This New Jersey Governor's election result is a disaster on so many levels. Nationally you'll hear this being a referendum on Obama when it clearly wasn't. New Jersey voters did what ignorant voters often do; vote out the incumbent without thinking of what the alternative is. Corzine hasn't been popular but yet again the electorate failed to see the consequences of their vote. It was easy voting out Corzine over the last 4 years but unfortunately New Jersey didn't think about the next 4 years. There are 4 scheduled openings on the New Jersey Supreme Court in next 4 years thanks to New Jersey's mandatory retirement age. Yes, Chris Christie gets to fill those. This is a potential disaster waiting to happen. I don't trust Christie at all on social issues. New Jersey has an 85 year old Senator in Frank Lautenberg who didn't look well at a recent event I attended. I thought he would retire if Corzine won and let him pick someone to replace him....unfortunately Chris Christie would fill that opening now.
A couple of quick closing thoughts as the work begins again. Is Cory Booker going to run in 2013 for Governor or will he hold off for a Senate Run in 2014? Is Jon Corzine headed to D.C to work in the Obama administration?
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The Prudential Center in Newark, NJ was buzzing today. It was a buzz I'm sure has never been present for any New Jersey Devils game....ever. Today was not your typical Sunday in Newark though. Barack Obama was back in New Jersey to campaign for Governor Jon Corzine's reelection.
I've been spoiled recently with all the great seats at these rallies here in New Jersey so today felt like I was sitting a long way away. We were up in the nosebleed section but managed to work our way down to the lower level unfortunately just now close enough to get a better view. What made it even worse was that it appeared as though they took people from the nosebleed section and brought them down right in front of the stage moments before Governor Corzine and President Obama took the stage. I got there around 9:30 and got a decent enough spot in line. Gates opened at 11:30 AM. This was the 2nd event of the day schdeduled in New Jersey for Obama and Corzine yet Obama hadn't even left Washington yet. I had figured we'd be there for a while.
The event itself seemed to go by a lot quicker compared to other recent events. We didn't have as many local speakers so that definitely helped with the pace. The event just started abruptly. The national anthem was already a couple of verses in before the crowd got up. There was no announcement made asking everyone to stand as it is usually done. Three congressmen spoke but the crowd didn't care much at all even when they were using Obama campaign slogans of "Fired Up!" and "Yes we Can." The last congressman Frank Pallone introduced Loretta Weinberg who interestingly enough was at the event early. Was she not at the Camden event?
Loretta Weinberg used the same themes as her speeches last week as the rallies last week. He speech centered around the diverse crowd and how it reflected the Democrats. Senator Weinberg also referred to Christie as a "pretender" adding that he was "trying to sell himself as an agent of change". The Senator went on to add that if Christie wants to talk change he should come to her because she "broke more glass ceilings than Chris Christie has had automobile accidents....and that's not easy". Ouch! This of course is a knock on Chris Christie's driving record. I was going to add that unlike the events of last week we got no mentions of Sarah Palin or Mark Sanford. Why did they drop that? I thought it was a pretty effective attack on Christie.
Up next was Mayor Cory Booker of Newark. I assumed he was there to introduce Jon Corzine but I was wrong. If you haven't heard him speak you definitely should. He's going to be next Senator (once Lautenberg retires) or next Governor from New Jersey. Doesn't hurt that Barack Obama seems to be a fan as he mentions him at all his New Jersey stops. This is a mayor who has done great work in Newark. This is a mayor who actually goes on patrol with the city's cops at night actually being in touch with what is going on in the streets of his city. Not to anyone's surprise he got a louder cheer at this rally than Governor Corzine. Cory Booker joined a long list of people who've pitched Jon Corzine in a better fashion then John Corzine. Booker spoke with his usual optimism adding "Yes We Can in Washington!....Yes We Can in Trenton!....Yes We Can in Newark!....Yes We Can!" Cory Booker rallied the crowd to stand behind Barack Obama and Jon Corzine in these tough times.
When Jon Corzine didn't immediately take stage following Cory Booker's speech I figured another last minute addition had been to this event like the Caroline Kennedy addition at the FDU event last week. No such luck this time.
Crowd was fired up during this long pause. This DJ did a great job getting the crowd fired up just as he did at the Obama and Biden rallies last week here in NJ. There was actually an attempted wave. That one just confused me.
Governor Corzine referred to this as a "victory rally". He once again referred to the diverse crowd. He reminded everyone (just in case we had forgotten) that a year ago at the polls we said "Yes We Can!" Corzine added that just like President Obama he believes that "Health Care is a right and not a privilege." Corzine emphasized that "Christie is wrong where it matters most." The Governor hit his opponent hard on education and healthcare. Chris Christie's comments about pre-school being "babysitting" keeps hurting him as every speaker at every rally I've been at has mentioned it. Corzine referred to himself in 3rd person a couple of times which was awkward. Corzine made sure to mention that Chris Christie was campaigning today with the "extremist" Joe Wilson of South Carolina.
Has anyone heard an official attendance number from this rally? Someone mentioned to be that White House Officials said 12,000. I saw Corzine people say 13,500. I had estimated a crowd of around 10,000 from how packed the arena was.
The ovation for Barack Obama was just huge. New Jersey loves Barack Obama. Phil Elliot of the Associated Press compared the crowd noise to the 2008 campaign crowds. Barack Obama started by saying that he was back as he promised and that "they" couldn't keep him away. Was that a dig at the recent GOP comments from Christie people saying Obama visits aren't helping Corzine? Obama pointed out "one of the finest mayors in the country Cory Booker is in the house." Obama went after Christie saying he acts as though New Jersey is the only state effected by the recession. Obama pointed out that recession didn't start under his watch. Obama talked about the selective memory and amnesia about how we got into this mess. The President said that "we don't mind cleaning up after someone else's mess." Obama brought out the "mop" portion of speech too. Implying that if GOP wouldn't help clean the least they could do was not complain about "how we're holding the mop." One thing about Obama that I've noticed, he responds to every single "I love you Obama!" each and every time. Obama pointed out that Governor is the first NJ Governor in 60 years to reduce size of government in state. Obama said to not worry about political nonsense in ads and to look at the actual record. Obama said Corzine had been prudent with spending. He applauded Corzine's expansion of children health insurance and added that the other guy has nothing to say on health care. Obama ended with an abbreviated version of the "fired up" story. Does anyone know if it was because the congressman beat the story to death before Obama even got to the event?
The magical week for Jon Corzine continued Tuesday night at the College Avenue Gym. The place was rocking from the get go. There is no doubt about, this crowd was there for Bill Clinton. Everyone knew it and yes that includes all the other speakers there tonight.
The gates were supposed to open at 7:30 PM. I got there around 6:15 and by then there were already a couple of hundred people in line waiting to get in. Across the street were a grand total of 12 protesters who were hardly creative. Among the signs they were carrying were "No you can't". Really original there. There was a guy dressed as a chicken and holding a sign that said "Cluck U Corzine".
The event was held at the College Avenue Gym at Rutgers University in New Brunswick. The College Avenue Gym actually sits on the site of the stadium where the first ever college football game was played way back in 1869. The Scarlet Knights beat Princeton by a score of 6-4 on that day.
Members from the Corzine camp were giving out "Corzine/Weinberg" buttons and also t-shirts that said "Yes We can 2.0" I got my hands on a button but was not able to secure a T-Shirt. This one guy from the campaign did say he'd bring one over but passed by me twice saying "I'll be right back" only to toss shirts to people directly behind me. Are you kidding me? Someone from the Corzine camp did get in touch with me via twitter and asked for my phone number. Just got a message from them claiming that they did have a shirt for me but didn't see my reply with phone number until it was too late. I don't know whether to believe them.
The evening started off with Middlesex County Democratic chair Joseph C. Spicuzzo. He was doing his best to bring humor to the event from the start. He speaks with a stutter, so he made sure to clarify for everyone that he wasn't drunk but actually had a stroke last year. He was on the stage to introduce the President............of Rutgers University Richard McCormack. Nice swerve which most of the crowd didn't see coming. As expected it was a fairly young crowd and I'm sure it was the first political event for most of them. I'm sure a lot of them weren't aware you have to sit through a ton of local politicians before the main event starts.
Honestly don't remember much from Richard McCormack's speech. I guess that pretty much says all there is to be said. He did talk about Bill Clinton making a trip to Rutgers University shortly after winning his first presidential election to make a policy speech. He also talked about Corzine being a friend of Rutgers University. Right around this time there was a loud "R.....U.....R......U" chant. That is a common chant at Rutgers football game where the student section yells "R!" and everyone else replies with "U!". The chant inside this gym was about as loud as any of the recent Rutgers home games.
Three Freeholders were up next coming up one by one to announce support for Corzine and reminding everyone in New Jersey to vote "Column A" on November 3rd. Nothing out of the ordinary here either. Crowd was getting bored by this point. Carol Barrett in particular was really bad. She was literally reading her speech off of a paper and lost her place a couple of times leading to awkward pauses.
Up next was Dymir Arthur. He is a Rutgers graduate from the Class of '09. He gave a really good speech urging the young voters in attendance to get out and vote. He emphasized that "us young people have more power then we realize."
There was about 15-20 minute long break up next (might have even been longer). The crowd let it be known as to why they were there with a loud "We want Bill!" chant but were drowned out by the music being played. They were tossing a lot of Corzine T-Shirts into the crowd during this break too.
One thing I noticed was a disturbing lack of security. I asked a campaign worker and got to go through the entrance that people with the VIP "blue tickets" were taking. When I went through I was shocked to find out that only screening done was to check my ticket. There were no metal detectors at this entrance. There was no secret service or even local law enforcement officials checking you at this entrance. Me and plenty of other people just walked through by just showing our tickets. This is particularly depressing if you've read recent reports on how much the workload for the secret service has increased.
When the event resumed Mr. Spicuzzo was back at the podium. He gave a short biography of himself because he had failed to introduce himself earlier. He didn't judge the crowd well at all. He started to talk about the newly expanded Rutgers Football Stadium. This got him some boos through the crowd. This stadium continues to be a sore subject with Rutgers students. For those not familiar with the situation, Rutgers Stadium just went through an expansion project which saw capacity rise by almost 12,000. The cost for the project was over $100 million. A lot of Corzine tied big donors had pledged to raise money for the project. When the time came though the recession forced most of those donors to back away leaving Rutgers University in a tough spot. The school ended up taking a large loan which obviously didn't sit too well with the student body or some of the football season ticket holders as ticket prices soared while the team has taken a step back. This is a problem anywhere there is big time sports. People who don't like sports will always have problems with big stadiums at a public university while tuitions are rising. They don't like that the athletic department has such a large budget and that football and basketball head coaches make so much money. What they choose to ignore is that these sports bring in a lot of money for the school through merchandise, TV rights and ticket sales.
Our next speaker was State Senator Bob Smith. Found out a couple of days ago that he was my State Senator now that I live in Piscataway. He talked about knowing Hillary way back when they were both teens and his family had a summer cottage in Pennsylvania. He joked and said hopefully "President Clinton was listening backstage because if I had played my cards right I could have been a President." The line got a huge applause and a "Hillary" chant. Turns out that this crowd loves both Bill and Hillary. Mr. Smith was out there to get introduce candidate for Lieutenant Governor Loretta Weinberg.
This is the first year New Jersey is having elections to elect a Lieutenant Governor as it is a newly created position. Weinberg isn't the world's greatest speaker and this is a big problem for the campaign that I will talk about below. Everyone knows that she wasn't Corzine's first pick but after the whole corruption episode was thrown into the spotlight.
I have said it before and I'll say it again. I believe Jon Corzine is the man for the job right now. As Vice President Biden said yesterday he's governed through some tough times well, he deserves a chance to govern as things get better. He kept his speech relatively short even joking that the people weren't there for him but to see Bill Clinton. The Governor did talk about Loretta Weinberg being an advocate for women in Trenton. Corzine reminisced bout the Clinton years saying during those 8 years we "created 23 million new jobs." He urged everyone to vote and to make sure you get others around you to vote. He referred to the infamous 2000 elections to emphasize the importance of every of every single vote. He said we would be a much different country if the Clinton/Gore policies had been around for the last 8 years.
Bill Clinton was simply Bill Clinton. He did what he does best, better then pretty much anyone else out there. The Corzine camp better turn this speech into a campaign commercial fast. They were way too slow with the Obama one in July. Bill pointed out Rutgers Womens Basketball Coach and Basketball Hall of Famer C. Vivian Stringer being in attendance adding that "Hillary is outside of the campus the world's biggest fan" of Coach Stringer. The man knows his audience. Bill Clinton in 15 minutes made a better case for Jon Corzine then Jon Corzine has all summer. Now of course Mr. Clinton is a great public speaker and to be fair there aren't many in the country who are even remotely close to him. Clinton put on his glasses for emphasis and started reading off some New Jersey related statistics that show the state at or the near the top in a lot of key categories. Graduation rate is among the best in the country, early education is not only alive and well it is diverse. Public schools are scoring good scores on tests. More and more children have healthcare. Bill makes sure to point out that he took Weinberg's law from New Jersey that saw to it that new mothers and their babies stayed in the hospital for 48 hours when his administration set the federal guidelines. Bill Clinton has this aura to him. It was fascinating to see this crowd fired up for him. As Mike Memoli of "Real Clear Politics" pointed out, most of the students in attendance were in diapers when Bill Clinton first won election in 1992.
The best argument for Jon Corzine's election unfortunately is being made by others. As Christina Bellantoni pointed out Corzine is becoming a "sidekick at own events." It was the case back in July when President Obama came to campaign. It was true Monday when Vice President Joe Biden swung by the Garden State for a little campaigning. It most certainly was the case today as former President Bill Clinton fired up supporters at Rutgers University. Wednesday Barack Obama will do the job once more. It may not be the worst thing in the world if as Corzine is being overshadowed by big speakers that him and everyone around him continue to tie Christie to George W. Bush. It should be a slightly disturbing trend for the Corzine campaign and I'm pretty sure the Corzine people are aware of this.
Looking forward to heading out to the Barack Obama event tomorrow. If you have attended any on of these recent rallies or are heading out to one of the upcoming ones let me know.
A dozen people protesting....that's all there were. It was a step up from the 10 that were at the Biden event.
The top portion was filled all across but these bleachers to the right had empty VIP seats through the event. Don't know why they weren't filled with people who actually there at the event. Keep in mind they turned away hundreds from the event.
Professor Clinton giving the facts.
The Secret Service's worst nightmare as the crowd rushes forward to shake hands with Bill Clinton.
This obviously wasn't intended to look like this but ends up looking pretty neat.
Jon Corzine's week got off to a good start today. He held a campaign rally at the Middlesex County College in New Jersey where he was joined by Vice President Joe Biden, Senator Frank Lautenberg, Representative Frank Pallone and Representative Rush Holt among others. Bill and Hillary Clinton campaigned at the same venue way back in 1992.
Before the event even got under way I saw 4 anti-Corzine protesters representing "Students against Corzine." I heard that number got up to 10. I was going to photograph them on my way out but they weren't there anymore. Up until around 11:15 or so everyone had to wait outside. Just like the Obama/Corzine (09!) event earlier this summer this left a lot of time for people to just mingle and share stories. I was actually interviewed by a reporter from the Home News Tribune (part of the Gannett family). Yeah, I know it's not the New York Times or the Washington Post but I'll take what I can get. I had tickets to the event thanks to a friend who works in New Jersey politics but was lucky enough (again!) to get access to an extra VIP pass and ended up sitting in the 2nd row. When you have elected officials sitting behind you, you know you got lucky.
I'm sure this is a common occurrence any time someone high profile like the Vice President is involved but the event didn't start anywhere close to the time listed on the ticket.
None of the local officials really inspired anyone aside from maybe Freeholder James Polos.
The two congressmen in attendance were better. Frank Pallone who is now serving his 11th term in the House as well as Rush Holt. If you aren't familiar with Holt's background you should read into it. It is really impressive. It can be argued that he is the smartest person in Washington.
This was the first time in a long time that I've heard Frank Lautenberg speak and he just seemed out of it at times. I mean the man is 85 years old but his speech at time was off. I don't think he stays senator until the end of his term in 2014 which is another reason why this Governor's election is important because Corzine can be in a position to appoint a Democratic senator to replace him should need me. Mayor Cory Booker of Newark perhaps? Launtenbeg was on the stage to introduce State Senator Barbara Buono and completely botched her name.
Next up was state senator Barbara Buono who was there to introduce Corzine and Biden. Funny moment before then as an aide to Buono came around to people sitting near the front and asked if they'd give her standing ovations when she came in. Buono's speech wasn't anything to write home about and by this point everyone was ready for the main event. People had been waiting for over 2 hours and by this point were pretty much ignoring the speakers.
Joe Biden and Jon Corzine both came out together and joined Buono and Lautenberg on the stage for a photo op. Buono quickly left the stage and Senator Launtenberg literally wandered around the stage from end to end. It was awkward. At one point Vice President Biden even asked him to sit on a stool that was on the stage but Lautenberg turned him down. At some point during the Corzine speech he walked off the stage and didn't return.
Corzine's speech was what you would expect it to be. He was getting decent reaction but the crowd of about 600 or so got into it a lot more when Corzine was criticizing Chris Christie then they did when he was talking about himself. New Jersey does have a love/hate relationship with this governor but voting Chris Christie into office is not an option. As Congressman Holt said earlier in the day "One Christie (former governor Whitman) is enough." Corzine went through the generic campaign shtick talking about having partners in Washington in Barack Obama and "the 3rd senator from New Jersey Joe Biden." The Governor hammered Christie on his refusal to accept stimulus money. As expected Chris Christie was tied to the failed policies of Bush/Cheney but Corzine took it one step further by making sure to link Christie to Sarah Palin and Mark Sanford over the stimulus money.
The main event was of course Vice President Joe Biden. People always talk about how much fun it is to be at events where Biden speaks, and they were "literally" right. He didn't use the word as often but did not fail to disappoint with his "ladies and gentlemen." I lost count of the amount times he said it today. Biden was effective in his role. He started off by talking about his mother saying that if you weren't a Democrat you went to hell. He had a nice laugh about that before adding that he didn't think it was true. He talked about Corzine's financial background. He made sure to emphasize just like President Obama had back in July that Corzine was one of the voices the Obama transition team turned to on economic issues. Many like me believe if Corzine had endorsed Barack Obama from the start and not Hillary Clinton he just may have had a prominent role in the Obama administration. The Vice President hammered Christie and the GOP for their opposition to everything saying "I know what all these guys are against. I always have trouble figuring out what they're for." I couldn't have said it better myself. Biden also talked about his wife Jill who as we all know is also a professor at a community college. Biden had to throw in his obligatory Amtrak reference too. Not sure if this was the right though, Amtrak and NJ Transit northeast corridor were hours behind schedule with their service this morning.
Healthcare was a big theme through the day. Normally you see a diverse group standing behind or to the side of the stage for the TV cameras. Today it comprised entirely of women, pretty much all of whom had pink mammogram related stickers on their shirts as part of "Breast Cancer awareness month."
Education was another theme sprinkled throughout, especially early education. Joe Biden made sure to mention his wife Jill who is a professor.
All in all it was a good event. Corzine doesn't exactly capture you with his words but he is the man for the job at this time. The motto for me all summer long has been "anyone but Christie" and most of New Jersey at this point seems to agree. New Jersey loves Joe Biden. Biden got a huge reaction from the crowd. He shook a ton of hands afterwards and seemed to take as many pictures with the people in the crowd.
As we were walking back to the parking lot we were stopped and had to wait on the sidewalk for about 10 minutes waiting for the Biden motorcade to go by. Someone from the Corzine PR team did a great job here because just as the Biden motorcade was going by Corzine got out of his SUV (Jed Bartlett style from that West Wing Budget negotiations episode) and shook some more hands and took photos with people.
I was expecting a much heavier security presence at the event. Definitely was expecting more secret service personnel there too. Everyone had to go through metal detectors but inside the building (at least in the front where I was) there weren't as many visible secret service personnel. No food or drinks were allowed into the building. In addition to the Secret Service the security was also being handled by campus police, NJ state troopers, Rutgers police. Want to see how different the situation is on Wednesday when Barack Obama campaigns for Jon Corzine. There are some disturbing reports about the amount of death threats these days.
I have tickets to the Bill Clinton/Jon Corzine event at Rutgers University tomorrow night. I am still trying to get my hands on one for the Obama event Wednesday. If you were there today or will be at one of ones the next two days, let me know what you thought about the experience.
I will be in attendance tomorrow morning as Vice President Joe Biden stops by the Middlesex County College in Edison to campaign with the Governor. Bill Clinton campaigned there in there in 1992 and as far as I know no other President or Vice President has been there either before or after winning an election. If anyone needs tickets to this event let me know. I have extra tickets courtesy of a friend who works for a state senator.
Stay tuned to this blog tomorrow for pictures and reactions from the event. If you are attending let me know.
I also received confirmation from the Corzine campaign today that I will be in attendance Tuesday evening when former President Bill Clinton campaigns at Rutgers University for Governor Corzine.
I am still working on getting tickets for the event on Wednesday that will welcome President Barack Obama back to New Jersey.
Like I said, stay tuned to this blog all week long for updates and pictures from these events. Also follow my twitter feed.
It has been a long summer so far for New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine. He's been down in the polls all summer long but this week just might be what the doctor ordered for this once stagnant campaign.
Jon Corzine will benefit from some pretty powerful campaign stops coming up next week.
Wednesday brings to us the main event as Barack Obama will stop by Fairleigh Dickenson University in Hackensack. I don't know how set in stone that venue is. I realize Bergen County is a key region in NJ....but why not hold this rally somewhere you can fit more people? Barack Obama was here back in July and the rally was moved at the time to a bigger location which led to 17,500 people showing up. Why would you not do the same here? Or are they going to do another last minute swap like they did back in July?
Saw a new Corzine TV advertisement yesterday. My only question is....what took so long? This commercial should have been on the air at the latest by the morning after the rally. Just what is going on at the Corzine camp? Anyone actually trying to win this thing? I was at this rally and the support there was huge. Should have capitalized on it with a campaign commercial right away. Terrible job. I blogged about it.
I just got back from my trip to Orlando today at 4:30 AM but....I am not blogging about that just yet. I'll try to do that tonight or tomorrow.
What I did today might be one better. I got a chance to attend my first political rally. Those who know me know how much I love politics but somehow I had never taken the opportunity to go to a rally or a protest. Well I finally put that to rest today. I should mention that I am not a NJ voter. I am not even an American voter. I was born and raised in Pakistan and then lived in Toronto, Canada and thus hold Canadian citizenship.
President Barack Obama was in New Jersey to campaign for Governor Jon Corzine. Despite every attempt by the unorganized Corzine team the event did turn out great. Little advice to the Governor's team (and pretty much anyone else organizing an event of this scale....and involving the President of the United States).....it might be a good idea to fill in the staff, security and volunteers about what is actually going on so they can keep the crowd under control and not create chaos.
The rally was originally supposed to take place at Rutgers University (more on that in a bit). Then they changed it to the PNC Bank Arts Center in Holmdel. Some genius at the Corzine camp it turns out thought that it would be a great idea to not accept the RSVPs done by excited Obama fans like myself. What that created was just pure chaos.
I got there around 11 AM and that is when parking opened. I didn't make it in to my seat until 2:30 PM. You do the math. It seemed like the staff and volunteers through no fault of their own were just winging it as they went along. I was in line at the will call window and just a few feet away when one of the volunteers looked at the RSVP I had in my hand and said that the piece of paper wasn't good enough and would not help me get in. He directed me to another line. About half an hour later a different volunteer moved the entire line from one spot to one a decent distance away. Fair enough. If that helps the crowd control...so be it. But, just a little while later they moved the line AGAIN!. Then an actual paid employee of the campaign came up to us and said we could move over to the outdoor lawn area and watch on the big screen or stay in line for a shot at the tickets. I chose to stay in line. Along the way I met a wonderful couple who were in the same boat as me (I will edit in their names just as soon as I get in touch with them). The 3 of us and plenty of others decided to tough it out in the heat with the mindset that we had to get in. About 15 minutes later and about 50 yards away from the Secret Service checkpoint a member of the event staff announced that there were no more tickets and that we either had to watch from the lawn or go home. Keep in mind that a large chunk of those people had printed e-mails with their RSVP information. This couple got out and decided to head home. I decided to walk right around and take a shot. I got back into the line that was going to the security checkpoints. I got to the security checkpoint with the RSVP to be told that it was not good enough and I would have to go over to Will call. Yes, the same will call from which they moved me hours earlier. So I get back into line at will call and they tell me they don't have me on their list and told me they couldn't do anything for me. After a little arguing over the meaning of the term "RSVP" I decided to just go back home and watch on TV when I ran into the couple from earlier. They directed me to another member of the event staff who had what looked like hundreds of tickets in his hand. They had received two from him. I went up to the same man and without checking my RSVP or any ID he just asked me how many I needed. I was there by myself but requested 6 from him and got them. Four of them I was able to turn over really quickly to a family that had been in another line. The 5th one I ended up giving to this older woman (pictured below) who kept us entertained all through the wait process. How this woman had this energy in the heat and with all the chaos around us I'll never know but she was drawing a crowd. The atmosphere in the lines was electric. Just random people all in the same boat and making instant connections. There were stories being told by those fortunate enough to be at the inauguration and then there were many like me who just soaked it all in for the first time.
I got in and was amazed by how awesome my seats were. I just could not believe that after all the frustrations of the day a seat that good was actually available to this event.
The crowd despite the long wait was into it from the start. Published reports put the crowd size at 17,500 and it definitely felt that way. The energy was just amazing. The place was loud and buzzing even before the main event. I got a chance to speak to Christina Bellantoni, White House correspondent for the Washington Times and she said this crowd reminded of her of the Obama'08 campaign. Corzine kept his speech short and sweet. I know he's not exactly the most popular man in New Jersey but he is the right man for the job at this time. The economy is in shambles and I respect his background here. Depending on who you want to believe he probably was on the short list for Treasury Secretary.
I understand the uproar over the Rutgers University budget cuts but isn't that pretty much a sign of the times? Some like me even speculated whether the switch in location had anything to do with a potential Rutgers student protest. The school has been facing funding cuts for years while tuition goes up but does anyone really expect that to change under Christie? People here complain about the University expanding the football stadium by 12,000 seats this summer as the program grows every year but fail to understand that a large chuck of that is money that the athletic department raised. Not to mention how much money the football program brings in for the school. The exposure the team has received nationally via ESPN has helped bring in more and more students to the school. The school will have a record high in enrollment next year. One thing the large chunk of this decade has shown is that Republican leadership just didn't cut it. I want a Democratic governor, especially one with Corzine's financial background working with Obama. I have lived in Central NJ since 2000. I think the infrastructure here has improved dramatically over the last couple of years.
Barack Obama was just phenomenal. The man can hold any crowd anywhere in the palm of his hands. Even little scripted details like him taking off his jacket on a really hot day come across as genuine. The energy he brings to the table is amazing. He gave a shout out to Mayor Cory Booker of Newark. Keep an eye out for him. This man will be a senator or governor from NJ someday. Really happy that I did take the opportunity to go today. To borrow a little phrase from the campaign he had the crowd "fired up and ready to go". The ovation when he took the stage was just insane. There is no other way to describe it. That place was loud....about as loud as any outdoor facility can be. I really do hope he comes down here again this election cycle as it looks like we just maybe headed for a close election here. Just the announcement of him showing up got Corzine a 4 point bump in the polls and despite what some are saying he will get a major bump after this event.
I sat in a group that was pretty diverse. There were people who were old and young, black, brown, white...and everything in between. Looking around the section I was it just struck me right away how much the average person connects with Obama right away. I had these 2 guys sitting in front of me in a suit and tie who were fiddling around with their blackberries throughout the Obama speech while most of the other people spent most of the speech on their feet. Young and old alike.
Corzine will definitely benefit from the Obama appearance. Definitely helped him raise some money today. I fully expect Obama to be back in NJ before November. The buzz around the place today was that Michelle Obama is coming next month. Who is the big name Republican that Christie can counter with?
From left to right....Me, some random guy, funny old woman (people just couldn't stop taking pictures of that hat), and the people who helped me get my seats.
Yes, that is Jon Corzine carrying away Obama's jacket when he took it off because of the heat. Completely made me think of that West Wing episode.
Me with Chritina Bellantoni of the Washington Times (who it turns out is a fellow 49ers fan)
Turns out that is Maureen Dowd of the Ny Times....appearantly she likes to show up to these things and hide.
The campaign has put up the speeches up on Youtube.
Seed on Newsvine
