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View Full Version : Morgan State debate in Baltimore - I was there




tekkierich
09-27-2007, 11:15 PM
Folks we are doing AWESOME! Sorry if I ramble some but I am going to do a brain dump from all I saw tonight.

I got the the debate site at about 6:00pm as I live only about 20 miles south. Parking I noted many Paul bumper stickers in the lot. Also several Paul signs were hung in the lot.

I made my way to the entrance, walking by a few TV trucks, all PBS it looked like, not local or other stations that I could tell. Cresting the hill there were already about 25 Paul supporters sign waving and making their presence known. We signed waved for about an hour until 7 - 7:30 or so. Unfortunately the road was not very busy. Many honks of support, guessing that those were other supporters coming in for the debate. Our ranks grew to about 60 - 70 before we headed in. We saw only two reporters (who interviewed us) during this time, one from WBAL radio and one from a grassroots news outlet of whom I saw mentioned on this board.

During this time and the whole debate actually I did not note a single:

Sign
Banner
Sticker
Button
T-Shirt
or Supporter

for ANY OTHER CANDIDATE present or not.

I did see folks from the AARP and one other cause that I could not make out because they waved their signs for all of 10 minutes and then disappeared.

The crowd at the debate seemed to me to be of about 4 categories:

- Morgan Students
- other local "young republican" types that were there to help figure out who they should vote for
- Political establishment types, Michael Steele, State delegates, County Politicians
- Ron Paul supporters

We were about 25% of the crowd I would say.

Most of the Paul folks were in the Upper Deck. I was lucky and crafty enough to make it down to the lower deck when someone figured out that the chairs should looks like they were all full. Let me tell you there were HUNDREDS of empty seats in this place. I ended up sitting next to a news paper reporter for the "Examiner". She was mostly taking notes on the debate itself and crowd reactions. Before hand she interviewed the three "young republicans" sitting in front of us. They seemed to be for Thompson. They expressed disappointment in him not being there. They specifically mentioned that they liked his stances on the 2nd amendment. I interjected and asked them to check out Paul on the 2nd amendment. I then told the reporter that I was with the Paul contingent she saw outside and offered my self to interview if she needed a source. She said that our support was impressive, but then the debate got moving, and time did not allow a real interview.

General vibe I got broke down as:

- Young republican types did not like our War stance but really liked everything else. They had their thinking caps on and did LISTEN to him. They are just not with us yet on IRAQ and this was a stumbling block
- Morgan students were totally with us on Iraq, but a little confused about the domestic proposals. They might be intrigued enough to look him up and read further
- Ron Paul supporters were loud and proud with polite response to everything Paul said.
- Political establishment folks noticed the strong Paul support.


Afterwards all of the candidates made a B-line for the door and Paul went directly to the crowd. He came off stage to engage with people and quickly a large crowd formed around him. I was able to nudge my way up, on the way I walked directly past Duncan Hunter (why is he in the race again?). I got to shake Dr. Paul's hand and got him to sign my debate ticket. I mentioned to him about the Ron Paul truck that our Carrol County group built. He said that he had heard about it and wanted to see it, don't know if he got a chance to. I left him telling him that he has a ton of support here in Maryland, and he said "I know we won the Straw Poll".

Afterwards I was able to speak to Mrs. Paul for a few minutes. She is a sweet lady that anyone would enjoy to have as their adopted grandmother (I chose to adopt her as our first lady, but I digress). I told her to make sure that the Dr. is flying first class and getting nice rooms, as we need him comfortable and rested. She assured me he is a frequent enough flier to had first class when ever he wants it. She also tried to recruit me for the New Hampshire family walk this weekend. She really seemed to be looked forward to it. Mrs Paul said that this phenomenal fund raising this week has pumped up EVERYONE. From the family to the campaign staff. She says that the staffers have been working well in to the wee hours because they want to.

This is important for everyone to note. These donations this week is encouraging EVERYONE not just us forum dorks (present company included). Kept it up you internet spammers!

Unfortunately any after events were hampered by the rain that was very heavy afterwards. I headed home after it did not seem like anything else was going on.
It was an awesome night.

RonPaulFever
09-27-2007, 11:19 PM
Kick ass! I'm jealous. Hopefully I'll get to meet him at the Nashville rally but I'm not counting on it.

DjLoTi
09-27-2007, 11:20 PM
The grassroots radio was Ron Paul radio! ;)

Thanks for that report, it's awesome! :D

TechnoGuyRob
09-27-2007, 11:21 PM
Wow. That sounds amazing. Almost cooler than the Chicago rally I was at! (but only because I actually got to be there ;-)).

Out of curiosity, since you were there personally: what did you think of his performance seeing him in real life?

Nash
09-27-2007, 11:22 PM
Thanks for the report!

wgadget
09-27-2007, 11:23 PM
Thanks for the excellent report!

BTW, there was some awesome after-debate coverage on Justin.tv.

itsnobody
09-27-2007, 11:24 PM
Yeah I was there too....it was GREAT

DjLoTi
09-27-2007, 11:25 PM
I'm tired and I haven't done .01% of the work they have.

robatsu
09-27-2007, 11:28 PM
I was there as well. Waved signs out on the road before hand. Was part of the throng around RP thereafter. A few pics (followed by many irrelevant other ones):

www.cellblock.com (http://www.cellblock.com/home.htm)

AlexAmore
09-27-2007, 11:29 PM
That sounds awesome!

Btw you should come to the NH walk! I'll be there early helping to set it up.

American
09-27-2007, 11:30 PM
I just watched it on PBS, I thought it was really good, I thought Tancredo did really well. RP I thought stumbled because of his beliefs (which I agree with) about everyone being equal regardless of race. Most of the questions i thought was "What are you going to do for me since I'm black?" (or Mexican)

RP supporters were out in force, I could see that. Kudos to those who were there.!!

ape
09-27-2007, 11:36 PM
I honestly don't understand how young republicans or any republican for that matter can support Iraq, we've been against that kind of shit forever. Strongly supporting a war/occupation against a country that wasn't a threat to us, while not actually serving in the military yourself to fight in this war, is pretty chickenhawkish. Especially when the war is a disaster and soldiers are getting blown to pieces. Chickenhawks suck.

Syren123
09-28-2007, 12:07 AM
tekkierich that was a fantastic recap!!

JosephTheLibertarian
09-28-2007, 12:08 AM
Folks we are doing AWESOME! Sorry if I ramble some but I am going to do a brain dump from all I saw tonight.

I got the the debate site at about 6:00pm as I live only about 20 miles south. Parking I noted many Paul bumper stickers in the lot. Also several Paul signs were hung in the lot.

I made my way to the entrance, walking by a few TV trucks, all PBS it looked like, not local or other stations that I could tell. Cresting the hill there were already about 25 Paul supporters sign waving and making their presence known. We signed waved for about an hour until 7 - 7:30 or so. Unfortunately the road was not very busy. Many honks of support, guessing that those were other supporters coming in for the debate. Our ranks grew to about 60 - 70 before we headed in. We saw only two reporters (who interviewed us) during this time, one from WBAL radio and one from a grassroots news outlet of whom I saw mentioned on this board.

During this time and the whole debate actually I did not note a single:

Sign
Banner
Sticker
Button
T-Shirt
or Supporter

for ANY OTHER CANDIDATE present or not.

I did see folks from the AARP and one other cause that I could not make out because they waved their signs for all of 10 minutes and then disappeared.

The crowd at the debate seemed to me to be of about 4 categories:

- Morgan Students
- other local "young republican" types that were there to help figure out who they should vote for
- Political establishment types, Michael Steele, State delegates, County Politicians
- Ron Paul supporters

We were about 25% of the crowd I would say.

Most of the Paul folks were in the Upper Deck. I was lucky and crafty enough to make it down to the lower deck when someone figured out that the chairs should looks like they were all full. Let me tell you there were HUNDREDS of empty seats in this place. I ended up sitting next to a news paper reporter for the "Examiner". She was mostly taking notes on the debate itself and crowd reactions. Before hand she interviewed the three "young republicans" sitting in front of us. They seemed to be for Thompson. They expressed disappointment in him not being there. They specifically mentioned that they liked his stances on the 2nd amendment. I interjected and asked them to check out Paul on the 2nd amendment. I then told the reporter that I was with the Paul contingent she saw outside and offered my self to interview if she needed a source. She said that our support was impressive, but then the debate got moving, and time did not allow a real interview.

General vibe I got broke down as:

- Young republican types did not like our War stance but really liked everything else. They had their thinking caps on and did LISTEN to him. They are just not with us yet on IRAQ and this was a stumbling block
- Morgan students were totally with us on Iraq, but a little confused about the domestic proposals. They might be intrigued enough to look him up and read further
- Ron Paul supporters were loud and proud with polite response to everything Paul said.
- Political establishment folks noticed the strong Paul support.


Afterwards all of the candidates made a B-line for the door and Paul went directly to the crowd. He came off stage to engage with people and quickly a large crowd formed around him. I was able to nudge my way up, on the way I walked directly past Duncan Hunter (why is he in the race again?). I got to shake Dr. Paul's hand and got him to sign my debate ticket. I mentioned to him about the Ron Paul truck that our Carrol County group built. He said that he had heard about it and wanted to see it, don't know if he got a chance to. I left him telling him that he has a ton of support here in Maryland, and he said "I know we won the Straw Poll".

Afterwards I was able to speak to Mrs. Paul for a few minutes. She is a sweet lady that anyone would enjoy to have as their adopted grandmother (I chose to adopt her as our first lady, but I digress). I told her to make sure that the Dr. is flying first class and getting nice rooms, as we need him comfortable and rested. She assured me he is a frequent enough flier to had first class when ever he wants it. She also tried to recruit me for the New Hampshire family walk this weekend. She really seemed to be looked forward to it. Mrs Paul said that this phenomenal fund raising this week has pumped up EVERYONE. From the family to the campaign staff. She says that the staffers have been working well in to the wee hours because they want to.

This is important for everyone to note. These donations this week is encouraging EVERYONE not just us forum dorks (present company included). Kept it up you internet spammers!

Unfortunately any after events were hampered by the rain that was very heavy afterwards. I headed home after it did not seem like anything else was going on.
It was an awesome night.

hmm... in the beginning I saw a blonde haired guy in the bottom rows with a Ron Paul button on his chest, was that you? lol

tekkierich
09-28-2007, 12:31 AM
Nope, dark hair, balding a little, had a brown sport jacket on and no buttons.

Thanks for coming from New Jersey. I ran into folks from Delaware, PA and West Virgina tonight.

Syren123
09-28-2007, 12:31 AM
hmm... in the beginning I saw a blonde haired guy in the bottom rows with a Ron Paul button on his chest, was that you? lol

I saw that guy, too! I thought he was probably staff.

LizF
09-28-2007, 03:18 AM
Thanks for your excellent report tekkierich! :)

Just out of curiosity: Were you able to observe Michael Steele during or after the debate (particularly his reactions while RP spoke; his demeanor/behavior towards RP after the debate)?

JosephTheLibertarian
09-28-2007, 03:45 AM
any MSM there?

granny miller
09-28-2007, 04:49 AM
Thanks for the report:)

I watched via live stream. RP looks very tired to me - my husband noticed it too. He doesn't seem as relaxed as he usually is. Fatigue?:confused:
I hope he will take some time off after this week.

MH did very well as did TT. SB & DH need to quit. AK is just plain fun to watch:D

Nefertiti
09-28-2007, 04:54 AM
What was the African American reaction? I noticed every time they showed people clapping and cheering for ANY candidate, they were much more likely to be white audience members, not black.

familydog
09-28-2007, 05:26 AM
Excellent recap, very nice job. Thanks for going!

Johnnybags
09-28-2007, 05:49 AM
Excellent recap, very nice job. Thanks for going!

every time Ron spoke. I know he does not agree on all issues but I know he is not endorsing the big 4 charlatans. I am sensing he is an RP guy if Ron keeps the train rolling. I'd love him to jump on the bandwagon when he bows out. He definitely could be in the administration somewhere. Hunter,Brownback sounded awful. Very poor performances. The Huckster is still alive because of his demeanor and quickwit. I doubt Tancredo would go with the Huckster though.

My Fantasy. Next debate Ron gets attacked with stupid FOX type smear questions when its Tancredos turn he simply says, I want no more part of this cherade, I am going to support you Dr. Paul and he simply bows out on stage and walks off. I know its a fantasy.

Stealth4
09-28-2007, 06:50 AM
If he can improve his soundbite 30-sec to 2-min responses on domestic issues so that a layman can understand where he is coming from, then the next debate he will kick ass.

But he does need to work on that.

david.griffus
09-28-2007, 06:58 AM
Exactly. He DOES need quite a bit of work on some of his sound byte type answers. One thing he has to remember is that each time he speaks, some of the people watching are hearing him for the first time. Get back to first principles.

ALL of the other "second-tier" candidates should be watching RP intently so maybe they can learn why people are reaching deep to give massive amounts of money to his campaign.

Stealth4
09-28-2007, 07:24 AM
keyes doesnt come across as genuine. I have a feeling I could talk to that guy and it wouldnt be a real conversation because he has such a personality front to him that separates him from reality.

TurtleBurger
09-28-2007, 07:38 AM
I was really hoping RP would not discuss the minimum wage when it came to his answer on black unemployment. I agree that minimum wage should be abolished, but to the non-libertarian in that context that may have sounded like "We can solve black unemployment by having black folks work for $2/hr". I would have preferred him talking about improving the economy by reducing inflation so more black workers can be hired, or allowing the free market to compete in inner city education to better equip black children for the work force. Other than that, I think he did great.