A Ridiculous Amount of Bird-Dogging in PA

9:30am Targets: Sestak (house)/Casey/Gore in Brookhaven, Southern Philly suburb: Posse: Kaytee, Paul, Allison Event: Rally w/ lots of speakers (including surprise guest Max Cleland), all local PA House candidates, the Governor, etc. There were maybe 300 people there, in the gym of a community center. What happened: - Got there 30 mins early, sat down in reserved seats and no one asked us to leave - Gore looked confused when Paul thanked him for inadvertently launching worldwide movement for access to AIDS meds when Gore fought the South African Medicines Act - Kaytee shouted at Casey "and we need health workers in Africa too" during list of things that America needs to do differently and Casey said "yea, we'll get to that" then never did. All held up signs at Casey during speech, Casey purposefully would not look at us. - All spoke to Sestak, who did not know much about fast track, Sestak said "new trade agreements will have to have protections for workers and the environment" but did not seem to latch onto the access to meds issue. Encouraged him to exploit Weldon's weakness on CAFTA/trade, he said he would. Paul & Kaytee talked about ab-only earmark in PEPFAR that Sestak's opponent, Curt Weldon, put into the PEPFAR bill, Sestak said he knew about this too and said it was really bad and he wouldn't support that kind of thing. Then all of us went back and talked to Sestak again later about fast track and he was genuinely interested in meeting w/ us, offered us his email address and said he would actually read an email, and that he wanted to meet with us after the election. We gave him the health worker consensus statement, but didn't talk to him much about that. - Allison talked to Casey about health workers, he said "yea yea yea, I know, let's talk after election" 2pm Targets: Lois Murphy (House)/Casey/Obama/Pelosi (surprise guest) in Norristown, northwest suburbs: Posse: Kaytee, Paul, Mike from Lower Merion HS, Lucy from Princeton/UK Event: another rally, with lots of new speakers, and lots of the same speakers. Started 30 mins late. Probably 6-700 people at this event in the auditorium of a community center. What happened: - We got there one hour early due to superstar of the democratic party Obama, it was a good thing we did b/c there was a massive line and most people didn't get anywhere near the stage unless they got there as early as we did - Kaytee snuck into the building early ("I have to use the bathroom, can I come in?") and saved some of the seats up front that were mostly already filled by campaign volunteers - During opening, warm-up speeches, Paul yelled at the head of the PA AFL-CIO (who calls Santorum "Ricky Sanatorium") about CAFTA hurting us, and got no response - Paul shouted "we can stop AIDS in Africa" at Obama during talk on "Audacity of Hope", Obama said "yep, and AIDS in Africa" during list of "hopeless" things happening right now - All stood and chanted at Casey 5 times about health workers, held up signs (8 billion dollars for doctors and nurses/fight AIDS in Africa open your purses) - Mike talked to Lois Murphy about fast track (her opponent voted for CAFTA), Ms. Murphy said she would vote against it. Paul reminded Lois about CAFTA and Fast Track, she said "we're with you". - Kaytee talked to Obama, said "thanks for comments on AIDS, can't wait for you to be our new champion" he says "yep yep yep, sounds good" then he was swooshed away by the mob of autograph seekers. Paul and Lucy stuck hands out and Obama grabs Pauls hand and says "oh, you're back". Paul says "we need your help w/ $8bn for health workers. Sen. Durbin has a good bill, but there's not enough money in it. Certain members pressured Durbin to reduce money in the bill, and we need full $8bn. Can you help?" Obama replies, "I will work on it." Then he was carried away w/ crowd, but then waded back to say, "You know what you guys should do. You gotta get some Republicans also." Paul says "don't worry, got it covered". - Kaytee, Paul and Lucy talked to Pelosi reasonably substantively about health workers, she says "yea, one problem w/ Bush's plan is there just isn't enough money. I was just in Darfur and all over Africa. This is a problem". Paul talks more to her: "we have been meeting w/ the Administration. They're proud of PEPFAR, people see it as the thing they have done right. But they see the biggest problem w/ achieving PEPFAR goals as the shortage of health workers, and they will likely roll something out on health workers as early as world aids day. We don't think it will be big enough, need about $8bn over 5 years." Kaytee then says "hey, would you support $8bn over 5 years?" she says "I'm in favor of much more than that, we have to do more." We gave her the consensus statement. Then Paul and Pelosi small talk about her assuming speaker position and how these are exciting days. Paul says "you know, about CAFTA. CAFTA really hurt people w/ AIDS in central America by pushing drug company monopolies, even in countries like Nicaragua or El Salvador where drug companies don't make a dime." Pelosi says: "We need to include protections for the environment and workers in any trade deals" (sound familiar to what Sestak said earlier?). Paul says "yes, yes, yes. This spring, we will be able to repeal fast track. Can we count on you to repeal fast track so we can include protections like that". Pelosi says essentially yes. 5:30pm Targets: Patrick Murphy/Casey in Doylestown (north suburb) Posse: Kaytee, Paul, Neil Watkins, Allison, Lucy, Elliot and Mary Event: Small-ish rally w/ no new speakers. Only 200 people in a big HS gym. Started 1.5 hours late. What happened: - Posse was tired of chanting at Casey, realized that he really isn't veering from pre-written speech, no matter what. - Kaytee and Paul spoke w/ West Wing Movie Star Melissa Something-or-other, played Carol on West Wing, and was campaigning w/ Casey and Rendell all day (this was the third time we saw her- she recognized us). She has been to Africa recently and is on the board of Int'l Assoc of Physicians in AIDS Care, a HCW campaign endorser. She's interested in campaign, and said (w/o prompting) that she would talk to Casey about it. Gave her consensus stmt. - Lucy, Elliot and Mary cornered Casey and talked about doing more for AIDS in Africa and to repeal fast track so no more disasters like CAFTA. Casey thanked them and said it was an interest of his (he seems friendlier w/ new faces). Saw Kaytee, patted her on the back and said "hey, thanks for coming out. Good to see you *again*". He said same thing to Paul, Paul said "you know, President Bush has flat-funded the RWCA for years, and it hasn't kept pace w/ the need for people with AIDS in the US at home. We need $2.6 bn next year." Casey says "We have committed to that. We will do it. Pres Bush hasn't kept pace w/ the need". <--look at him regurgitating fed information, and remembering issues that we haven't talked to him about as much. - All got to Murphy on CAFTA/Fast track, he doesn't really know what fast track is, but gave Kaytee his card and said, let's really meet after the election. For real. "You have my word", he tells Paul. Lessons: - uhhh.... 3 events in one day makes one very sleepy. - it was good when casey finally saw new folks, he was friendly with them. - house candidates are very approachable people, especially if they think they're going to win. - was probably good to leave casey alone for the last one, mainly b/c we realized that he wasn't responding while on stage, even with supportive, but disruptive, chants - we need to talk to the Republicans, but they're nearly impossible to find! - there's more, but my brain is far too tired to think of things right now.