I always thought it'd be exciting to live in a swing state, and I was right. I was told recently that Minnesota is considered the fourth most important state in this presidential election. As a result, we're getting a lot of attention from the candidates.
President Bush visited Chanhassen, MN on Saturday, October 9, 2004. Chanhassen is only a little over an hour away from St. Olaf, so I went with some of the College Republicans to volunteer and see the action.
We arrived at the park in Chanhassen around 9:30. Around 10:30, the security sweep of the park was finished and we volunteers were allowed inside the gates. I went over to hand out cups of water. About 11:30, a coordinator rounded up spare volunteers to help form a line to let people into the VIP seating. I stood doing that until around 2:30, when someone said the VIP seating was full, which was a bummer since a lot of people with VIP tickets hadn�t gotten in yet, and neither had a lot of volunteers, like me. I ended up being about sixty feet away from the podium when President Bush arrived to speak at around 3:00 PM. He talked about the usual stuff � the situation in Iraq, supporting our troops, etc. He got quite a bit of mileage from the previous night's debate. He talked for half an hour or so and then left, amidst cheering and secret service people. We five found each and left, stopping in Lakeville to have dinner at Pizza Hut, on the College Republican dollar.
It was really cool seeing President Bush in person. It just amazed me that I was sixty feet away from about the single most important man in America. His wife Laura was there, too, which was unusual � she seems to avoid politics and the spotlight as much as possible. Being that close to someone to people that important - I don�t know, it gave me goosebumps.
Actually, the other four Oles were all closer � they�d managed to get inside the VIP seating. I guess as volunteers, we were all supposed to have tickets for really good seats, but we didn�t. They pretty much talked their way in. I'm not pushy enough, I guess.
The fervor these people at the rally had for Bush and Republicans in general amazed me. Even my fellow Oles take this really, really seriously. When Megan kept saying that she touched Bush�s hand, I kept thinking of Jesus, and how people wanted to touch him. But he had a lot more to offer than Bush. And we were told last night that as volunteers, we had to remember that we represented Bush.
It seems to me that all this could lead to hero worship in a hurry. It sort of frightened me, especially since I started to understand where it was coming from, because I could feel it, too. There�s the hope that this man can actually save the world, so to speak, and people are desperate to believe that someone could do that. I think amongst the volunteers, at least, there was also a fair amount of camraderie, because we all had something in common: supporting Bush. We all had a common ground, and that could be very appealing, I think. What I found drew me the most, though, was the sense of purpose that Megan and the others had. They know what they want to accomplish: they want to get Bush re-elected. And they�re throwing themselves into that, working towards that goal with a fervor of belief that it�s important, that their efforts are worth something.
Someone said there were expected to be 20,000 people at the rally. I really have a hard time believing that they fit that many people into that park, but I suppose it�s possible. Most of the volunteers began by handing out �collateral� � signs, stickers, and other Bush paraphanalia. So by the time things actually got started, there were signs and things everywhere. A lot of people had brought their own pins and hats, and were wearing T-shirts. Some women, though lacking any actual buttons, were dressed head to toe in navy blue and red.
There seemed to be people from all income brackets there, judging from how dressed up some people were, but since it was at a park most people were dressed pretty casually. It seemed to be an almost exclusively Caucasian crowd, though � I saw a handful of African-Americans, a few more Asian-Americans, and practically no hispanics. I don�t think that�s a true picture of the Central Minnesota population at all � apparently Bush hasn�t attracted a whole lot of the non-white vote here. Or maybe the African-Americans and hispanics just don�t like coming to rallies.
What I really found odd was that at around 1:00, the first of two bands got up on the grandstand and played for a while � and they played worship songs! They were Bethel University�s worship team! And later the event was opened up with a prayer, by a Pastor Strondquist (I think), of the local Emmaus Baptist Church.
The security around the place was tight, of course. Everyone got scanned as they came in. There were sheriffs and deputies all over the place. There were even four or five pair of mounted sheriffs, which I thought was really neat. There were probably sixty to seventy volunteers that showed up the same time we did, plus forty or so people with �staff� tags and another thirty to forty with suits and earpieces. On top of a roof there were two men dressed in black, with what looked like big telescopes to me, although I guess they could have been just about anything. There was a big crane in the background with a flag hanging on it, that someone said was for snipers to keep an eye on things. All the time the President was speaking and for a while before and after, there was a helicopter circling. I saw at least two police dogs, presumably bomb-sniffers. Last night, the guys who gave us the quick pep talk weren�t allowed to tell us how many tickets had been given out (the general admission tickets were free). We didn�t even know what time the President would be arriving and speaking � we were told �sometime between 2:45 and 5:00.� This was ostensibly for security purposes, of course, but it also seems a handy practice so people don�t know if you�re behind schedule. :)
The President himself was dressed in sky blue button-up shirt, probably cotton, with the sleeves rolled up to mid-forearm; and grey slacks. He grinned and gestured a lot, and sometimes he�d even lean on one elbow on the podium. jokes. He made quite a few references to the previous night's debate with Kerry. At one point he said he was going to talk about of conversations he�s had with the president (I think) of Japan. He said, �But I didn�t tell him I was going to tell you that his favorite singer is Elvis. [pause] His favorite singer was Elvis. [another pause] His favorite singer is Elvis, on CD.� It was a prime demonstration of what the Democrats call �Bushisms.� Later on he was talking about how Kerry plans to raise only the taxes of the top two income brackets, and that by �our figures this�ll raise $600 billion, by Kerry's figures $800 billion� and then he repeated the same figures two more times, ending with, �There, I think I finally got it right.� Everyone laughed. Actually, he said the same figures, in the right order, all three times, but I guess he wasn�t hearing himself talk very well.
He makes me think of that book, later a movie, called �Runaway Jury,� by John Grisham. It�s one of my very favorite of his books. There really are no �good� lawyers in the book, but the lawyer who�s working on the protagonist�s side is named Wendell Rohr. He asks his aide which of two ties looks better, and after the aid points to one, Rohr puts on the other one. He tells the aide that the jury will like him better if he doesn�t look too polished. I very much doubt that the original �Bushisms� were intentional, but I�m sure that Bush�s campaign managers have done their best to capitalize on them.
Bush also mentioned that Afghanistan had its first elections today. The first voter was a woman. I read later, though, that there�s a controversy over people allegedly stuffing the ballot boxes. The U.S.- supported candidate is a pretty clear winner at any rate, but it�s going to really hurt the country if the other fifteen candidates don�t acknowledge the results. Afghanistan�s unity is tremendously fragile.
Bush�s opening comment, after thanking people, was that he was �Keeping good company today.� He said, �When I asked Laura to marry me, I said, �Laura, will you marry me?� She said, �Yes, I�ll marry you, as long as you promise that I�ll never have to make a political speech.� Fortunately, she didn�t hold me to my promise.� And everyone laughed.
Laura Bush sat on the front row, of course. By the middle of the speech, she had one girl nearly in her lap and another little girl on her other side, both about five or six years old. Someone commented, jokingly, that it was sort of a waste to give that opportunity to kids too young to appreciate it. But though I know at that age I wouldn�t have really understood it, either, I still think it was very cool. Those girls can say some day that they sat with the first lady. What little I�ve seen or heard of Laura Bush has always impressed me. She seems like a class act.
So, it was quite the event. At the end, Bush mentioned that he'd be back in Minnesota again before the election in November, and if it's reasonably close and doesn't interfere with homework, I'll go again.
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