3 bad groups circulated through the line that ran down Penn, out toward the Allegheny, then back up to the Convention Center. There were representatives from Tony Alamo's 'church', some Alex Jones nuts handing out business cards talking about a new 9/11 cell centi pocalypse attack, and some PETA-like young ladies who blame Hillary for 'violence' like killing Harambe, stating that they're against all forms of violence like war, the death penalty, and abortion. There was one good group asking people to lobby US Attorney Hickton and ICE Field Director Decker to free Beechview immigrant rights activist Martin Esquivel-Herrnandez (petition at www.KeepEsquivelFamilyTogether.com.)

Couldn't get any estimate from convention center employees about the venue capacity. I estimate 4 - 5 thousand, based on counting ~ 120 on center stage, then transposing that onto the crowd before the stage and the 2 sides back toward the press section. One speaker said that there were 2k that didn't get into the event.

About 12 drumpf dingbats picketed in front of the event, a couple acting like they're crossovers from Bernie, but those ones seemed like they fit right in with the standard dRumpf people. They trash talked the people in line to get into the event, saying they were going to destroy us this election, which prompted a question from pro-Hillary people 'Can't you count?' They started yelling that THEIR supporters were at work, which prompted the answer 'It's Saturday'. They started chanting 'lock her up', which led to loud counter chants of 'Dump nazi Trump'. One of them started swearing, which made a young guy who was there with his 7 year old say 'Hey! Would you mind not swearing, there are kids here. My kid is here.' Then the swearing guy said 'I have kids, too', which, though they weren't there, excused his swearing in front of Hillary supporters' kids. A lady near my wife and me told the drumpers that he would rip them off, that he never pays his employees, always steals their wages. One of them had a Bill Clinton Rapist sign, which is interesting considering that dRumpf has several sworn depositions lodged against him for actual rape, including child rape.

The speakers were spread out, because the campaign ran late from Johnstown. Rep Gainey was a energized fiery speaker, the head of the state AFL Bloomingdale wasn't as high energy, but gave good info about dRumpf. Katie McGinty was good at interacting with the crowd, though she was proceeded by Mayor Fetterman who was being disingenuous about his stalking horse candidacy for senate. Tim Kaine gave a good speech, and Hillary was terrific. She's doing her job, and doing it well, and so is Kaine, though he's hoarse already. He's not as experienced as her in all the ins and outs of campaigning, I think.

You can like and back Hillary, and not be a Mark Cuban fan. I really don't want to see him in politics as a candidate, ever, though I understand why Hillary is including him in this campaign. It's the idea of success and shared prosperity. His personal story was overly long-winded and hinky, though. Anyone who worked for Isaly's knows it was always called chipped ham, it only became 'chip chopped' ham in later years on tv commercials, maybe due to who had the rights in some name-branding dispute.

I really wanted to go, but can't do all that standing in line due to a disability.

4 to 5 thousand is a great crowd! It looked very enthusiastic from what I saw on the news. It sounds like the Drumpers were obnoxious, just like their fearless leader. Ugh.

I did see Mark Cuban's speech on a link somewhere....you're right it was a little too long. And yes, it is chipped ham, darn it!

I hope they come back through this way...

It was a long time standing in line, the length of the line would have made for good campaign optics if one of those copters in the air filmed and showed it on the news.

I'm sorry to hear you have a disability that is limiting your ability to get around. Is it temporary or permanent?

The campaigns may very well be back through here, considering all the times both parties were through here, in the last several elections.

My numbers aren't solid, just rough estimates, but I did count the center stage, then superimposed it on the crowd.

In a way, I would admire the pluck of such a small group of opponents standing up for what they think, but their side doesn't think, but demands we listen to their 'thoughts' anyhow. And anytime you have a repug minority, their hallmark is always loudly insisting that everyone else has to listen to their very important viewpoint, they demand that their 'rights' be observed. Then use draconian methods to shut down dissent when they're in charge.

Since the speakers were spread out time wise, due to the late arrival of the principal speakers, Mr. Cuban can't be faulted for taking all the time he wanted to. If you look at it from his point of view, the crowd was just waiting, doing nothing, so he provided some extended speech entertainment for them to listen to. But we only heard short prepared remarks from the state rep and state labor Prez, and either of them could have spoken longer on the issues. And Mr. C. was very self-involved with his speech. You could see the possibilities of future political endeavors forming in his head. His company profit sharing to all employees are great, but he's a tech guy who has a reality tv show. If he wants to turn Fort Worth blue, all well and good, but I'd hate to see him become the face of our already blue area.

What's funny to me is how deferential dRumpf is to him. Usually anyone who says anything negative about dRumpf is in for a terrible twitter lashing, but when Cuban started pointing out dRumpf weaknesses, all dRumpf did was send him a message saying 'what happened?' I wonder why that big mouth is so reticent to alienate Mark.

Something happened when most of the Isaly's shut down. I started seeing ads in tv and print for Foodland and Giant Eagle and Shop n Save stores that would talk about their deals for 'Isaly's chip chopped ham'. Maybe some kind of name licensing deal where the part of the business that went into lunch meat distribution had to alter the name. I know when I was out of state talking to other natives from the area, or was here talking to people who were back in town for a bit, if the subject came up, they'd say 'I got some chipped ham I'm taking back with me' or 'I miss chipped ham'. From the '70s into the '80's, if I ordered it at a grocery store deli or an Isaly's, it was just called chipped ham. So him talking about working at Isaly's and cutting his finger while cutting 'chip chopped ham' seemed odd, ersatz. Especially since his time as a deli guy / soda jerk would have to have been '78, at the latest.

I had a complete ankle fusion two years ago. It makes it difficult to walk long distances or stand for any length of time. It's not fun, but one always has to remember there are far worse things.

I wasn't aware of Mr. Cuban's political aspirations, but it's good that he is supporting Hillary in this campaign. It is interesting that the Drumpinator doesn't send any of his poison pen tweets out about Cuban. Hmmm.

We used to put Isaly's chipped ham in a freezer and take it to my mom in Florida. You can't find it down there. Even if you did, you'd have to take out a loan to buy it!

There are far too many Trump supporters in Westmoreland. There aren't many signs in this rural area, but my friend near Irwin reports numerous signs and bumper stickers. Unfortunate, to say the least.

Many more Hillary, though they're not being distributed via the usual channels, yet.

I was through Westmoreland a few weeks ago, going to Ligonier. Saw several dRumpf signs, a couple of very big ones, and some bumper stickers.

We used to have 'barbecue' sandwiches when I was a kid, mixed chipped ham with barbecue sauce in a pot. More popular than sloppy joes. What really got me about the change to chip chop was the inartful way a lot of delis cut it, so you have some thick chunks that aren't a whole slice, and some crumbled bits, instead of the uniform thin whole slices. When the chipped ham loaf gets macerated like that, the lunchmeat in the bag gets too exposed to air, and it will go bad quicker. When it was uniformly thinly sliced, it lay in the bag better and reduced the surface area exposed to the air. Did your mom request 'chipped ham', or ever call it 'chip chopped'?

Mr. Cuban's political aspirations are just a surmise, it just seemed like it to me. Time will tell, but better he do it in TX, to me.

I'm sorry to hear that you needed the ankle fusion done. Is there any prognosis for returning to 100% usage, or is it always going to be a limiter?