Quick report from the local "Sharon Angle/Doctor's Tea Party" event.

[haele]

I was driving back down from Pt. Loma past the airport and saw the Big National Event down at Spanish Landing (The 1 acre narrow Cancer Survivor's Park) across from Terminal Two. The event had been going on for about ten minutes, so there were probably still some laggers that would show up later, but there was probably only 180-240 people there. I'm not counting the dozen or so police nor did I count the dozen or so media types and the other dozen set-up crew.
Unfortunately, I don't have a camera, so there's no pictures to go with it but here was the set-up I saw while I was driving by. Two corporate busses (TaxPayer's Revolt) at the west (upper side) There was a stage ('bout a 20ft x 40 ft half-round) and 8 rows of folding chairs (not quite filled), as well as about 8 small family groups in folding chairs and blankets under the trees. Looked like a Fall Faire/fundraiser at an elementary school. I've seen more people come to the bi-annual Alex's Lemonade Stand down the street, and certainly more at the local Farmer's Market or a street fair.

No porta-potties needed, because there is a bathroom facility there.
Oh, and there was an interview with someone that looked like Ms. Angel going on in one of the park pavilion areas well behind the stage. Away from anyone who could sneak up on her and ask impertinent questions, I suppose - because the area was blocked off by obvious staff critters and four of San Diego's finest.

As for the event itself - the crowd was very white, which means that in a few hours, they'll be very pink...if they stay that long. There also weren't a lot of signs and banners - most of the signage present was rather small. I'm not used to that, I live in North Park and drive through Hillcrest on a regular basis; whenever there are political/social events there, there's huge signs, puppets, banners - and most of all, passion. I guess that was what was missing the most - the passion; just driving by, it seemed more like a quinceneta or a big birthday party than a rally.

Too bad I had errands to run, or I would have hung around in the background with my Obama-Biden bumper stickers and observed the boredom.

Haele

[Staph]

1. Perhaps I'm ignorant of western Republican politics...

but why on earth is Sharron Angle hosting an event in San Diego, California? She's a candidate for senator from Nevada. Is this a fund-raising gig, or is she just coasting in the expectation of beating Harry Reid?

With the trend in the polls in that race, I would think that she should be showing up at any gathering of three or more Nevadans. Of course, it's possible that her handlers realize that she needs to stay away from the Nevada press.

[haele]

2. I'm thinking it is to drum up Tea Party support -

Also, in the early 2K's, a lot of middle class San Diegans -especially recent empty-nesters - bought property in the Laughlin/Vegas area for retirement purposes. Many mid-sized businesses expanded to the Vegas area because of the (then) low cost of real-estate and easier lending rules in Nevada.
There was a huge push to get San Diegans to buy in Nevada - prices here and in Orange County were rising so fast, as people started seeing the tail end of the tech boom and were looking to buy a house as a cushion, Nevada looked to be a good deal. Friendlier than Phoenix (which was booming in the '90s).
There's still a lot of ties between many of the people and companies that moved to Nevada and I suspect that Ms. Angle might feel that if she can influence voters through their relationships as well as the "rightgous" face she tries to put out in public, it's a win-win.

Oh, and she's probably trying to fund raise. With The Rock mega-church just down the road getting out around 1130 this morning, I suspect that's where a lot of her audience came from.

Haele