So, ahm, see, there's this BarBQ Sunday and my Sen. is going

so I like said, gee, maybe I should stop by. It's only a few miles from my house and I will get to see some friends and like you know, hang out with Democrats and stuff. It should be a lot of fun (the one last night was, OMG, great. Nothing like Mass Dems uncorked. Now tell me what you really think about Bush -- OMG!) One of the MA congressmen was there last night and let fly some really good ones on the Iraq War and what a mess this Admin has made of it. (OMG! He was great! It was awesome.) These BarBQ's are like candy, you get addicted to them.

Anyway, ahm, don't get mad but I think I will go to this one, cuz, it's just irresistable. Okay? Still friends? Ahm, I do get to see the good Senator again, but, ahm, it's not my fault. He lives in my State and he is, after all, doing stuff for people all over the country and everything. So, like, would it be okay, if I went and reported back afterward. (What is not off-the-record anyway?) And it's like only $20 bucks and it goes to getting a Democratic Governor to replace Gov I-wish-the-South-had-won-the Civil-War Romney, so you know it's a good cause. So, ahm, still friends?

Then I am defintely not seeing Sen. Kerry again for a while. I have a rule, I can't see him more than I see my own mother. (Cuz it borders on strange.) And I can't see Mom for a couple of weeks, so.....

********************************


Dear Tay, (Yeah, we are on a first syllable relationship now. He gets to call me Tay.)

In 3 months, voters across the Commonwealth will head to the polls for the critically important 2006 election. It has been 20 years -- far too long -- since we elected a Democratic governor here at home. Massachusetts, like so much of the country, is ready for a change.

That's why the Democratic Coordinated Campaign in Massachusetts has organized a series of cookouts in support of Massachusetts Victory '06, the impressive grassroots organization that we Democrats are building to help Democratic candidates win in 2006. Several cookouts have already been held, and a dozen more are planned throughout the Commonwealth that you can sign up for today.

I'll be at the Lexington grassroots cookout on Sunday, August 13 to show my support for Massachusetts Victory '06, and I hope you can join me. If you cannot attend this cookout or if you simply live too far away from Lexington, please consider participating in another cookout or making a donation in support of Massachusetts Victory '06.

Yes, I would like to attend a cookout | No, I cannot attend but would like to make a donation anyway
http://www.johnkerry.com/events/0806_ma_form.html

A "Summer of Democratic Action" is underway. That's what we are calling the key summertime organizing initiative for Victory '06. And it is all about neighbors talking to neighbors and fighting for a better future for Massachusetts. Already this month, in every region of the state, hundreds of precinct captains and volunteers are engaging in door-to-door canvasses, phone banks, house parties, and cookouts, spreading the Democratic message. With your help and participation, we can further build this program and strengthen the fall campaign effort.

I know what incredible things you can do when you join together at the grassroots level. I saw it throughout the 2004 campaign when you knocked on doors, picked up the phones, passed the hat, and helped us turn out a tremendous vote for Democrats in the general election. I am convinced that you can make that same extraordinary impact this year.

I hope you and your family can join me on August 13 or attend another cookout to support Massachusetts Democrats. Together, with a Democratic Party re-energized at the grassroots, and with outstanding candidates offering strong leadership, we can achieve victory in November.

Sincerely,

John Kerry

record business, because we're mighty bored in Virginia what with one major dimwit senator, otherwise known as Barfbag, running around the state, while the other, while being a true gentleman, a liberal he is not . . . we want fun info that is completely trivial and useless to anyone except, you know, us!

Have a great time, Tay. You deserve it (and darn -- go see your mother!).

A little jealous, I must admit.
Please write something as soon as you get home.

Ahm, I feel guilty because I get to see Sen. Kerry and, ahm, well, it's not my fault. He lives in my State. He sends me out invites. So, I go. (Who here wouldn't.) Then I get all kinds of Catholic guilt, because I wish you could go too! (That's a collective you, btw.)

So, I feel like that scene in 'It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.'

Tay: I got a big bag of candy, and apples and homemade cookies and really good stuff. What did you get?
Charlie Brown: I got a rock. (Okay, GV, Santorum, but you get my point. Santorum is like a rock anyway.)

I shall go and report back and take pictures of Sen. Kerry at the cookout. (Maybe he'll cook. I hear he makes a wicked chili.)

If the Senator was here and you weren't, I'd go see him. Tell him we said 'hey'.

I got a rock. LOL. I did, didn't I?

edit to say I absolutely remember that bit from the Great Pumpkin. Hysterical.

Try to get the recipe. We go crazy for that sort of thing at w<3jk.

Another vicarious thrill to look forward to. :)

Enjoy!

Wow, a Bar-be que with a live and in person appearance from Senator Kerry. And, in a casual setting where every body will be more relaxed and comfortable. Please take a lot of pictures and report what you can back to us.
Oh, and have a wonderful time!!

And we really appreciate his work trying to save the salmon and all and maybe he'd like to come out and catch one and Teresa would even let him eat it what with all that Omega-3... I can arrange a charter on a moment's notice and everything... I mean we DID convert all our Nader voters, don't we deserve something!!!

(Have fun!)

This may be an MA fundraising event but it's the sort of stuff that needs to be spread around the Kerry friendly blogosphere so that others know what the good Senator from MA is doing to help candidates. A few photos and a a couple of paragraphs go along way...

in the great state of Massachusetts (or is that Commonwealth?)and I live in the state of Perpetual Jealousy. (The state of Perpetual Jealousy has two crappy Senators, btw.) Have a great time and just remember that afterward we'll need details and lots of photos. Maybe your taller Senator will be wearing jeans and have his shirt sleeves rolled up.

It's the People's Republic of Massachusetts, or Cambridge, or whichever other Mass. area he thought was too liberal. Heh, I'll take it.
It's actually a Commonwealth, though. As to the barbeque; It will be very nice, and pictures will be taken :-)

I think we'd all be mad if you didn't go, TayTay. Gee, maybe I should talk my hubby into going to grad school in Boston or something. Of course, by the time we'll be headed off to school, I'm hoping JK won't be a Mass. senator...would like to see him get a promotion to a certain well-known D.C. address... (No offense.) :)

Our Nebraska senators don't hobnob with us commoners. A BBQ here would cost more like $200/person, not $20. But nobody said Nebraska senators were cool, either. :)

Give us all the juicy details, 'k?

I think I've asked you that before, but I don't recall.

It's not such a bad little place, really. I just find it hard to connect with people here. My DH and I think very differently than most people that live here--at least the ones willing to actually say what they think, which is not many. The rest just don't want to talk about anything "controversial" so our conversations end up revolving around our kids, our jobs, the weather, and Nebraska football.

Pardon me...I feel a yawn coming on just thinking about it. :)

I'll be out your way the end of this month if I don't give up flying by then.

PM me--I'd love to meet you in person. :)

Check your PM.

Massachusetts is little compared to big states like Nebraska. But Mass is the 3rd most densely populated state in the Union. I can ride through 3 or 4 different Congressional districts on my way to work. (Start out in Meehans, drive through Markey's, wind up in Tierney's.) We also have a history of loving controversial topics. I think it's just something in the water around here. We should have it checked out. (LOl!)

I am excited about going tomorrow. I just adore these laid-back events. People really tend to just talk and the speeches are great red meat affairs. I think Sen. Kerry has extra reason to just take off after Gov Romney, after what Romney said about him in the paper today. I just love that stuff. Apparently there are a lot like me around here. (Oh dear.)

and sometimes smaller is better. My Congressional district is larger than the state of Massachusetts. It spans approx. 150 miles east to west, and 220 miles north to south. (Of course my district also includes some very "creative" gerrymandering, but you get the picture.) Forget about trying to connect with folks in other districts - it's very difficult even to connect with folks in my own. (On an up-close and personal level anyway.)

Size does matter, as does an innate sort of feistiness that means you never say quit. (I like that.)

Your Congressional district is bigger than my whole state? OMG! I didn't know that. I knew that states outside of New England were huge, but, wow, that is a big, big area. How do they do it? Politics itself must be very different. Sen. Kerry can hold a speech at Faneuil Hall or in Worcester and it is accessible to half of the State he represents. That means that he can actually spend less time in Mass because he can reach so many more people in relatively little time. That has to have an effect (or affect) on how his time gets divvied up. Folks who served from the 'Big states' must not have that luxury. Does make you stop and think, doesn't it. (Okay, makes me stop and think. Now I feel lots and lots of Catholic guilt. Ahm, gee. I have seen Sen. Kerry about ten times since April of '04, more or less. It was easy cuz he appears at places that aren't far from where I live, relatively speaking. Ahm, small state advantage? BTW, how does your Congressman campaign? Does he have his own plane to get around or a cool bus or what? How does he do it?)

Seriously, tomorrow is special. I am really looking forward to it. And it's one of the last days I can see Our Intrepid Interns as they must go back home and resume non-intern lives starting next weekend. So, there is also that. I will miss them.

larger than Massachusetts (because of the gerrymandering) but it does include parts or all of 17 counties and cover the mileage that I mentioned above. Unfortunately, Congressman Freedom Fries doesn't really have to campaign very much because his ass is permanently welded to the seat. Before he was elected in 1992 (I think it was), his father had held the seat (as a Democrat) since 1966. Jones does have a Democratic challenger this year (a Fighting Dem, no less) but I'm not holding out much hope for his success.

Best of luck to Our Intrepid Interns, btw as they re-enter non-Kerry life. That's going to be a challenge in deed!

to see a lot of Senators' Kennedy and Kerry this year. (Teddy is up for re-election to the Senate and we have a smoking Governor's race.) I just didn't think I would be seeing this much of them. (I think I have now gotten, ahm, involved here with various and sundry events.)

Massachusetts Democrats are more motivated than I ever remember seeing them. Part of it is, truth to tell, anger at what happened two years ago. (Part of everything that happens is a grudge match. It's a long, long story.) Romney and Healey went way out of their way to criticize Sen. Kerry at both the Dem convention in Boston and at the GOP Hate Fest in NYC. (Way, way out of their way, the friggin bastids.) So, it's time for some payback for Romney, which will come, and for Healey and her payback should come this year. (Remember, I never, ever said I was nice.)

Anyway, Mass Dems, being the cantakerous lot that they are, usually kill each other in the primaries and then wind up broken, bleeding from attack ads and out of money for the seven week General Election sprint. This year, the Ultimate Powers have decreed that there will be no 'killer primaries' that render the Dem nominee for Governor 'broken and bleeding.' These cookouts are a way of showing that the Ultimate Powers are watching the races and raising money to give to the winners, if they behave themselves. I cannot tell you how much I adore this action. I wish we did this in '98 when Scott Harshbarger ran for Gov. Of all the missed races in MAss that Dems should have won, that one still hurts. Harshbarger was and is a clean government guy all the way and the Big Dig would have had real oversight with him as Gov. Sigh! We cannot allow another one of the hacks to get in that office.

So I am overjoyed to attend the cookouts. Matt Kennedy, Uncle Ted's grand-nephew was at the one I went to the other night and boy oh boy has he ever progressed as a speaker. (Cute kid. Looks like a Kennedy. A real sweetheart to deal with. I like him and his brother a lot. I'm glad he put off grad school and decided to manage Sen. Kennedy's campaign instead. Good experience for him and it's kind of nice to see the Kennedy's re-building in the state. They are, after all, the heart and soul of the Democratic Party in Massachusetts. That is no slam on anyone else, just a cold hard fact.)

I am also glad to see Sen. Kerry use his 'star power' at home to get some money in the pot for the Dem nominee and just to see him out and about with the rank and file. Anyone can go to this event. You just walk up, fill out the card, and go in and have some hot dogs and beer with Sen. Kerry and whoever else from the Dems shows up. (Usually, Sen. Kerry tends to attract other Dems. Might be a Congressman or two in the area, plus a slew of local office holders. My husband got introduced the other night as 'one of our great Democrats' at the other cookout. LOL! These are so much fun.) There will be a series of speakers who will stand on a bench or a gazebo floor or something and they will either get a small microphone or have to shout. (Everyone just shouted the other night, no mics available. They stood on a garden wall and just talked really loud and got heard. LOL! Ahm, perhaps something a bit classier is in order for Sen. Kerry, but still, it's a cookout. I'm wearing jeans, it's very low-key.)

This is retail politics at it's best. Show up, hear some great red meat speeches about how much Republicans suck and how badly the friggin bunch of bastids have ruined the state and how great the chances are that 'we' can retake Congress and the State House and the Governorship. (Okay, we own the Statehouse, but there are still some of 'them' infesting the place, so more work must be done.)
I wish I could bring you all. I am expecting some good hearty speeches and a good, very laid back time. Just hanging out with 'our great Democrats' and having a good time, talking politics, probably some about the Red Sox and stuff like that. Ah me, what a nice way to spend a summer's day.

I missed you Tay Tay if you came. Did you make it? That was a great speech and laid-back routine he gave on the stump.

I was there. Sorry I missed you. :cry:

It was a very laid back event. The Senator's speech was pretty funny and then full of good Mass 'red meat' for Dems. I love those kinds of speeches. I got to chat with a lot of people. Brigid teased me about coming to another 'Kerry event.' Honest, Brigid, I'm not stalking you. Yeah right, says she. (I am really getting to like Brigid, she's great.)