Town Hall Meeting?

Now just what in the Sam Hill is going on around here? Eeeeasy there, turbo. We requested that site contributor, the Substitute who was out at the Clinton rally yesterday, give us his thoughts on the event and the primary debate which he did so here. We'll get back to our regularly scheduled McCain bashing later so let's just chalk all this up to a conscious desire to find something appealing about the remaining candidates all of which we have serious political misgivings. Senor Substitute, you're on:

Ever been to a campaign rally? Whether you are GOP or Democrat and haven't been to one of these things, it's kind of an interesting experience to go through. But first: What's in a name? When I was a wee lad these things were known as "Campaign Rallies". It has since morphed into "Town Hall Meeting" to give it that intimate folksy charm we all like so much. Think McDonald's turning the cold, stale, "Welcome to McDonald's. Can I help you?" into"What can I make for you today?" as if the girl on the intercom is going to go back and cook me up a quarter-pounder with tender loving care.

Anyway...

I arrived at SDSU 2 hours before the event at the 12,000 seat Cox Arena. The line was almost 3/4 of a mile long and growing quickly. The gates would not open for another hour. Clinton campaign staff came around and said that if I didn't fill out their form, I wouldn't get in. Pretty comprehensive, this form. Cell phone. Work phone. Home phone. Address. Email address. Did I want to join the campaign. How much would I pledge. What I did for work. Pretty smart, if you think about it. They just got thousands of contacts of enthused possible foot soldiers in a 1 hour stop.

I was as vague as possible filling it out. And ended up getting in anyway. After 1 hour, the line started to move. It literally snaked through half the massive SDSU campus. Along the way, various groups for this, that, and the other thing trying to give away brochures or sign people on for theircauses. Here, the marijuana legalization brotherhood (You know, it makes really good rope!). There, Stop Animal Abuse. Towards the arena entrance were the Contras: Republicans with hand-made signs that gave me little hope for much of a conciliatory note from the far-right wing of the GOP if Clinton gets the Democratic nod. After all, "Life's a bitch. Why would you elect one?" doesn't quite have the same ring as "I want a kinder, gentler nation."

Security wasn't quite as tight as I figured. Backpacks banned. Women had their purses checked. But that was it. But I was to find out that when a former First Lady and presidential front-runner comes strolling on stage, the eyes of Secret Service are everywhere. (Later, after the "Town HallMeeting", as Hillary plunged into the crowd for autographs, the agents were the very definition of White-on-Rice)

A few local political hacks came on stage at the appointed 1:30 starttime -- and spoke, and stalled, and stalled. They ran out of things to sayafter 15 minutes. One of them finally teased us with a "I think someone very important is here", and with that all of them left the stage to an excited crowd. Then nothing.

10 minutes passed. 20 minutes. Half an hour. 40 minutes. 45 minutes. Nothing. The crowd, filled to the rafters by now, finally started entertaining itself with a display of (paper) air plane superiority that would have made the Luftwaffe proud. I put on my sunglasses for protection.

But where was the candidate? Finally, 55 minutes late, pool press and agents appear. The candidate was not far behind. A guy I spoke with later at the trolley stop about husband Bill's legendary habit of running on the same delayed schedule when he was President called it "Clinton-SavingsTime". More introductory speakers. In quick succession two guys I'd only marginally heard of (they were booed lustily by a now-impatient crowd), thenL.A. Mayor Anthony Villaragosa. Then SDSU President Stephen Weber.

And Clinton's face finally pops from around the corner. Electricity from nowhere. Cheers. Weber brought her on stage. He then preceded to go another 3 minutes with a long diatribe about education and San Diego technology. The crowd was beyond caring.

Hillary. Microphone. Finally. The energetic vibe was quite palpable.

The rest was stump-basic. Education. Iraq. Vets care. Immigration.Economy. Can't wait to get George out. All designed to energize the crowd and the party.

But, ya know, I still have a soft-spot for McCain.

See you in November.

- The Substitute