Just got back from the MASSIVE Harrisburg, PA, Kerry rally!!!

OMG! Those people must be SO tired, but they gave us 110 percent of themselves. Kerry and Edwards were so inspiring in their speeches (and they spoke for a LONG time, considering how exhausted they must be!). They covered a lot of the same ground as they did in their speeches at the convention, but it is so electrifying to hear it live, with everyone chanting "Kerry Kerry Kerry" every minute. Those men just looked so beautiful up there ... they just look like the FUTURE!

The Secret Service estimated there were 25,000 to 30,000 people at that rally -- about twice what they'd anticipated.

Teresa was in her Pennsylvania element -- and talked about the environment and about women's voices being heard ... Elizabeth was warm and adorable; Vanessa Kerry, Chris and Andre Heinz and Cate Edwards were just beautiful (as was Ben Affleck. He really is very handsome in person, and really gets the crowd whipped up (and then very much stands in the background -- kudos for that)).
One woman in our group had an adorable 4-year-old ... Teresa beckoned the little girl to come to her and was kissing her -- Ben and Vanessa also kissed the little one. If you go to a Kerry rally, take a cute kid with you and stand near the front!!!

The Kerry group got to the stage just as darkness fell, with the beautiful, lighted dome of the state capitol behind them (Kerry remarked the Capitol is domed because a dome reaches skyward and contains all the dreams of the people of the state).

At the very end of the rally, after we all screamed ourselves hoarse (oh my GOD was the energy high, despite heat that actually felled a couple of people in the crowd!), the music swelled as they turned on the magnificent fountain at the foot of the dome ... we were all just KRAZY KRAZY KRAZY for Kerry/Edwards.

It was a fabulous night. If the campaign is coming ANYWHERE near your town, you MUST go to the rally. It will pump you up for Nov. 2 like nothing else!!!

I'd really like to go to one but I don't see any kind of calendar on the website.

perhaps the "press room" link will give you press releases to keep you informed about where the campaign is going.

Watch your local newspapers and TV news -- they usually give some warning. If you're involved in your local Kerry campaign -- and particularly an email list -- local Dem. chairs and Kerry reps will probably give you the heads-up when they're coming to your town.

You'll have the best chance if you're in a swing state.

for 32 hours that I was at your rally, too, with such a descriptive recap.

I've already mentioned that I hope they come to New York!

and stopped in Newburgh!

the company I work for is hq'ed in Harrisburg.

I am planning to go.

Thanks for the report - sounds fun.

OMG!

That is simply amazing, inspiring, exciting! Thank you for this encouraging report, gaugin!!

Estimates are that they have given out more than 10,000 tickets already. Tickets will be available until the rally begins!!

About fifteen feet from the stage. I loved when Kerry said it was a beautiful night except for the guy in the Yankee hat. Got to shake John Edwards hand when they came down off stage.

... our bus group had a limited number of "blue tickets," which they drew names for on the bus. Those tickets allowed my friends and me to be very close to the stage ... so I was VERY close to those beautiful people. The majority of the throng was pretty far back ... don't know how well they could see or hear what was going on. I really just don't know. I could hear them screaming, so they must have been able to hear most of it.

As we were leaving, we walked past a small group of screaming Bushistas (maybe it was the free-speech zone? ... the cops were having a long talking-to with these guys -- don't know what they were up to). I couldn't help myself: I shouted, "You poor kids, you're DELUDED!"

When I popped into a convenience store in my VERY conservative hometown at the end of the rally -- with all my Kerry/Edwards buttons on -- three different people wanted to talk to me about Kerry ... two of them were already going to vote for him. Buttons and shirts really ARE conversation starters!

Glad you got to see the Kerry and Edwards team gauguin57. Thanks for the report. Go PA Go!!

Sonia

In what she generally considers conservative State College, PA, she saw the following:

In a parking garage in the downtown area, she parked in a row of about 20 cars. TWELVE of them had Kerry bumper stickers. She looked at the opposite row, and 7 had Kerry bumper stickers. Out of 40 cars, then, 19 had Kerry bumpers stickers. She was shocked. One of the people she works with there said that a whole crew was planning on going to Harrisburg for the rally. She knows that this guy voted for Bush in 00! Pretty exciting. If Kerry makes it even close to close in Central PA, Bushie is done and done in Pennsylvania.

:hi:

I'm happy to see Ben Affleck cut off from his marriage to People Magazine while recreating himself on the political stage.

When I first heard that Ben and Jen broke up, I said to my teen...."bet it was over politics"

If not, that is just another telling difference between democrats and republicans. http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x718048

and I am so hoarse this morning from screaming! Great crowd! We were pumped! Inspiring speeches..........lots of energy and optimism. Cute moment when a big bug landed on either Kerry or Theresa.........Kerry picked it up and said, "Don't worry...we like these guys.", and then carefully moved the bug off of the stage.

most have Team Bu$h in a tizzy. The chimp can't go anywhere unless the crowd is carefully screened and they're having a hard time even finding enough of those sorts of 'crowds', unless they go to a military base. There is a good reason why Bu$h has been giving the career military types pay raises every year since he took office, including 8% last year.

Kerry/Edwards don't need to screen or bribe their crowds. This is the real thing, folks. And Rove and the gang must be crapping in their pants right now.

of the rally ... and it helped, because I had forgotten to make my reservation for the local Democratic committee-sponsored bus. That was a very good use of the state Deomcrats' time, because I'm sure it got a lot more people out there.

One more thing I have to say ... the speeches at this event were not given at a podium, with a TelePromTer. Both Kerry and Edwards took microphones and roamed back and forth across the stage -- yes, parts of their speeches were from their convention speeches, but it was so cool to see them delivering them with no notes, looking right into the eyes of the crowd ... no way no way no way could Bush ever do that and sound like a human being.

Both candidates and their wives looked COMPLETELY comfortable with themselves and their message on that stage.

On edit: and I am completely hoarse this morning, too. But it was damned well worth it to lend my screaming voice to that Kerry/Edwards lovefest-throng!!!

RL

So people can get tickets and work our their transportation and get their bodies to the rallies. How can the undecideds sitting at home, watching CNN, ignore tens of thousands of people showing up to these rallies to scream for Kerry/Edwards?

Last night at the rally, some attendees were yelling (as Eliazabeth Edwards was trying to speak) for the news media to turn off a blinding light they needed to film parts of the rally. I kept trying to shush them, because that can just sound like some sort of protest chant on TV. Anyway, Elizabeth said they were going to turn off the light soon, but that they needed the light on for a while so the whole country could see just how many people had turned out to see them.

It's SO important to get people in from all surrounding areas when Kerry and Edwards are speaking. It took about seven hours from the time I got to the bus till the time I got home last night. But it was so worth it to be there and be part of that crowd.

It's always good to hear first hand accounts--instead of the media slant.

I have been looking for info on turnout, both in Harrisburg and Scranton.

The media appears to have left that out of their reporting.

who said she got it from the Secret Service. So, that was actually announced both on the local channel and on the statewide Pennsylvania Cable Network (which used the local channel's feed for its broadcast)!!!!

I think I read a crowd estimate of 20,000 for Scranton?

Wow wow wow!

It was the first presidential rally I ever attended, and I had a great time. The crowd was enormous.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/D/DEMOCRATS?SITE=WIPOR&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

Unfortunately, I think the campaign was just kind of estimating what they could see from the stage ... Kerry, as I recall, remarked on how many people he THOUGHT must be there ... so they printed:

"Kerry singled out veterans as he surveyed a crowd packed in front of the Pennsylvania capitol that, by his estimate, reached 18,000 to 20,000."

But the Secret Service, who had to search everyone's bags and send everyone through metal detectors, gave the higher estimate.

...have given me goose-bumps the size of small Greyhound buses!

Thank you all for such great reports from Pennsylvania!

I was so excited after the rally in Harrisburg last night I couldn't sleep. I went with my 12 year old son. We were right in front, maybe twenty feet from the stage. They were looking right down at us from the stage when they delivered their speeches. Goose bumps just thinking of it. We got to shake all their hands, Kerry, Teresa, Edwards, Elizabeth, Chris Heinz and Ben Afflack. My son accidentally got hit in the head my Ben's arm and he apologized to my son and asked him if he was alright. Teresa signed by son shirt he had on. She put a big heart on it and signing Teresa in the middle, she then put her hand on his head and ruffled his hair. My son was speechless! Ben also signed his shirt along with Elizabeth.
My son is so proud of that shirt he won't even let me wash it! Next time they visit he wants to get Kerry and Edwards signature too.
We were so shocked when they first starting coming around to shake everyones hands nobody could think to get a pen out.
I couldn't stop thinking about the green grasshopper incident last night either. I was hit in the side of the head by something during the speech, it scared me because I could see this thing coming at me but it hit my face so fast I couldn't see what it was. The man behind me told me to look at my other hand which was propped up on the fence between us and the stage. I was holding my camera and there on top of my camera was a BIG BRIGHT GREEN GRASSHOPPER (approx 2 inches long). When I tried to touch it, it flew up on the stage right past Teresa and landed behind John Kerry who was speaking. Poor Teresa, you could see from her face she was afraid John was going to step on it. It must have then flew on his pants, because people began shouting to him he had a bug on his pants. John stopped his speech and took the bug off his pants. It flew down on the stage again and Teresa came over and picked it up. And this is where it really gets COOL, She walked back over to the back of the stage holding the grasshopper in her hand, after a few seconds it flew towards Kerry again! This time it landed in his hand!! Kerry went on to say how things like this need to be protected. Then he just launched into a unscripted speech on protecting the environment and wildlife. HUGE APPLAUSE!! What a night! Did this grasshopper have this planned? I'm sure the Republicans will say Kerry put the grasshopper up to it!! Ha! Ha!