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10/22/2004 |
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A&T Meet the Candidates night The LPNC was well represented at this meet and greet event at A&T last night. Showtime was 6:00pm. Each candidate was given 3 minutes at the podium. Big kudos to the A&T organizers for their unique method on determining the order of speakers. First come. First serve. We were asked to arrive at 5:30pm to set up and get instructions. I arrived at ten to six and was the second candidate there after A&T alum Alma Adams. LP US Senate candidate Tom Bailey and LP State Senate candidate Rusty Sheridan were on the list at #5 and #6. There were just under 20 speakers. John Blust, running unopposed did show up but had to leave before his turn at the podium. There were about 80 people in attendance many of them on an extra credit assignment. I missed the name but one passionate event organizer opened the evening with three short inspirational quotes, one from Martin, one from Malcolm and one from "Diddy" giving his admonition, "Vote or die." Best Crowd pleaser award on the evening went to Alma Adams who opened by leading an Aggie Pride cheer. Not that I'm biased but the award for most thought provoking address (and all within 3 minutes) went to Tom Bailey who detailed how he had signed up to go to Viet Nam after President Johnson told him we had been attacked in the Gulf of Tonkin. Then, 20 years later when Johnson's paper's were released, he learned that he had gone to kill people for his government based on a lie. Now, there is another war based on a lie and he is standing up to fight for what is right. He is the only anti-war candidate on the ballot for US Senate. Oh, did I mention the crowd was definitely anti-war? Award for the most pandering speech went to Pricey Harrison who wanted to make sure everyone knew that as a little white girl her mom brought her and her sister down to the civil rights marches so they could support the black community. Then she went on and got her law degree from Duke. Award for the lamest idea went to GOP Lt. Governor candidate Jim Snyder who in 3 minutes tried to explain his absurd idea of giving $700 to every baby born in North Carolina to be put in a special retirement savings plan that with parent and state matching contributions over the years would grow to over $400,000 by the time the baby reaches retirement at 65. Someone had told me what a sharp guy Snyder is, but my first impression is now, "screwball." Knowing that there were few District 7 voters in the audience, I took one for the party here. I used my three minutes to explain the importance getting past the Presidential thing that the media has everyone transfixed on in favor of taking the time to learn about your local government. "Forget about electing your king. The game plan in Iraq and the War on Terror don't change much with either Kerry or Bush." I suggested everyone should understand that in our Republic the real voice of the people is to be our House of Representatives. Another chance for a straw poll, I asked how many of the students knew who their US Congressman was from the A&T district. Of the 80 of so people there, four raised their hands: Two student organizers of the event and the two people sitting at the Mel Watt literature table. Mel Watt by the way did show up at the end of the evening about 15 minutes after the last speech. Everyone had been asked to wait since he had phoned in that he was in route. Most did indeed stay. The wait was worth it for me since I did get the chance to have a short conversation with Congressman Watt. He had voted against NAFTA and I asked him his position on the FTAA. He new exactly what I was talking about and did not go, "uh duh," like some other Congressman out there. He said that he was inclined to be against it, but that he is hearing now that some of the South American countries would like to see it pass and he needed to take that into account. I could have been divisive and asked where he ranked the desires of his constituents in the 12th district versus leaders of Latin American countries, but Mel being an affable gentleman giving some time to the State Coordinator of the John Birch Society, instead I jumped to CAFTA which many think will come to a vote in pending lame duck session. Mr. Watt said that he thought the CAFTA trade deal was unlikely to come for a vote in the lame duck, but that if it did he is "inclined" to vote against it. We chatted a little more. He knew about Keith Larson on WBT in Charlotte doing a radio show on the John Birch Society magazine having ranked him more conservative (using the Constitution as the yardstick) than the Republican from the Charlotte area Sue Myrick. He got a chuckle and said, "Well there might be a few things I agree on with the John Birch Society...but not many." Sidebar: In the county commissioner races, only myself and at large Democratic candidates John Parks and Paul Gibson showed up. Overall, on the Republican side John Blust did make a cameo appearance and Ada Fischer and Richard Burr sent underlings to read prepared statements. If someone spoke on behalf of candidate Bowles, it was not memorable for this blogger. After the meeting there was a tie for the biggest crowd of curious students between Alma Adams and the three Libertarian guys. Even when Mel Watt arrived he gravitated to the LP table area since we were at the very front of the hall to the right of the podium. We got the e-mail addresses of a few students who wanted to know more about the party that stands for Liberty and personal freedom. 11:16:44 PM
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