Dean's Portland rally: biggest crowd yet

I just got back from the Portland State University appearance by Dr. Dean. Beautiful day; crowd overflowing the plaza; lots of enthusiasm. Dean is truly an inspiring speaker. My favorite line was when he pointed to an American flag and said: "That flag does not belong to George W. Bush."

Dean also said that the Portland crowd was the largest yet of the campaign. I'll bet Seattle draws an even larger crowd. Anyone else attend?

we want pics!!! :-)

This is real, folks. Thanks for posting that.

The contrast between the crowds at * and Dean rallies in the coming months will speak volumes. I mean, will Bush even hold public rallies? I doubt it.

Stark contrast isn't it.

That's how many attended in Falls Church, Va. yesterday, so Dean must have drawn more here in Portland. It's very encouraging, if you're a Dean supporter, that is.

Now they say 5,000. Big #s.

Check in with the webcast watchers on this thread:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=108&topic_id=25480&mesg_id=25480

I am so psyched....and sunburnt!

out to us Webwatchers!

Glad you're "psyched" and aloe vera is Good for sun burn! :-)

the one with your back turned to the camera?


hehe

We just came back from Portland. Dean was short and to the point. It gave us a lot of hope. He looks presidential; He states the problems and and tells you how he is going to fix them. I was very impressed.

I am listening now, since I caught the tail end of the live feed earlier.

in january 2005

Damn!! I'm pissed that i missed it. Let's see if the local corporate whores even report it. Like KION, KGW, etc.. Man, I just can't stand the local smug freeper news.

Thanks for reporting on it.

worry about dean's safety at rallies like this?

i mean, we know what the other side is capable of...

I was underwhelmed. There were a lot of people there, but my honest guess is more like 2,000. The rally was scheduled to start at noon, but aside from some crappy Springsteen music blaring from the speakers, nothing happened until 1:00 while everyone baked in the sun. (I hate Springsteen, but that's for another day.) A Dean volunteer finally told me that the speakers were to start at 1:00. If this was the case, why the hell were we supposed to arrive at noon and stand around on hard concrete in the hot sun waiting? A lot of older folks there were having a hard time, and I'm no spring chicken myself. My feet hurt like hell.

The venue was set up so that most attendees did not get a view of the podium, which was set way back and 10-12 feet up above most of the crowd. I felt like I was standing in a hole. At least the warmup speakers limited their remarks, which was good.

On the positive side, many volunteers were present and set up to gather email addresses. They appeared to be well-organized. Of note to anyone in Portland who protests here, there were no robocops, a refreshing change from the pretender's visit here Thursday. It was also very positive that Dean went on right away after just a few words from the warmup speakers. I wanted to hear from former Gov. Barbara Roberts, but she did not speak. Bill Bradbury spoke (OR Sec of State) but he is not a very good public speaker. Whoever the preacher guy was (sorry I missed his name), that guy knows how to speak in public.

Dean himself was very good. He hit the Bushies hard and promoted his anti-war stance, although a lot of boos could be heard when he explained his support for Gulf War I and the war in Afghanistan. He did best when he said that, while he would be willing to engage the military, he would not send our sons, daughters, brothers, and sisters to war without explaining the reasons to the American people.

Dean hit Bush hard on the economy, and aske the crowd at one point how many here were under- or un- employed. My hand shot up with hundreds of others, a good share of the crowd there.

I still have not decided who I will support in the D primary, but Dean said many things I like. His support of universal health care has resonance, and his environmental record does too.

No flames, no crack on Dean and his supporters, just my honest assessment of the event.

-edited for typos-

I agree; they should have been honest about the timing. I had to leave a little early to pick up my kids at a b-day party. Oh well.

But, overall, I was inspired.

in the "hot sun" in Portland to wait for Dean to speak. But maybe that's just me! :-)

And the blog says around 5,000 People were there! I don't think they were expecting that many!

I'm sure they will learn how to set up "venues" as they go!

I hope you let them know what you think! :kick:

And thank you for your synopsis of being there!

and I have arthritis, but when I was younger, I had the stamina to stand in the sun all day long, as I did for George McGovern. As my late grandmother once told me, "You know, Stevie, getting old is the shits."

I do think the organizers overall did a good job, after all it was a college campus, and they will quickly learn how to do a better job, and yes, I am letting them know.

With all that said, will we see Kerry, Kucinich, Gephardt, Lieberman, Clark, Sharpton, or Edwards here in a public venue? Of the above, I only know of Edwards having been here early on for a private fundraiser.

Oregon only has seven electoral votes and Washington has eleven, but they are swing states and it will be a close election (if the votes really count, a caveat to BBV), so I am withholding judgment and my vote until I see and hear more from the other candidates, but Dean didn't hurt himself here and probably gained a whole lot of support by his well-timed visit following the Pretender's cash-and-dash grab here this past week.

The courtyard at PSU's Urban Center holds a little more than 2,000 when full- add on the folks (like yours truly) who chose to mill about outside rather than wait shoulder to shoulder in the hot sun for over an hour and my guess is that there were about 3,000 - 3,500 in attendence. Still an impressive number, and unfortunately a missed opportunity for state and local groups, who could have sent speakers.

Overall, though it was a very positive event. Dean's "foreign policy based on petulance" remark went over well, as did his remarks on Oregon's sorry state of education and unemployment.

Maybe the best part came while riding home on the lightrail. A group of middle aged women (who were Republican lite's) saw my Dean sign and asked about what he had to say. Basically, I told them how refreshing it was to hear an honest, genuine and intelligent person address the problems we're all facing. I reiterated many of Dean's positions, adding that I didn't agree with all of them, but felt like we'd all be much better off with a pragmatist rather an ideologue in office. By the the time we reached my stop, they all seemed pretty impressed, and wanted to know more.

A small victory, perhaps- but every little bit counts.

you for that report. I love to hear all the stories! :-)

That was another high point, no doubt. And, "why can't we have universal health care like Britain, France, Germany, Italy" was great, too.

Republican-lites can provide crucial swing votes....

other than the fact that dingbat Kelly Love called him "Dean Howard," I was impressed- several excellent clips of Dean's speech, some good crowd pans (they estimated 3 - 4 thousand) and a couple of very favorable spot interviews-

Heck, they even had a little clip of the guy Stevie D liked, talking about Dean's campaign being the only one doing college outreach.

What a pleasant surprise. Way to go KGW!

My wife and I were cracking up at that. We were wondering if she was dyslexic?

I missed it. Shit, now I have to stay up until 11. I'd given up on Portland TV coverage long ago.

Even a busted clock is right a couple of times a day.

This time they had the clip of Dean discussing troop deployment and tacitly slamming Bush's lies- that may have been the best clip they could have shown to a wide audience. Dean sounded very presidential and anything but dovish.

Kelly Love even managed to get his name right this time, and talked about Dean's commitment to alternative energy and balancing the budget.

Whoever's doing the editing over there is getting written Kudo's from Depa this week for fair and accurate reporting.

5,000. Man, I rarely choose a winner in elections, but this time I think I have. Dean is eating Bush's lunch this weekend!

:hi:

soon after the warm-up speakers who started speaking at 1:00.

HEY DEAN CAMPAIGN ORGANIZERS: LISTEN TO THIS!

You are going to have many people coming to many more rallys. YOU NEED TO "START" THEM WHEN YOU SAY YOU ARE GOING TO START THEM.

At the advertised "starting" time, your "warm-up" speakers need to begin speaking. Sure people are still straggling in. But you've got thousands who are there "on time" to show their support of you AND to listen to you (and others) speak. Not to stand around in the hot sun with little to do.

Don't leave them standing around for an hour with absolutely nothing going on! That is just lame! That is an energy drain on your campaign. If you insist on having Dean speak at 1:30 for a rally that "starts" at 12:00, then you are well advised to have 1.5 hours of speakers/music/whatever going on. I especially encourage you to use local musicians.

This can't be difficult! Just do it!

As a local, semi-retired musician, I can tell you that there are tons of bands here who would gladly play for free if the organizers would simply provide the sound system. The lame-o crap they did play was just awful, sounded like clear-channel classic lite rawk.

They also could have had speakers from various organizations in support.

Bruce Asshole Springsteen won't cut it for a young crowd. It was so bad, my 15 year-old son left before Dean started. Having local talent play would have drawn an even larger crowd that would not normally go to a political rally. Then have the volunteers who were standing around register them to vote.