Obama table in Madison: May 2 Edition (third one in 2008)

zulchzulu

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Sun May-04-08 09:32 PM
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Obama table in Madison: May 2 Edition (third one in 2008)

It was the third Farmers Market Obama table for this year and was a rainy, windy and chilly day with lots of people from all over the globe walking along and choosing from all kinds of locally grown, baked, crafted and political flavors. The Obama table is one feature to many at what the New York Times mentioned "The Dane County Farmers' Market in Wisconsin is now recognized as the largest in the nation, and is still growing."

The night before the tabling, I made sure the weekly war scorecard was updated and visible.

Here's this week's ever growing sad news:

Weekly War Scorecard

Cost of Iraq Occupation:
(running total):
$516,845,998,666
- $4,681 per household.
- $1,721 per person.
- $341.4 million per day

American Deaths:
4,071

American Wounded:
29,911

Iraqi Body Count:
1,202,137

As of May 2, 2007 at 12:00AM

Sources:
www.iraqbodycount.net
www.justforeignpolicy.org/iraq/iraqdeaths....
www.defenselink.mil
www.antiwar.com/casualties
www.costofwar.com

It was chilly and drizzling as I packed the car to head over to the Farmers Market. Having a gazebo that fits in a 5 foot bag and is pretty easy to assemble (cost about $50) would do the trick with rain. Heavy bags weighing it down and people holding down the gazebo from blowing away would the strategy as the morning got worse weatherwise with 30 knot gusts and a 15 degree temperature drop. So much for deciding to wear sandals to send a message to Old Man Winter that it was Spring! Doing grassroots efforts means to do it rain or shine...or even freezing sleet... people appreciate the effort.

There were other grassroots tabling efforts with us that stayed out in the elements with us and I have nothing but the greatest respect for their dedication. Issues such as placing pets to good homes, keeping America pro-choice, offering teaching positions in far off places around the World, supporting the local arts scene and finding out how to support ogranic farming are just some of the tables immediately next to us.

The day started off pretty busily for a cold, drizzling day. As we were constructing the gazebo, people were signing up for emails and grabbing bumperstickers and buttons. The wind was slowly getting harsher and the rain was getting more annoying and making literature soggy. Still, people kept showing up at the table and wanting to talk about what was going on. People now had the choice to register to vote as well and a couple people did just that. One of the volunteers is deputized to register people to vote as Wisconsin voters. I get deputized this week.

As you might guess, many people were just disgusted with the Reverend Wright nonsense that was still being broadcast nearly at 24/7 even though Barack Obama has addressed the issue last Tuesday. Many were disgusted with the tone of how the campaign has gone and without any coaxing, had some choice words for the Clinton campaign. The policy of the Obama table is not to discuss Hillary Clinton if at all possible. But it gets very tempting to discuss what they want to talk about. We try to keep it positive at all costs.

Many asked about what is going to happen on Tuesday in Indiana and North Carolina. I mention that Obama will handily win North Carolina and Indiana will be close. The delegates are what it's all about and there is a 90% chance that Barack Obama will be the nominee. Some agree, some like the confidence and others are scared the nomination is going to be stolen by the Clintons. Again, we will see soon enough.

What was and has been particularly amazing besides the Obama supporters being of all races, ages, lifestyles and backgrounds are children who are just enamored by Barack Obama. One pre-teen who wanted to volunteer for the campaign in the fall said that only two people in her school like McCain and nobody likes Hillary. When little kids see the pictures of Obama on display or see how we are giving out Obama rally stickers, they run up and want to put them on. They are overjoyed. It's amazing to see,

There were some official Obama staffers who stopped by and we talked about registering people to vote. There already is an Obama presence in Wisconsin ready to be deployed for the General Election as well as nationally. There will be no waiting around until after the convention before ramping up to get Obama into the White House. When they saw our Obama sign waving in the wind, one of the people said it "felt like finally being at home".

One man who stopped by as it was fully raining and the wind was gusty talked to me about how he was for Obama. He decided to leave the Republican Party last year after being one for many years. He wanted three bumperstickers for all of his cars. "I want to wake up my buddies that we need to make a change", he said. He also said he was a farmer taking the day off. He told me that prices were skyrocketing for fertilizer, feed, machinery and it was actually not worth planting this year due to the cost of farming being just out of control. He mentioned that gasoline prices were so bad that a couple gas station owners just let people fill up the tank and driving away without paying in his small town. He had a grandson die in Iraq a couple years ago and that family "has scattered like the wind". I started tearing up as he was telling me this as rain started really picking up. He certainly had a tear in his eye. We're talking about the Central Casting character that is Salt of the Earth and someone who is the backbone of rural America. His handshake was firm and his skin was a tough as leather as he said he had to get out of the rain.

It finally was really time to start pulling up stakes and getting out of the elements. Even as we were fumbling with stuff to get deconstructed and put back in bags, we had people coming up and asking for a bumpersticker or whatever else we had on display that wasn't flying off in a windy gust. People are ready for something new in America and even one contact and a smile is worth it.

Hopefully the weather is finally going to turn toward real spring weather here in Madison. It's always a tough fight for Spring to finally stand strong after the long hard winter.

We are ready for that change to come...in the weather and in the White House!

GOBAMA!