Hillary Clinton in Eugene, Oregon (report by The Unapologetic Mexican)

[swag]

http://www.theunapologeticmexican.org/elgrito/2008/04/hillary_clinton_in_eugene_oregon.html

COVERED THE HILLARY CLINTON campaign stop in Eugene yesterday, at the South Eugene High School. While there was a smattering across a few demographics (there were young people, too), it seemed to my eye to be mostly white women, and older people. (You can't judge by who is behind HRC in the monitor; these people are picked purposely, and often for the very traits I discuss now: sex, age, skin color, and "ethnic" appearance.) However, I did no formal tally, and when the video is made, you can make a judgment for yourself on that aspect.

The truth is, Clinton did her best (even pushing through a tired and "froggy" sounding voice), and her supporters cheered their loudest, and I appreciate her (and their) spirit and ambition and Clinton's manner of laying out her platform. But it was inarguably not a good day for Clinton. She was late, she made everyone wait in the rain longer than we were supposed to, and then inside we waited longer than scheduled. She was heckled about her vote authorizing the Iraq invasion and No Child Left Behind, and about two out of five (I have to check my tape to be sure) questions came to her from Obama supporters. Not to mention the press pass was a cheap xerox instead of a printed and designed document (campaign budget), the gymnasium could have fit, along with nine others the same size (rough guess, probably on the low side, actually) in the venue Obama spoke in when he was here March 21 of this year. I can't help but compare, and I guess in a race like this, that's the point.

It felt a bit sad to me. I can't even count how many times speakers tried to get everyone to cheer louder or longer. At one point, this anchorwoman (in the foto to the right) was telling her cameraman about speaking purposely fast and breathless to give the feeling that the energy in the room was very high. I overheard it, and tried to catch some with the shotgun mic attached to my sound recorder, but pointing one of those at someone (especially a media person) has the result of them quieting down a lot. By the time I had it on and pointed, she was whispering. But truthfully, there was this sort of effort in a few places. Ted Kulongowski, Oregon's governor (who introduced Clinton) seemed absolutely possessed, bobbing and stooping and dancing around trying to rouse the crowd, trying to pass on his frenzy. It was almost as if the campaign/event was competing with the ghost of Obama's recent appearance, which had raised the rafters and blew out the town with buzz.

You will see very plainly from the videotape that many of the people behind Clinton (even though handpicked by the campaign) were definitely not excited, and in fact often looked very bored, didn't clap when they were supposed to, or made tired, perfunctory "golf claps" on the applause lines. I honestly felt embarrassed for the Senator more than once.

I now respect Clinton's 3D supporters much more than her online supporters. Probably because these ones often seemed happy, as well as happy to see me, instead of sneering at me or calling me names. (Then again, I don't wear any MTV gear online and at the HRC rally, I wasn't talking to people about Obama. So who knows!)

. . .