This past weekend, the first of 2008, I became involved for the first time in the political process. And it was incredible.
My wonderful girlfriend, who works in television, was sent to New Hampshire on January 2, where she stayed until the 9th. Friday night, after work, I headed up to NH to spend the weekend. While she worked both days on the weekends, there was initial concern that I may find myself extremely bored. Instead, I got involved.
Arriving to the hotel Friday night alone was great. The closer I got to my destination, the more candidate's signs I saw along the side of the road. It was exciting.
As most of you already know, I officially support and endorse Mike Huckabee for President. So I had checked his weekend schedule and even joined a Huckabee meetup group. So, the next afternoon, I got ready for a rally that was to take place at Saint Anselm College in Manchester, NH at 3PM. I had my directions from the hotel in Concord written down and everything, gathered my camcorder, and made my way to the school.
I planned to arrive around 230pm to ensure a good spot so I could catch a glimpse of Mike. I got to the college, which was in the middle of a very rural area, just in the middle of a street in a neighborhood, and was told by police that they would not let me in without credentials showing I was either a student or member of the media. I told them that there had been a rally listed at 3PM, but they told me there was no rally, because they weren't opening the campus up until 4PM. So I drove away, confused. I managed to text Gina and get a text back of the number of Mike Huckabee's national campaign office, who then referred me to the NH campaign HQ, who told me they were hearing about this just now and to just go at 4PM.
So I ate at McDonalds and killed some time by driving around. I headed for a mall, hoping to find a book store I could pass two horus at, but no luck. Finally enough time had passed that I just headed back to the campus and parked on a side street. I walked onto campus at a different spot than the main entrance to avoid being harrassed and started asking people I passed if they knew where the Dana Center was, because that's where the rally was supposed to have been at. I was pointed in the right direction and found the parking lot empty. People were filing into the Dana Center, and I asked someone what was going on, and he told me that's where the debate was going to be, but it was sold out. So I meandered around campus, hoping to stumble upon some Huckabee supporters. I figured I'd just head for the entrance and see what was going on. On the way there, I passed some people with a megaphone protesting abortion and labelling the Democrats as killers (true story).
I get to the main entrance and see suppporters everywhere for nearly every candidate. I see a TON of Huckabee supporters with their signs, a bunch of Ron Paul supporters, some Rudy people... that was it. Every now and then I saw a Fred Thompson sign, and there was a small number of Obama supporters, but no Hillary, no Kucinich, and barely any Romney people (eh maybe the same as Rudy). I walked in amongst the Huckabee people and was basically given a huge Huckabee sign, like 6 feet by 5 feet or something, to hold up. Eventually I got into the spirit and was not only holding it up, but joining in the chants of my fellow Huckabee supporters. I talked to them and found three others that had come from Massachusetts and another from California (attending Harvard). Another I spoke with was homeschooled. Very interesting to see the various backgrounds and interests of Huckabee supporters.
We stayed out there until about 615-630pm and then we all slowly made our way to our own cars to head to a Huckabee supporters debate-watching party. The interesting and humorous thing was that, as I said above, there was not a single Hillary supporter the two hours or so I was there. Well, at about 615, when we were gathering our troops to move to the party, all of a sudden a flood of Hillary supporters poured into the general area where everyone was. And, unlike the decorum that every other candidate's supporters showed by staying congregated together and not infringing upon other's general area, Hillary's peeps had no such respect, and literally walked in and amongst everyone as if in a conga line, chanting their crap. It was very rude, but what can you expect?
One other point to note is that there was some crazy guy on his own chanting "get a life" at everyone and dressed in a way I cannot describe and which must be seen. I'll simply say that he had a boot on his head as part of his getup.
Well by the time I got back to my car, which had not only a $10 parking ticket on it, but a flyer from some no-name candidate promising to "stop the negro problem" if elected, the GPS had died. Luckily, I'd written down directions to the debate-watching party. However, they started with "Go east on X Road." Wtf? My car doesn't have a compass! How the hell do I know which way is east? So I basically just picked a direction and went with it. Lemme tell you, I ended up driving all around town until I caught a road on that list of directions, and even then I had to stop at a gas station for help (yeah, I stop and ask for help, I don't care if it makes me less "manly.).
When I eventually found the place, I parked on another side street and found my way inside. Being that I was alone, there was one seat in the front row of the ballroom available. So I took it and focused on the projected television on a big screen. We all watched the debate, had endless free chicken nuggets (mmm good) and water, and chatted amongst ourselves during commercial. When the debate ended, the news reporters that were there started interviewing people, and the woman sitting next to me was interviewed. I found that she was from Worcester, MA herself (about a half hour from me) and we talked afterwards. I found out that she and her husband ran a political group out of Worcester and she gave me contact information so that I could also get involved.
Then I got word that the man himself, Mr. Mike Huckabee, was on his way to the debate-watching party spot to thank us all for supporting him. I didn't know he was coming, but I was pretty psyched, as I had only seen him on television, and now I'd get to see him in person (and from the front row, too)! So we waited, and the Democratic debate started up, but it wasn't that easy to hear it, as it wasn't the main focus of our gathering there.
Finally, Mike arrived and the screen went back up into the ceiling. Everyone applauded as he entered and he took his spot in front of a podium. Before he could speak, one of the people that had been there for over two hours with us raised a beer or something and said he wanted to toast Mike Huckabee. He gave some kind of speech himself about religion and unity and led it into an attack on Mike for a comment that Mike had made 15 years prior. All of a sudden, this guy's cronies start chanting something about AIDS funding or research or some BS and causing a scene. To his credit, Mike didn't falter; rather he stood his ground, even as his security staff encouraged him to leave through a side door. Mike refused, and said that he was proud to live in a country where we didn't all have to agree on everything, and were free to express our satisfaction or disatisfaction.
Eventually the protesters were escorted outside (either that or shut up, but I didn't really see a big commotion either way after Mike's words). Mike gave a great speech, which I filmed. He ended it by saying that he wanted to meet each of us and shake our hands for our support! Woot!
I basically got in line (i.e. the crowd moving towards him) with my video camera, and eventually got to meet Mike Huckabee! I asked a woman behind me to film the moment, and got some of it on tape as well. Unfortunately, it's extremely close proximity, but it's still one of those moments I'll never forget, win or lose.
After meeting him, I cleared out and sought out some of the people I'd met at the rallying at the school earlier. I told them I was happy to have met them, and headed back to the hotel to meet up with Gina again. She went to bed and I too, eventually, after reading for a while.
The next morning, I slept in a bit but was off to another rally in the form of a Clam Chowder Festival at a middle school, where Mike Huckabee would be, along with his big celebrity supporter, Chuck Norris. The middle school was about halfway between where I was in the hotel and my apartment, so I basically just packed up and left, to go home after the rally.
As for the rally, it was kickass. I was inside before I realized that I'd forgotten my video camera in the car, and I wasn't going to give up the spot I had forged for myself, nor did I know how much time there was before Mike would show up, and I didn't want to miss anything. So I stood in my spot, my feet and legs aching, and waited.
Eventually it kicked off, with an intro from some local woman, who introduced Mike to great applause, who arrived on stage with his wife. He gave a brief intro and then introduced a woman who was some kind of big supporter who spoke for a while. After that, Mike came back to the mic and named a couple of other big name supporters, pointing them out in his entourage. Then he said there was someone else there to speak, and everyone cheered. He replied to the cheering with, "yeah, I know the real reason you came here today," which got a lot of laughs. He introduced Chuck Norris and his wife. Chuck gave a great speech as well with a lot of good points. After he was done, the mic went back to Mike, who then gave a real speech this time for a good long while. In fact, it was so good that I wished I'd had my video camera for it, as it would have made a great campaign video that I could've created. As it is, I haven't been able to find anyone that does have video of that event, despite having seen portions of it aired on The O'Reilly Factor. On that note, if you are reading this and have video of this, please contact me.
Anyways, after the speech ended, people made their way towards the stage to try to shake Huckabee's hand. I had already met him and had nothing for Chuck to sign (as people were also trying to get his autograph), so I just made my way back to my car and headed home.
All in all, the weekend was a great time. Very fun, and it felt incredible to be somewhat involved in the political process, rather than just a spectator at home as I had always previously been - or as Mike put it, come down from the bleachers and get my jersey dirty on the field!
In fact, once I got home, I looked up information on Framingham State College's Political Science program. Hmm... Who knows where that might lead? ;)