Pictures have to follow in this case. But it was packed.
People were standing in the stairs on the way down to the cafeteria at Saint Louis Community College at Forest Park. As usual at such events, everyone was late, but the crowd definitely had a buzz. I was standing next to the Cox news reporter who was talking to a bunch of folks. While there wasn’t a heavy love of Kerry there was an excitement about a frontrunner who many seemed to think would be a good candidate against Bush.
Going in the firefighters were working the doors on LaRouche patrol keeping signs and nutjobs out. Pretty lowkey, but amiable and laughing. They checked my notebook which seemed like a strange choice, but hey.
I was relaying the officials to the Cox reporter. An African-American gentleman I didn’t recognize was one of the first VIPs and might have been a St. Louis Clergy Coalition member. Jeremiah Jay was there with bells on and a big smile. Though I have to note he wasn’t as gregarious as when he endorsed Bradley four years ago at U City High.
Then the rest of the gang came out including Jean Carnahan who got the biggest reception. Tom Eagleton who deserved the biggest reception was gracious, but clearly his health is an issue with a voice that was giving. Others included a former Governor who was before my time in Missouri and so I forgot his name. The Mayor, while playing second fiddle to the former Senators, commanded the most attention while County Exec Charlie Dooley kind of stood on the sidelines.
Kerry’s speech was pretty much boilerplate, but clearly gave a good idea why he has turned into the frontrunner. It wasn’t the Kerry talking ad nauseum about policy details. It was a man who was passionate talking about why it matters. Especially effective was his discussion of first responders in thanking the IAFF for their support.
The key thing that I mentioned earlier was that it was an I speech. He was the action and he made you know it. It works for him and was natural. He was very relaxed and that was impressive.
What I noticed most though was a real eagerness for Democrats to see any candidate and the excitement was high. I haven’t seen it since before Mel Carnahan passed in this state.
Afterwards, he had a press availability and then a liveshot with news programs–appropriately so for a Senator known as "Liveshot" in Massachusetts.
I have strong reservations about Kerry being the antidote to Bush. I’m hoping I’m wrong given what looks like the current trajectory of the election. But he was the best I’ve seen him in years. It reminds me of the John Kerry who used to point out the hypocrisy in our Central and South American policy while taking on the intelligence community for keeping too many secrets simply because they were embarrassing.
Check out Edgelaw’s Version