March 2008 Archives

Whew! OK, here's my recent schedule:

6 last night -- Barack Obama rally in Harrisburg
10 this morning -- Barack Obama rally in Lancaster
2 this afternoon -- Hillary Clinton roundtable discussion in Harrisburg

It might not sound that bad, but keep in mind that I have to be there a couple hours before each event for press check-in, and file my stories afterward. Plus the driving.

Bottom line, I just completed my 13th consecutive hour of work on four hours of sleep. Although I'm sure any of the campaign workers reading this would be thinking to themselves "You think you've got a hectic schdule? Cry us a freakin river!"

Yeah, I'm a wuss. Whatever. Tomorrow, I'll give you all a full account of my past couple of days. I hope to edit and post my video of Obama's Harrisburg rally, too. Now, I'm calling it a night. I tend to get kind of keyed up when I'm going on a combination of caffeine and sleep deprivation. And I'm afraid if I stay around here, somebody on the night shift may end up strangling me.

Wow. The past couple of days have been pretty eventful, and I have a lot of updating to do.

For starters, I got off the phone with Barack Obama a couple of hours ago.

OK, I just checked my e-mail. There's a message from the Hillary Clinton campaign regarding a change in plans for Bill Clinton's visit this week, referred to in my last entry. Former President Clinton will be in Carlisle and Lewistown on Thursday, not in Harrisburg.

No word yet on whether or not Chelsea thinks I'm cute.

As I mentioned in the last entry, Hillary Clinton was in Harrisburg on March 11. Now another member of the Clinton household is paying a visit to Pennsylvania's capital.

On Thursday, Bill Clinton is coming to Harrisburg to stump for his wife. Apparently it will be part of a swing through Central Pennsylvania that also includes Pottstown, Reading, Lewistown and State College. Few details were available as of Sunday night. Stay tuned.

I wonder if Chelsea is going to come to the area. Back in February, a nine-year-old Scholastic News reporter tried to ask Chelsea a question in Iowa. The former First Daughter replied "I'm sorry, I don't talk to the press and that applies to you, unfortunately. Even though I think you're cute."

I'll bet she'd say the same exact thing to me.

On Saturday morning, I walked from my downtown apartment to the Central Market -- one of my favorite spots in York. Heck, one of my favorite spots in the known universe.

On the way, I saw a small group of people displaying signs for passing traffic at York's Center Square. I figured they'd be with either the Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama campaigns. As I got closer, I saw they were actually anti-war protesters.

Here's the Easter Bunny at the Central Market on Saturday, March 22. Why do I have this on my blog? Read the next entry and find out.

OK, I'm planning a couple of big stories within the next few days concerning -- You guessed it! -- the Democratic primary.

If any of you Republicans are feeling neglected in all of this, please don't. I'll be writing plenty about your part in the presidential race leading up to November. But this really is a big deal, if only because Pennsylvania matters for a change in a presidential primary.

How much does Pennsylvania matter? Check this out.

Local Barack Obama supporters are still hoping the senator himself will make an appearance in York or the vicinity. In the meantime, they can hear from a prominent local Obama supporter, York Mayor John Brenner, at a rally on Thursday. Here's the press release from the local Obama campaign:

York Mayor John Brenner will speak at the Obama Rally at Penn State York; 7pm, Thursday, March 20th at the Ruhl Community Center. Brenner, among others, will share their appreciation for the Senator from Illinois, during an event that will allow attendees to sign-up to volunteer, register to vote, and help organize the local Obama effort.

Attendees will receive a complementary button. Campaign signs, buttons and bumper stickers will also be available. So join us to support the Senator from Illinois and hear Mayor Brenner's take on why he supports Barack Obama!

Seating is limited to 125 - Please RSVP at yorkcountyforobama.com, or call (717) 487-0432. See you at Penn State York - Ruhl Community Center - Irving Ave York, PA 17403. Signs to the Ruhl Center will be posted Thursday.

State Rep. Stan Saylor, R-Windsor Township, is moving his Red Lion district office. The new address will be: 15 S. Main Street, 2nd Floor, Red Lion, Pa. 17356. The phone number will remain the same: 244-9232

Personal note: See the title of this post? I have been waiting years for an excuse to write that. I feel so ... so fulfilled!

Now that I know how to embed videos in my blog, I want to add this one. It's from a Christmas party that a friend of mine had at his New Jersey home in December, and which happens to feature me. While it isn't ostensibly political in content, I'm including it because I think it functions as a grand political allegory. See, Bob represents the American electorate. And the spoon represents lobbyist spending. And ... Ah, never mind. I'm really including it because I think it's pretty damn funny.

Yes, the Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton campaigns are now a fact of life in Pennsylvania. But Republican candidate John McCain is paying some visits as well.

Tomorrow, he's meeting up with employees of Turbine Airfoil Design in Harrisburg. And on Friday, he's attending a town hall meeting in Springfield.

For now, McCain's presence is more low-key in Pennsylvania than either of his would-be Democratic challengers. With his party's nomination in the bag, there's no need to expend a lot of funds and energy this far from November.

At the same time, his campaign would be wise to check in with Pennsylvanians as Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama fight a pitched and noisy battle for the state's delegates. As a swing state, Pennsylvania will be of enormous strategic importance to McCain as the general election approaches. So it's not a bad idea for McCain to occasionally say "Hey, don't forget about me."

OK, I've given you the video. Now here's a description of what went on at the Hillary Clinton rally in Harrisburg on March 11.

Clinton appeared at The Forum, adjacent to the state government complex, at about noon. Before an enthusiastic crowd of more than 3,000 people, Clinton gave a speech in which she outlined some differences with Barack Obama on several key issues, including energy policy.

Everything in that preceding sentence, I got either from hearsay or from this morning's newspaper. Due to a few logistical glitches, I never made it into The Forum, or anywhere near Clinton.

But that's OK. I accomplished my assignment, which was to find people from York County and interview them. And before I left, I managed to score one of the truly awesome burritos from Neato Burrito on 2nd Street in Harrisburg. So the day was a success as far as I'm concerned.

Sometimes I shoot videos for the newspaper's Website. If I can, I like to set some of the images to background music. It must be all that time I wasted watching Mtv as a kid.

One of my requirements, though, is that it has to be music that's actually playing at the scene I'm recording. My background as a journalist just makes me wary of anything that smacks of creating conditions, rather than simply conveying them..

The reason I mention this is because I wanted to make sure nobody construes the background music in that video of the Hillary Clinton rally as some kind of editorial comment on my part.

OK, here's my second attempt at posting my video of Hillary Clinton's rally in Harrisburg. I hope it works this time. Once again, it took place on Tuesday, March 11.

OK, here goes. I'm going to try to embed my video of the Hillary Clinton rally in Harrisburg on Tuesday, March 11. As I mentioned before, technology isn't my thing. So if I screw this up, please keep your derisive snickering to a minimum.

OK, it's Monday -- the day before the big Hillary Clinton rally in Harrisburg.

I've made arrangements to meet up with some local Democrats there. These things are always chaotic, so we have each other's cell phone numbers. In God we trust, all others pay cash.

Amid all the primary hype, let's not forget there are other political parties out there. Here's a recent bulletin from the Green Party of York County:

On Thursday, May 1st at 5:00 - 7:00 PM the Green Party of York County will hold our 2008 Presidential Caucus. The caucus will be located at GreenLine Paper Company, 631 S. Pine Street in York . ALL REGISTERED GREENS IN YORK COUNTY ARE ENCOURAGED TO COME OUT AND VOTE!

This year’s candidates thus far are Jesse Johnson, Cynthia McKinney, Kent Mesplay, and Kat Swift and there will also be a draft Nader ballot choice as well. ABSENTEE BALLOTS WILL BE AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST, phone 717-845-8697 and ask for Steve Baker.

General meeting to follow at 7:00 PM at the same location.

Boy, that didn't take long! The morning after my last blog entry, where I mentioned that local Democrats are hoping for candidate visits, I pick up the paper and read that Hillary Clinton is coming to Harrisburg on Tuesday.

And yes, I plan to be there. I still need to work out the details with my editors and Clinton's campaign representatives.

But my plan is to bring along my camcorder, and maybe post some video of local Democrats at the rally on this blog. I'm not making any promises. I'll need to figure out how to do that tomorrow, and I am not good with technology. If any of my coworkers are reading this, I'm just warning you. There will be enough swear words emanating from my cubicle to fill several seasons' worth of Sopranos screenplays.

Brace yourselves. The Clinton vs. Obama Juggernaut is coming to Pennsylvania.

The Keystone State is going to be a very important factor in that race. If you want to know why, read my previous blog entry on that subject. Take a moment to marvel at the lucidity and poetic vividness of my writing.

Done? OK, let's proceed.

I'm not even going to speculate on the outcome of that race, which has already baffled people more informed and intelligent than myself. (That bar isn't set very high, you say? Shut up and read.) But it should be interesting to see what it means for this region.