Face Paint and Fox Trucks (or: How I Made an Ass Out of Myself in Front of John Kerry)

For those of you who don't know, I've been volunteering in Wisconsin for the Kerry/Edwards campaign. A few weeks ago I got to help get ready for a Milwaukee visit from Senator Edwards - as volunteers however, we were kept away from all the real action by Secret Service - we did hear Edwards' son running through the hall of the hotel. Sounded like a nice kid. The main object lesson I took home from this experience is that Democrats, probably due to their all-inclusive, warm and fuzzy nature, are disorganized.

Anyway, this is the story of my making another trip up to Milwaukee, this time to help with a small rally to herald the arrival of Senator Kerry.

I get to the hangar, and it takes a good half hour before the campaign staff knows what's going on and where we should all be - which turned out to be a dank hallway inside the hangar. Apparently, Laura Bush was ALSO arriving last night, prior to Senator Kerry, so her Secret Service wasn't about to let 30 or so strange people have free reign of the hangar.

So we're in the hallway for what seems like forever, and then we finally get moving - metal detection by Secret Service, then we got to help corral the people arriving for the rally (about 200). At this point, I discover that I have neglected to put the storage card back in my digital camera after the party I was at last weekend. But I think, big whup, I won't get to see Kerry anyway I bet.

Then I got roped into painting signs for Friday's rally, which would have been a lot more fun if we didn't have to go outside to do it. Brrrr. Keep in mind for later in the story that this paint did not dry particularly fast. After this, I got to do crowd traffic control to get the ralliers from the hangar out to the holding pen to greet Senator Kerry.

Ah here it is, the Kerry-Edwards plane has landed. Now, I get pulled out of the rally holding pen and was given a large sign with which to direct traveling press to the busses. I'm a little bummed that I don't have a very good view of the Kerry festivities at this point. Then, another campaign staff member grabbed me and asked me to take a videotape (presumably of Kerry shaking hands and waving) over to the Fox satellite truck. Swallowing my distaste for Fox, I say ok sure.

So I'm by myself basically, away from the rally crowd, and about 20 feet away from me, 30 max, I see Senator Kerry smiling and waving from his giant Escalade or whatever car it was. I take my opportunity to really shine, and start waving and jumping up and down like a complete asshole. There was no way he missed me, as I was alone and carrying a huge sign for "TRAVELING PRESS". We make eye contact, and he smiles, waves, and gives me a thumbs up. And of course the whole time my camera is completely useless to me.

The videotape destined for Fox gets shoved at me at this point. But as soon as I try to leave the perimeter of the crowd, Secret Service stops me and I can't go any further. I find the staff member who asked me to direct press traffic, tell him the deal, and he took the tape over for me.

Rally's over, we all walk back into the building and one of the other volunteers turns to me and says "Oh, you got paint all over your face!" WhatwhatWHAT? My insides shrivel as I realize there's no way to know how long it was there, and it was highly likely that I had been jumping up and down like a maniac in front of John Kerry, with paint all over my face. (For those of you wanting to know color, quantity, and location of the paint - red, enough, and on my nose and right cheek)

Then I get home, and see 5 missed calls on my cell phone - remember the Fox videotape? Evidently it never got to where it was supposed to go. Before I can call back, they call me again, I explain what happened and (not in so many words however) that I wasn't about to try and mow down Secret Service to get to a Fox truck.

So, that was my adventure last night, and how I made an ass out of myself in front of Senator John Kerry. But hey, I guess I really don't mind, and here's to Kerry kicking Bush's ass on November 2nd!

Cheers,
Donna