Would You Like Your Very Own "Teresa Heinz Kerry for First Lady" Bumper Sticker?

Oh, what a deal I have for you.

Jeanne Clark from Women Leaders Online has been acquiring the following bumper sticker:



If you are attending Noreascon and promise to put this on your car as soon as you can, I can give one to you in Boston. I just need some advanced notice so I can get more stickers.

In the Second Row in Rainy Greensburg for the Kerry/Edwards Rally

I volunteered to work at the Greensburg Kerry rally. But unlike the July 6 Edwards announcement rally, where I felt like I was being more useful, I really didn't wind up doing all that much in Greensburg. I did help pass out some signs. However, the volunteer coordinator had us pass out about half the signs so early that they were complete soggy messes by the time the candidates arrived.

However...

I did wind up extremely close to the stage, so I got some photos like these:



John Kerry in Greensburg, PA, 7/31/04



Teresa Heinz Kerry, John Kerry, Elizabeth Edwards, John Edwards

Yes, Ben Affleck was there, and he spoke briefly. The teenagers behind us particularly wanted to see him.



Teresa Heinz Kerry, Ben Affleck, Cate Edwards, Elizabeth Edwards (back to camera), Andre Heinz (white shirt), Chris Heinz

The speeches were fine, but we'd heard most of them before - John and John's speeches were both "Democratic Convention Lite Speeches." Teresa and Elizabeth both seemed to speak a little more off the cuff. You tend to remember the unscripted moments a little more. A member of the audience fainted in the rain and med-student Vanessa Kerry left the stage and followed a Secret Service agent into the crowd to lend a hand. And when some AIDS activists displayed some mini-banners and briefly started yelling, Kerry gave them a few moments, then worked some brief discussion of AIDS policy into his speech.

And how are the Republicans treating their rally audiences? Seeking Cheney Tickets? Sign a Loyalty Oath. This is the most ludicrous thing I've ever heard. Yes, if you want tickets to Democratic rally, the office usually collects your name and adddress. They don't require you to swear to vote for the Kerry/Edwards ticket. Heck, a rational candidate wants to reach out to people who might be uncertain, not try to scare them away!

Before the rally, we grouped off into teams. I worked crowd control and signs with these other women:



Kerry, Deb, me, Jill and Terry, Before it Got Too Rainy...



The Up-front Sign Team, Nearly Two Soggy Hours Later...

I wound up standing just behind the other women, so I just missed being in some wire photos:



The Up-front Sign Team, as Snapped by the Post Gazette



Kerry, a Mosh-Pitter(?), as Snapped by the Post Gazetter

Kerry was standing on the crowd fence, leaning way over
the crowd, so I wound up literally right under him.



Front Part of the Greensburg Crowd, as Snapped by Someone for the John Kerry Web Site.

I'm Beginning to Wonder if "Shove It" Was a Set-up...

The video was only recorded by Pittsburgh's Channel 4. Scott Baker is Channel 4's correspondent on site in Boston. It's unclear if Scott Baker was with the camera operator. Scott Baker is rumored to be quite conservative. He's the ex-husband of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's outspokenly conservative columnist Ruth Ann Dailey (and the current husband of a recent ex-Miss America).

The Tribune-Review is a notoriously pro-Bush paper. Given their manner of "reporting" (constant Kerry-bashing, et.c.) Teresa Heinz Kerry is likely not happy with the paper. Both Scott Baker and the WTAE camera operator must know what the Tribune-Review's editorial editor, Colin McNickle, looks like. Heinz Kerry might not have known what Colin McNickle looks like, but she'd surely know his name.

It's possible that Scott Baker had the camera operator "keep rolling" when he saw McNickle start to question Heinz Kerry, or arranged for the columnist to be there.

I started wondering about this this morning. During the afternoon news, Scott Baker, who's normally pretty reserved while reading the news, was almost gleeful as he recounted the "Shove It" incident, nearly 2 days after it happened. As the main reporter at the Democratic National Convention for WTAE, he didn't mention any of last night's speeches one time during the 5pm news. Baker's behavior is reinforcing my notion that he could have helped arrange the incident.

Another Possibility: It later occurred to me that maybe Heinz Kerry herself wanted the incident on camera. When a TV camera is as close to you as it was to her on Sunday, you know it's recording (the lights make this really obvious). So when she learned that Colin McNickle had been talking to her, she went back and made a point of saying what she did in front of the camera. That way, a "shove off" could not become a "fuck off" or something worse because it had been recorded in front of witnesses.