Bear with me, I didn't sleep much last night so a lot of what I type may not be the most coherent stuff but this is my write up of my experience at the Jefferson Jackson dinner yesterday:
My dad dropped me off around 4:30 to a part of downtown Richmond where there were so many people crowding some of the busiest streets, that the streets were actually shut down. There was an excellent drumline that was pumping up the crowd. On one corner was a concentrated group of people with Hillary signs, but Obama supporters crowded the sidewalk for several blocks. There was no question that the Obama folks outnumbered the Hillary folks.
I was with some friends and we decided, after being a part of the chanting crowds for awhile, to go check out the area with all the media satellite trucks. It was kind of a random spot to be, but lucky us it was where the VIPs arrived. Former Gov. Warner, who's almost a sho-in for the US Senate, pulled in right by us. At that point the drumline had made it's way to where we were, and Gov. Warner came out and danced with them (I'll post photos later).
Not much longer after that, our current Gov. Tim Kaine arrived, gave me a hug as soon as he saw me and then he admired the drumline. Various other politicians including former Gov. Doug Wilder (the first African American governor) also arrived.
My friends and I then stood in line to get in, which took forever because the security was tighter than I've ever seen at any airport. All our electronic devices (phones, cameras) had to be ON, and the security people looked at them and pressed buttons. They then went through our purses and had to open every little compartment. For whatever reason, they even flipped through peoples' checkbooks
I also noticed secret service folks up in a box just watching the people as they came in.
Once finally inside, I spotted the CNN and MSNBC cameras. One of my friends who was with me is a news junkie like myself, so she and I giddily scurried over and there was CNN's Candy Crowley. She seemed flattered that we were avid viewers. In person, she's very tall but not nearly as large as she seems when you watch her on TV.
Then I saw my man, Lee Cowan of NBC sitting with his laptop. I went up to him and we talked for a good 5 minutes. He had the perfect anchorman hair and teeth, and he was VERY nice. His producer wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed as it took him forever to take a picture of us with my very simple digital camera. Lee was a great sport though. (Here we are
):
I went back to my seat and a little after 8:30 Hillary came out and spoke. It was one of her better speeches, if she had been delivering speeches like that throughout the campaign the race might be looking different.
To fill in the gap between her speech and Obama's, there was some music playing, some congressmen spoke, Obama supporters chanted and Hillary supporters tried to drown them out, but that didn't work, and finally Gov. Warner got up there and gave a great speech as well.
Then, the room came to a fever pitch as Gov. Kaine got up on stage, and he was the most fired up I have ever seen him. He brought the crowd to its feet, and by the time Obama entered (to City of Blinding Lights) the place was going NUTS. It took awhile before Obama could get the crowd to calm down so he could speak.
The crowd positively received Clinton, but with Obama it was at an entirely different level. There were some rude Clinton supporters behind me (I was polite during their candidate, they could have at least been polite during mine). But in the end by the time Obama finished and Signed Sealed Delivered started playing people were dancing in the aisles. It was a very good night for the Virginia Democratic Party.
I was planning on going to an Obama rally in Virginia Beach this evening but I'm so exhausted I'm just going to lay low.
