Report from Ohio

[citizen]

Today, Both Kerry and Bush are in my Ohio neighborhood, so I thought I’d post a brief update.

I would estimate this morning’s Akron, Ohio Kerry crowd at 12 to 15 thousand people. That is strictly my non-scientific estimate, which puts it right in there with what you here in the media.

Kerry appeared at Firestone Stadium, which is a small basball park. The place was packed, including many people seated on the surrounding hillside. Labor made up a big part of the audience, and included Teamsters, Service Employees. Steelworkers and many others. Kerry was introduced by John Sweeny, President of the AFL-CIO. He was also accompanied by John Glenn, Dennis Kucinich, Stephanie Tubbs-Jones, and Sherrod Brown, among others.

I attended along with a group of Ohio Veterans. We were provided with a small area right near the stage, which was great. The most astounding part was that when our group entered the stadium, a spontaneous round-of cheers and applause erupted that brought tears to my eyes. Many Veterans among the general audience were also in evidence. In our group there was a retired Colonel, a Swift Boat Vet, and many Vietnam Vets, including a few in uniform. It was very gratifying to see the number of Vets out there who are not buying the Bush sponsored Swift Boat Liars.

Kerry’s speech was tough on Bush, without being overly ‘negative’. I was particularly pleased that he addresed the Bush fear campaign head-on, saying something like “These people are trying to scare Americans because they have so little else that they can point to....” Some of the loudest applause came when he attacked the new overtime rules put in place by Bush.

He also commented on several of Bush’s recent promises such as more funding for Pell grants and workforce training, saying that these were basically all words, the same words we’ve heard before, and too little, too late. Naturally, the crowd loved it.

There were about 8 protesters that I saw. Two were positioned near the entrance with “W” signs, and were pelted with restrained insults (i.e. “Bush League") from the gathering crowd as they filed in. Six more anti-abortion protestors were near the exit, complete with gory pictures. As I ran past this group to get to my car, one of them yelled “Yah, go ahead, Run away just like Kerry.” Generally, this gang was being treated with polite indifference by the Kerry crowd.

Bush and his entourage appeared at a High School in Brecksville, Ohio to a crowd that I am guessing was about 3000. This, I must admit, is a complete guess based on my knowledge of the size of the auditorium. I did not attend. The entire event was “by invitation only”. One person that I know who is on the local school board received an invitation and planned to attend, although he is a Kerry supporter. I could probably ask him about the details of this event, but you’ll see enough of that on our ‘Liberal” media anyway.

Brecksville is a very conservative suburb of Cleveland, filled wiith 1/2 million dollar homes. Yes, there are homes priced below that, some as low as $150,000, but the new construction is all $350,000 and up.

My wife participated in a protest at the Bush event. She estimated that there were at least 100 protestors. They were not permitted to use the parking lot and were thus confined to a small corner near the entrance driveway. She commented that many of the people arriving for the event flashed a finger (yes, THE finger) at the protestors as they pulled into the lot. Ohio Highway Patrol, Local Police and Secret Service were everywhere.

For what it’s worth, my perspective is that Northern Ohio is clearly Kerry Country. Bush doesn’t stand a chance here because of the jobs situation in Ohio and the strong ties between Kerry and organized labor.

At the same time, I must ask that everyone who cares about the future PLEASE get out and get active. Turn off the news, ignore the polls, and ignore the Bushies BS. You will be rewarded by lots of support from real people who genuinely care about building a Stronger America beginning right here at home.

<http://www.civilthreat.com | How Secure are your civil liberties?>

[sundancekid]

1. well said about "get out and get active" -- THANX for the report

[DebJ]

2. The finger flash thing: just doing Cheney sign language!

[vitoria]

5. Citizen

I was at the Akron rally too -- it was awesome! Everyone I talked to afterwards felt the same.

Tears came to MY eyes when your group (the Vets) came in. I was sitting right behind you -- 3 of you posed for a picture for me. I took several others. Can't wait to get them developed!

Thanks for the great account of the rally. The energy was high; the turnout fabulous. People are very passionate about Kerry - he is just want our country needs. Looks, talks and acts like a real president...unlike AWOL.

I signed up to volunteer - this election is just too important not to get involved.

[citizen]

10. Thanks!

Thanks for your response!

Ignore the polls! Keep the faith!

[newyawker99]

13. Hi vitoria!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[oasis]

3. Thanks for your report. BTW, Fox's Carl cameron gleefully reported

that close to 300 anti-abortion protesters were near Kerry's event. He said this was, so far, the largest anti-Kerry crowd at any Kerry event.

Could have been a different venue from you. What did your local news say?

[citizen]

9. the 300 protesters must have been in Alabama....

I sure didn't see 300 protesters, and it was an open stadium with a clear view. I counted six at the exit.

The local news at 6:00 that I watched provided no coverage of the anti-abortion protest.

[oasis]

12. Okay thanks. And thanks again for your original report.

:hi:

[POAS]

18. Confirming protest count

I was at the rally as a volunteer and got posted as a "traffic cop" at the entry to the main parking lot. I was at the entrance for the entire event and the number of protesters was never more than 30.

For the hour or so it took to clear the crowds out I was never farther than 50 feet from a particularly loud abortion protester marching up and down at the entrance displaying a bloody picture. For the most part citizen is correct that the crowd was civil toward these protesters but this man was very "in your face" and got into some heated verbal battles and in one case the police separated him from an angry woman. As soon as the confrontation with this woman took a turn to the worse this guy started yelling for the cops.

After about 30 minutes of this guy walking around my station yelling his slogans I quietly confronted him. As best as I remember it, it went like this:

Me:"How do you feel about Bush paying for an abortion in his youth?"

Him:"I don't know anything about that, I've never heard of it"

Me: "Well I know about it."

Him (interrupting): "Everybody makes mistakes in their life."

I had to move away to see to my "traffic cop" duties but as I did his parting shot was, "I'm not talking about Bush anyway, I'm talking about Kerry."

I saw many people get in this guys face, both men and women. The anger was palpable toward him, but the anger remained largely controlled and verbal. Many women with young children hid the eyes of their children as they berated him for displaying the image to their children.

I wish I could report on the rally inside the stadium, unfortunately I never got in but from what I heard from the outside it was an enthusiastic crowd that was still arriving (in dribs and drabs) as Kerry was finishing his speech.

[GalleryGod]

20. Cameron is a lying sack of puke! Who's WIFE worked on Bush's 2000 team.

Carl Boy's sins are detailed in the movie "Outfoxed".

[VolcanoJen]

4. Thanks for this report, citizen!!

You might want to post it down in the DU Ohio Forum too; I'm sure lots of folks there would be interested.

Great information!!!

[jefferson_dem]

6. Thanks for the insider's perspective

Very encouraging.

Rock on John!

[TriMetFan]

7. I have to agree with about the news and polls.

For a very long time I kept telling every one on these forms that Oregon was Kerry Country. We are living in a time that the government has/is trying to take control of the news. I had a government teacher back high school (27yrs ago) that said that We would end up a socialist nation if we the people didn't watch what the government was doing. Well we the people were caught with our heads in the sand after 9/11. Now its the time for us to get out there an fight for our basic freedom.

[cheshire]

8. Inspirational

[annabanana]

11. Thank you very much, and

Welcome to DU!
:toast:

[Bullshot]

14. People need to respond to the anti-abortion protesters

who carry the large gruesome pictures of an aborted fetus with some of the gruesome pictures of young Iraqi children who did nothing wrong other than living in a country that Bush was hell-bent on destroying as soon has he took the White House.

Then, ask these so-called pro-lifers what's the real difference between their pictures and yours if they are indeed concerned about preserving LIFE, rather than their real strategy of pigeonholing the "life" debate into only the fetal stage.

[0rganism]

19. How they answer that one: "we're voting for Peroutka, you should too"

The best way to handle them, IMHO, is to take them on from the front of their issue. They say, "John Kerry wants to continue the murder of CHILDREN! etc. etc." You stand right next to them and say, "This man wants to force rape victims to carry to term! This man wants to force teenage incest victims to carry to term! This man wants to force women to have sonograms at the border! This man wants to take control of your womb!"

No need to flank them, when you can fight them on their own turf.

[POAS]

21. See my response

elsewhere in this thread (confirming rally count) for a first hand report on the abortion protesters and the responses to them.

[oasis]

25. The gruesome, grizzly pictures that the pro-lifers display should be

outlawed. Indecent exposure is a crime but is isn't as offensive.

[Arugula Latte]

15. Welcome to DU, citizen!

And thanks also for serving! :hi: :toast:

[Carla in Ca]

16. Great post, Citizen

Nothing better than getting info from someone who actually attends the rallies....thanks

[SayitAintSo]

17. Thanks for a great update

I never ceased to be amazed at the sheer meanness of the pukes. There is something just so unbelieveably mean and hateful with their collective behavior. Astonishing.

[American liberal]

22. thanks, citizen!

What a great update! You keep hope alive!

Peace,
AL

[blue neen]

23. Thanks for the great report.

Welcome to DU!

[Philostopher]

24. Thanks for posting, citizen.

I'm moderately pleased to see that the media in Ohio are reporting legit numbers -- there were about 15,000 at Springfield, by our eyeball estimate, and that's exactly what the press reported here. They so often lowball the numbers for Democratic rallies, I'm glad to see that at least they're getting that part right!

And the part about ignoring the polls is right on -- they've been asking people who've voted recently about this, when so many new voters have been registered in the past few months. B.S. numbers, in other words -- perhaps because so many of the new registrants use cell phones or caller I.D. and don't take calls they don't feel compelled to take, or perhaps because for some strange reason, the pollsters don't feel that new registrants are going to have any effect on the ultimate result.

Well, let them become complacent about it; let them pretend new voters aren't largely people who are dissatisfied with the status quo -- it'll be that much more surprising in the final count, won't it?