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I spent most of September, all of October and, of course, the beginning of November working on the Kerry-Edwards campaign. I was a full-time volunteer in the internet department. I worked on the website a lot, but mostly I helped with the daily email that went out to tens of thousands of Pennsylvania supporters. I worked from home sometimes, I worked late at night, I worked early mornings, and I worked in the office. A lot. I ate a lot of Marathon Grill and drank a sea of Starbucks soy chai lattes. And we won Pennsylvania. We won Pennsylvania pretty easily. It was a landslide in the counties surrounding Philly - the counties that include the one where I live. We won Pennsylvania, which was the primary goal of our office. It wasn't the only goal, of course, but I'm trying to be positive here. So let's talk about what I did; let's talk about what these two pictures show. The top picture was taken on September 24th while Kerry was giving this speech. I volunteered at this event and it ended up being an amazing experience. Not only did I get to watch the speech from not so very far away (I was standing with the press), but I was helping out with the press generally and was actually standing on the loading dock of the building when the motorcade pulled up. (It was very West Wing.) So there I was, with some campaign bigwig and another volunteer and the Secret Service. Just waiting for John Kerry to walk in. And walk in he did - right past us, about six feet away. Good morning, he said as he passed, smiling at us. How are you?
Fine, sir, thank you, I remember replying. At least I think that's what I said. They were late arriving; there was no introduction or handshake; I didn't care. It was still one of the coolest moments ever. It was followed by being present for that speech; that incredibly presidential speech. I will never forget that speech. The second picture was taken from within the crowd at the enormous Philadelphia rally on October 25th. Kerry was there. Bill Clinton was there, in his first post-surgery appearance. Carol Moseley-Braun was there. John Street. Ed Rendell. Pretty much every prominent Philadelphia Democrat and a slew of candidates. It was huge. They estimated the crowd at about 100,000 people. It was crazy huge, and I was right in the middle of it. It was hard to take pictures; I could see Kerry and Clinton sometimes but not all the time and not very well. I could see the crowd, though, and got some pretty good pictures of it. This second picture sums it all up - Philly For Kerry. A Fresh Start For America. The proud flags. I remember how I felt standing in the middle of that adoring, raucous crowd. I remember how deafening the cheers were when Clinton appeared, and I remember being stunned ten minutes later when Kerry entered and the cheers were even louder. Philly loves Clinton - but Kerry got a bigger welcome. That crowd, I believe, would have done anything for that man. I don't regret a second of the time I spent working on the campaign - not one second. I still believe in the principles of the campaign and I am not sorry that my party didn't stoop to the kinds of tricks that the other party did. (That's about all of my true feelings that you'll get here; you can read more vehemence over at Quo Vadimus if you are so inclined.) I believe my time was not wasted. I believe we were right. I believe history will prove this. I believe.
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