (I was also of the opinion that she may have been overwhelmed to see so many like minded people in one place.)

After the speech, we did run into NoNameNoSlogan. As I already had my book autographed I didn't hang around long. Lydia and NNNS can fill us in on what went on afterward. On my way out I did spot a few people I know from DFL activities.

[TexasProgresive]

1. Hightower was the best friend Texas

small farmers ever had. He was replaced by Rick Pompadour Perry, (a corporate whore who works for mousse) who replaced Du(m)ya as our dishonorable governor.

[Cha]

2. Thanks for that report, princess..

I love reading Jim Hightower in my Progessive Populist and anywhere else. He gets to the heart of the matter and is so Funny about it.

It's great to see that he is out there with his book tour and doing it so well..

[Lydia Leftcoast]

3. Lydia's report

Yes, Barnes and Noble was packed, and I saw No Name No Slogan and a couple of other people who had been involved in the Kucinich campaign.

I don't have that much to add to what dflprincess said, but I stayed after to get my book signed. Since I had an unused B&N $50 gift certificate, I used it to buy Hightower's book as well as something else that has been on my list for a long time, David Brock's Blinded by the Right.

It always takes me a long time to get out of bookstores, so even though the talk was over by 8:45, I didn't leave the store until 9:45.

[no name no slogan]

4. NNNS's report

I got there around 7:00, and ran into a couple of folk from the MN for Kucinich campaign I hadn't seen since the state convention. We chatted for a while, as the place filled up. I bet there were at least 200 people there, if not 300, gathered around a little corner of the store.

Hightower was good, as usual. He was funny, inspiring, and quite thoughtful. The Q&A was also quite good. One highlight for me was how Jim answered a question about Nader. He said he doesn't support Nader this year, and can't, because of his own convictions. However, he also said we must respect his right to run, and not spend so much damned time attacking him, as he won't be on the ballot in most states, and any attention we give to him detracts from Kerry (good points, IMHO).

One of the Kucitizens I was with had a marker for the 3rd place in line, so I got my copy of his new book signed right away. I also gave him three of our Minnesota Progressive Caucus buttons (see the link in my sig), and told him how much we appreciated him coming here.

After that, I had to run, as I had forgotten to eat yesterday, and I was starving!!!