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McCain-Palin Rally Voters Outside Youngstown
- Filed under: McCain
- Date: Sep 17,2008
Yesterday I went to the McCain-Palin rally in Vienna, outside Youngstown. It was held at the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport / Winner Aviation hangar, which was cool because the plane landed right there and you got to see it come in - the place went crazy when the plane touched down just a couple minutes after 4.
Before that, there was a gaggle of local speakers as well as Auditor of State Mary Taylor.
As far as the main speeches went, it was nothing you wouldn't have expected. Palin had a lot of the same lines she has been using, but added some new stuff about how she will have a major role in energy policy. McCain spent the bulk of his time discussing the current events on Wall Street as it was the major news story of the day. His last line was how he would rather spend time in Ohio campaigning with the people there as opposed to Obama who was at a Hollywood fund raiser. Crowd ate it up. The attendance was estimated at 7,000+. I am horrible at estimating sizes of large masses of people, but would have guessed a little lower. Regardless, it was a great turnout for a Tuesday afternoon and people stayed patient in the hot airplane hanger that occasionally filled with fumes. One thing really stood out, and I think you know what I am going to say…..the number of women. Tons. The effect of her selection is real. Many brought their daughters to see Governor Palin. Saw a few wearing their Hillary shirts as well and a few "Another Democrat for McCain" signs in yards nearby. Not based on what I saw today, but Obama is going to have real trouble matching Kerry's performance in the Mahoning Valley. I don't think he will get what he needs there.
It is clear from polling the base is consolidated, but it was nice to see it in person to get a personal confirmation.
Aside from McCain and Palin, the most recognizable person there was "Campaign Carl," Carl Cameron from Fox News. People cheered him….while staring at the rest of the media in a not very approving way. Through a few phone calls, I set myself up with a press pass. The best part of it was that I got to sit in a chair while others had to stand while waiting. Thanks to those who helped me with that. The traveling press that was there with McCain and follows him around paid absolutely zero attention to anything he or the Governor said. I mean none. McCain could have said he was going to eliminate the federal income tax or ban the NFL and they wouldn't have noticed. They were all sitting there with their playing with their laptops and talking to each other. This might be normal - when you hear basically the same thing at every stop, you probably stop paying attention. Not sure. The local media, however, was paying attention and taking notes - the guy directly next to me was from ONN. I think I angered a couple of them because I stood the whole time, but that is because I gave my chair to a little girl on the other side of the barrier so she could stand up and see. Probably would have stood anyhow. I wanted to clap at various points, but I figured that wasn't acceptable in the media area so I didn't. It wasn't an Obama speech.
Lastly, I spent a good few minutes talking to two women from Warren, Marge and Myrna while waiting for McCain to arrive. Very nice ladies….glad to have met you.
Pictures added after the jump.
16 Responses for "McCain-Palin Rally Voters Outside Youngstown"
Ben, nice work making the trip out there to see the event. I'd agree with you that 7,000 is decent for a weekday afternoon event. I'm sure you'll have plenty of chances to see them again here in NE Ohio.
Good report my buddy.
Two points on your post.
One) "Aside from McCain and Palin, the most recognizable person there was "Campaign Carl," Carl Cameron from Fox News. People cheered him….while staring at the rest of the media in a not very approving way."
This says a lot. FOX, the RNC network is praised and cheered, while "the rest of the media" were stared at disapprovingly. Telling.
Second)"One thing really stood out, and I think you know what I am going to say…..the number of women."
Palin is the draw. Not McCain. I realize that Republicans don't care that McCain, alone, doesn't draw crowds or women. But don't you find that odd? If not, maybe you could find a historical equivalent of when the VP was the only cause for excitement.
[...] Ohio Politics …The attendance was estimated at 7,000+. I am horrible at estimating sizes of large masses of people, but would have guessed a little lower. Regardless, it was a great turnout for a Tuesday afternoon and people stayed patient in the hot airplane hanger that occasionally filled with fumes. One thing really stood out, and I think you know what I am going to say…..the number of women. Tons. The effect of her selection is real. Many brought their daughters to see Governor Palin. Saw a few wearing their Hillary shirts as well and a few "Another Democrat for McCain" signs in yards nearby. Not based on what I saw today, but Obama is going to have real trouble matching Kerry's performance in the Mahoning Valley. I don't think he will get what he needs there. [...]
Has anyone heard about this apparent lesbian affair that Governor Palin had in college? You'd think that a little thing like having a gay relationship with a professor would come up during the screening process but maybe McCain needed a woman to be on the ticket so badly that he wasn't as thorough as he should have been?? Now, the press is going to have a field day, and other Christians like me are going to be just as disgusted by her behavior. Those are most certainly not values I share.
Please, please, let us talk about policies. I really do not care if Gov. Palin had a lesbian relationship. I only want to know what her public record is, her policies are and have been, and her effectiveness as a leader. I am more concerned about her labeling anyone who disagreed with her policies as "a hater of Alaska", and her alleged firing of a state worker who wouldn't fire her former brother-in-law.
Okay, the comment two above is some loser who goes around leaving that comment at various sites. So whatever.
And to "Democratic Female," you obviously havent looked that much into the facts.
I have been raising hell about all of these "former McCain" supporters, and "Former Republicans" who are now voting for Obama. The Plain Dealer last week even published a letter from a woman claiming to be a republican. It is all complete BS. I debunked her claims as a republican with a letter I sent to the PD. I don't think they published it.
You can read the letter and my response at http://www.parmatownhall.blogspot.com or King's Right Site. (These are not shameless plugs…I just don't want to have to re- paste the stuff!)
Great site guys…keep up the good work.
Dave
Hey Formerly Pro-McCain you do realize rumors like that could tip the entire Howard Stern voting block to McCain don't you?
No, Ben…democratic female is correct on her facts. And you know it.
Palin ran her administrations just like George and The Dick. Anyone who even looked like they would dissent were shown the door.
And….the Alaska legislature thought the trooper deal was serious enough to agree, in a bipartisan way, to allocating $100K for an investigation. An investigation that, now, McCain's hatchet men are trying to obstruct or stop.
McCain will take Ohio.
You ever notice when we question someones past it seems to be always "let's move on" but when there is and allegation against one on our side it is "Where is the microscope".
Mr. Keeler,
I think I have probably read as much of "facts" as you have. Can you cite where your information on Gov. Palin is coming from? In addition, I clearly stated it was an alleged firing, as the facts are not all in.
Thank you, Reverend, for your statement in support of learning the facts, whatever they turn out to be.
Democratic Female, first you can call me Ben. But I appreciate the formality.
Look both sides are spinning, and until the investigation is complete we wont know exactly what happened. I am confident in my side. The guy openly disagreed with her budget twice, and she is under zero obligation to keep him. He serves at her pleasure.
Dave, thanks for that link.
Great work looking into her claims of being a long-time Republican. Clearly in the case you cited, she was not.
I'm glad you got to go Ben, I didn't get to go to the Biden thing here in Toledo but they say the crowd there was 1,500.
I'm an Alaskan. I'm a hockey mom. I'm reaching out to folks in Ohio to urge them to vote their conscience on election day. Consider which party has led the stewardship of our country for the past two terms. If you like McCain simply because you like Palin you are short changing yourself. Please don't look to Alaskans' approval ratings when considering Sarah Palin's preparedness to serve this great nation. The permanet fund dividend and Palin's energy relief refund placed over $3K in each Alaskan's bank account this year. Her expertise in energy will be limited to and focused on drilling for oil and gas in Alaska and further stuffing her state coffers at the expense of Americans in the rest of the country. If you believe Sarah Palin cares about you, you will be disappointed. Don't be fooled, she is a calculating career politician who cares only about the almighty dollar and her own political career.
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