An anecdote from yesterday’s Edwards event covered by Julie – not a candidate promotional diary, I promise…

If you read Julie’s account, you already know I was among the crowd of Vermonters that went door knocking for John Edwards yesterday in New Hampshire (and what an interesting combination of political types showed up – Ben Cohen, Senate Majority Leader John Campbell, Sen. Alice Nitka, Vermont State Emploees Union head Ed Stanak, former Progressive Burlington City Councilperson Phil Fiermonte – oh for a camera for those times when odd combinations were standing together!).

Among the stars in attendance was GMD front pager Caoimhin Laochdha, and at the end of the day, it’s a damn good thing he was.

After the door knocking, we met up for a rally with Senator Edwards at the Hanover Lebanon High School. I’d been partnered up with former State Senator Matt Dunne, who is an Edwards organizational point person, and as such I got to hear the troubles first hand when I arrived. The rally had been set up by a volunteer who also worked at the school, and apparently there was some conflict, as the gym (where the rally was planned) was in use for a basketball practice. So, volunteers were trying to shift it into the cafeteria, which didn’t have enough romm for everyone, leaving the vast majority of people in the hall.

This is when the ugliness reared its head. Somebody called the fire marshall in an attempt to shut down the gathering. One of the coordinators on site had been a Kerry staffer four years ago and confirmed (first hand? Who knows…) that this was indeed an established technique from the dirty trick playbook.

Since the earliest arrivers at the event included many folks sporting “Hillary” and “Obama” stickers (a note here: I could only get first-hand confirmation of the Hillary stickers), the assumption was that this was exactly what had happened. Don’t know who, from what camp – certainly wouldn’t suggest the order came from campaign staff, but it seemed clear that’s what had happened (no doubt it was a little over-eager, heat-of-the-moment tackiness rather than part of any master plan – at least that’s what I choose to believe).

So there was trouble. The fire department (who confirmed they’d been called from someone there) was on the scene, actively barring people from entering – including members of the national press corps. People inside were not budging to allow for the press to enter (including, reportedly, some of those sporting other campaigns’ stickers). And nobody seemed to be in charge.

…so GMD front pager Caoimhin Laochdha stepped up to the plate…

With behind-the scenes disarray – and some volunteers even beginning to argue with fire fighters, the gym opened back up and became available. Organizers first impulses were to try and move the whole thing back into that room, which would have caused even more chaos (and at this point, supporters are really starting to wonder what’s going on).

Caoimhin took charge, rightly figuring that things needed to happen immediately. He called for two groups – a smaller one in the cafeteria, and the significant overflow in the gym (which all but filled it up), and had Edwards go to both groups – first the overflow, thanking them for being there and checking in with them briefly before going back to the cafeteria to give his speech, which could be played simultaneously in the gym through the schools sound system.

To make it work, Caoimhin took the stage and made a clear, stern appeal that 40 or so people in the cafeteria would need to join the rest of us in the overflow crowd in the gym. He applieda little persuasion, and explained that the press really needed to be there to further the candidacy they were there to support. Enough acquiesced, and the make-it-up-as-you-go-along event went swimmingly. Heck, with the whole basketball-thing (see Julie’s pics), it was probably even better and more fun than it woulda been.

And the crowd? They never knew that anything more than some minor confusion had slowed things up a bit. There was no way to tell that a major clusterf*ck had been averted, thanks to Caoimhin…

Who says bloggers aren’t good fer nuthin, huh?

It's probably too early for this, but I do think it's something worth thinking about. Among the leading candidates, I think the majority of us around here probably favor Edwards. Still, especially if Obama is able to win on Tuesday (and espceially if, as seems quite likely Edwards is a poor third), his chances are looking worse and Obama's are looking really good.

So if it's Obama, what do we think about that?

I believe strongly that we have to do whatever it takes to defeat the Republican nominee, even if our nominee is Hillary Clinton. It's important for a lot of reasons, including the fact that economic royalism will continue under any conceivable Republican nominee, the fact that any Republican president will appoint clones of Scalia, Roberts, and Alito to the Supreme Court, and that any Republican president will be in favor of staying in Iraq, essentially forever.

Those facts are not true of any of the Democratic candidates.

Here's a link to a diavlog about the Democratic race that makes the point that Obama will absolutely be better than Clinton, and will be able to accomplish some important things we want (like universal health care) better than any real alternative. You don't have to agree with everything in it, but it's worth a listen. 

http://mulishbehavior.blogspot…

Or, you can find it on youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v…

In today's leading WaPo op-ed, 85 year-old George McGovern makes a belated but still compelling case for an impeachment process to begin saying:

“As we enter the eighth year of the Bush-Cheney administration, I have belatedly and painfully concluded that the only honorable course for me is to urge the impeachment of the president and the vice president.” 

How do you like the apples? 

I myself didn't enter the impeachment debate until after 140 or so Vermonters rec'd a “don't bother us” backhand from S&S in Montpelier, so like McGovern, I can only claim to be belated interested in the subject myself.  But even at this late stagein the Bush Administration, with an outcome to the “Wait for 2008” strategy to complete it's course, there is a firm, compelling argument to be made that impeachment is a necessary process, not necessarily for a timely outcome, but to send a strong message both domestically and internationally that the American people and the American Congress uphold the rule of law here in the United States and in our international policies.  

And no matter what anyone thinkd about impeachment, it's still not too late to confirm the potential of legal integritiy as a mandatory process as versus a preconcieved judgement.

Nothing below the fold.