@TeresaKopec There are people who are neutral or undecided on #Mitt, but with #Palin you don't see that. It's a very interesting dynamic. Da Time: 1 hour ago
with #palin from what I've seen wherever I go it's all or nothing, I've never seen anyone describe Palin like say Romney, @TeresaKopec Da Time: 1 hour ago
Got a very good nights sleep, Stacy is still kinda Crashed on the couch but he was up later than me and thus managed to tell this story before I did:
“I work 75 hours a week at this place,” said the owner-operator of a convenience store on State Route 41 in Cortland County. “All I ever get are bills coming in, where they’re raising the taxes on this and raising the taxes on that.”
The silver-haired small business owner’s diatribe had begun when I put a copy of the Syracuse Post-Standard on the counter and he asked, “Reading about all our political prostitutes?”
His business was my favorite stop of the trip, he sold RootBeer Popsicle which I like in the same way Stacy likes coffee and cigs.
He also points out that the store was in fact in NY-24 so I stand corrected about passing through Mr. Hannah’s district.
We ended up at the George Phillips HQ in Elmira near 4 p.m. The candidate had a commitment but his campaign manager gave us a run down of the district.
Campaign mgr Matt Hudson Explains the situation
It is a very odd shaped place that is designed to add democratic strength to the district.
The Long and Winding 22nd district
and before you complain about the evil democrats doing that, it was republicans who did so under the theory that it decreased democratic turnout in several other districts at the risk of this one. (think of GA-4 etc)
What we heard is what I’ve heard consistently from voters. New people coming, excited and energized, can’t keep up with sign requests, people of all parties ready for a change. As a rule you take such info with a healthy set of skepticism from a campaign manager but I’ve heard this story over and over again, I’m inclined to buy it.
This is only a glimpse, the views here are all spectacular!
We then jumped into the car and headed north we talked to some voters on the way and a pair just before the meeting with Mr. Phillips campaign man. The consistent feeling was anger, the results slightly different, some were too disgusted to vote, others were angry and couldn’t wait to vote, and one voter didn’t like the Gov choices.
Voters are just as angry but still mixed on Carl
We reached Clyde in Monroe county at the tale end of the event
Ann Marie Buerkle addressed the crowd and the people seemed to like what they heard. I must confess I’m partial to her myself, her family came from Italy around the same time as mine.
Buerkle addresses the crowd
We have one more stop in NY tomorrow then it’s off to Penn-10. I’ll have some video up tomorrow, meanwhile Stacy’s latest post is here. We passed through Mr. Hanna’s district but didn’t have time to stop today.
Update Forgot to mention we ended up at the Lonely Conservatives place where this report was filed from.
…but I’d like to thank everyone who has hit the tip jar this weekend, that managed to pay for the rental and Stacy has been hitting the Gas so that has covered the trip.
Not to mention a huge thank you to the Lonely conservative and her husband who are slightly less lonely since they are allowing Stacy and I not only Crash but allowing us to snarf their internet to allow us to post.
Finally as I was writing this post I found out that my wife’s Aunt Shirley just died today. She single-handedly saved out honeymoon when Citi Travel didn’t take care of our booking. She and Uncle Bob gave us the use of their guest house and their spare car and the money we saved became the down payment for our house.
We can never repay her for that kindness and we will never forget.
One of the disadvantages of chain smoking and chain coffee drinking is you on occasion forget that you put your cig butt in the coffee and thus we are at the nearest McDonald’s to allow Stacy to clear his throat before we continue.
We started off at 3 A.M. from Fitchburg and cruised through Conn. without incident until we hit Gardiner NY where our first event was to be.
An intersection just before Gardiner NY
We arrived at 7:30 and as the breakfast was till noon I took advantage of the nearby St. Charles Borromeo parish to attend morning Mass
St. Charles Borromeo Church Gardiner NY
while Stacy kept watch for the candidate. As the priest was telling us about the unjust Judge and the persistent widow Stacy Discovered that the event was canceled. (not the breakfast, just the Candidate showing up)
The menu at the Monthly Gardiner pancake breakfast at the Fire Station
Stacy was interested in hearing the Maureen Dowd and Frank Rich Columns. I usually avoid reading them so that was bad enough but reading them out-loud was torture. Rich persists in the “violent tea party meme” and Dowd is acting petulant as if she isn’t allowed to be part of the cool girl group. One needn’t fear any liberal being informed or being energized by them so I guess that’s something.
Newspapers at New Paltz
After a brief stop in New Paltz (where I found an open internet in a gas station parking lot) we hit the road again. Our current plan is to hit George Phillips HQ in Binghamton then off to NY-25
Large Roadside sign for Phillips
So far not a lot of interaction with the locals, just some background grumbling. Considering that I am not looking shall we say, my best that’s not a huge surprise.
One oddity, the signs for the candidates have always been at roadsides I have yet to see a sign for any candidate in front of any person’s private residence. I don’t know if that is a NY Law or just an oddity, I’ll find out at the next stop.
We arrived bright and early in Gardiner NY where George Phillips candidate for ny-22 was supposed to attend a pancake breakfast this morning. Alas, as I attended Mass up the road Stacy got the word that the event was canceled so we are planning to his his HQ in Endicott NY and then re-calculate our time to our next event either in this district or ny-23.
I am absolutely convinced this movie would be a cult classic if more people saw it. CPAC 2011 should consider showing it in a side room on a loop or something.
If Ladd Ehlinger Jr. sounds familiar but you can’t place him, you likely know him from this.
And if you still can’t place him I interviewed him Wednesday.
Just arrived at the Sean Bielat HQ in Newton from the Obama rally today several observations:
The Unions had a lot of sign holders out across the street, there was a small tea party presence there as well but not very significant from what I saw.
I was told on the record that the fire Marshall allowed 6600 in the main room, it was full, there is also an over flow room that hold about 2400, there were 800 people or so there plus another 200-500 outside. So figure maybe 8000. That means that president Barack Obama, Deval Patrick and Barney Frank were unable on a Saturday 3 weeks before an election to outdraw Sarah Palin on the Boston Common in April on a Wednesday. Democrats be afraid, be very afraid.
I am very interested in how many congressional candidates and state office holders in contested races choose to skip this rally.
Most of the people there once they found out I was a conservative and a tea party supporter clamed up and assumed I would be a dishonorable liar. I should have resented that more but I was more amazed than resentful. When I told them I predicted that we (Republicans) will take 3 seats including ma-10 they laughed at me….
…but they also insisted the tea party was strictly astroturf and that we were being financed. To that I say, if only, IF ONLY!
I did talk to several people in line (only one would go on camera, delightful woman) and they were mixed about how much help the visit would be. I actually think it will help Patrick a lot since it’s a 3 way race and in a 3 way race your base is the most important.
Ran into Michael Graham who was at the Comic Book convention (and Magic tourney) in the same building. The comic book & magic people drew about 2500 so the prez did 3 times better than them with a free event.
For the first time ever I forgot my press credential from the Scott Brown rally, and it hurt because the Secret Service turned me away from the press entrance because of it.
The defining moment of the day for me happened just after that. One of the guys from a comic store in Lowell figured this was a great chance to move some of the Obama hardcover Spiderman comics that he can’t move. Cover price is $30, Amazon sells it at $22, he offered it for $5 and out of a dozen managed to sell…..2.
This rally has absolutely convinced me that democrats in Massachusetts are in deeper trouble than I thought and the most fanatical ones of them are in even deeper denial.
I’ll update with photos as soon as I get a chance.
Update 2: Here is some video. The first is the spiderman video
The next one was while I was inside heading to the overflow room, I thought the line was for the president but it turned out it was for the Mayor of Quahog
In fairness of COURSE there were more people there to see the president and governer, his crew outnumbered the Magic the gathering tournament and the comic convention 3 to 1 (of course it was free to see the president).
Here was the overflow room, I got there at the end and you can see how many had flowed in:
The delightful lady who supported Deval and Obama was Natella Poladzade
If I was the president I’d take her to every rally he has.
Update 3: Via Fleming and hays Barney’s boyfriend heckles Sean Bielat at WGBH:
This brings an interesting element to the race when such a prominent “supporter” of Frank feels the need to try and pick a fight with the opposition. While Frank continues to promote his theory that, “According to our numbers we are up by more than 20 points no matter what we do.”, this type of action smells of desperation and fear. Not to mention, he clearly has no campaign staff to speak of, obviously, because the only person he could muster up to heckle his opponent was the antithesis of anonymous. We’ve got to give Barney a break, though, this is the first time in 30 years he’s had to campaign and he clearly doesn’t know how to go about it.
That’s a good question, I invite those who doubt my three seat prediction or my report on the trend in Massachusetts at Examiner.com to answer.
Update 4: Quick FYI to the people who talked to me and gave their first names, I’ll be writing a longer examiner column about what you said during my road trip that I’m starting tonight, do not worry you will be heard.
Update 5:Instalanche welcome pundit readers. I have a little more video I’m about to add. Also $190 away for paying for a 3 state road trip with RS McCain to cover a few congressional races in NY and Pa (and maybe va) so if you can kick in to finish paying for the rental and gas that would be much appreciated.
Do the pollsemphasis mine back up the attacks on the Chamber of Commerce?
Not do the facts, not does the evidence, do the polls!
Remember in the days of Journolist (you know that scandal that the Morning Joe crew never asked Ezra about during his appearances on the show)
when the debate was about spin vs facts. It wasn’t a question of what was true, it was a question of if it would work.
I’m sure Ezra and pals have still have a listserv somewhere that this is discussed but the Journolist priority of how it spins never leaves. That’s because it wasn’t a function of Journolist…it is the function of the people in it.
One of the things that I’ve learned since I’ve gotten involved in this business is what the words “off the record” means.
People will tell you things “on background” or “without attribution” meaning that you can use them as long as it is attributed to “a source said” type of thing or as general background information.
“Off the record” is something more blunt. This means you accept information on the condition that you pledge your personal word and honor not to reveal it.
Now if you can get that information from another source that’s different but once you have agreed to “off the record” one’s personal honor and one is obliged to keep that word. That was David Brooks dilemma.
In such a situation he is ethically obliged not to talk (or as Stacy McCain says never burn a source) so I don’t fault him for that…
…BUT it would be interesting to see what his columns about the president looked like after the fact. Did he seem less supportive? Did he give the words of the administration less credence and more doubt? One can’t come out and say “This guy is lying to your face and he told me so!” but you can change the direction of your coverage from admiration to skepticism without breaking your word.
One has an obligation to protect ones source but also to inform the public. Social schedule not withstanding if your priority is to be honorable, you have to find a way to do both.
