The Voice of Reason

John Edwards Rally. Maple Grove, Minnesota.

Except for Hubert Humphrey, there have been few visits of presidential candidates to Minnesota. It was just was not worth it for them to come here to gain votes. Now that we are a 'battleground' state, we get tons of attention. Yesterday, Bush made yet another stop in Chanhassen, MN. Today, John Edwards came for a visit.

John Edwards came to a rally at the Maple Grove High School (Minnesota). Was actually fun. Waited in line with about five thousand of supporters. The entire Maple Grove police department turned out to direct traffic (borrowing some members of neighboring Plymouth).

Hawkers went up and down the rows of people selling tee shirts and buttons.

Was such a gorgeous day. I wonder how it would have worked out if it was cold or rainy? As it was, the weather was perfect to enjoy waiting outside.

Everything ran late of course. We finally started to enter the building. The first 2,500 of us were herded into an overcrowded gym. The others went to an auditorium and then some other places.

There were some speakers that were supposed to get us excited. Deborah Watt (running for 3rd congressional district) gave a nice speech. Klobuchar gave a rousing speech. The others were pretty dismal.

Edwards speech was dynamic. He was great to listen to. Very personable. Actually, exciting. Expressionable. Very animated. The speech itself was the usual. Attacks on Bush and Cheney. Lots of reference to the Cheney / Edwards debate.

What really struck me was that he was not nasty in anything that he said. All that he talked about was presented in a positive light. Even his attacks on the Republicans was very nice compared to what one expects from a Vice Presidential candidate (in campaigns, VP candidates are usually considered the 'attack dogs' to tear down the opposition).

Was a nice way to spend a portion of a beautiful Sunday.

posted by The Voice of Reason @ 7:07 PM