Special Election Dec. 6th.
Steve Young for Congress - Ca. 48th Congressional District
Magic comes from the most unlikely places and when you least expect it.
We had another parade in Tustin, Ca. this time for Veterans Day. After the last time I was more than a little worried that we couldn't repeat the feeling and energy we reached during the Tustin Tiller Days Parade in Oct.
If we couldn't repeat the atmosphere then how could I possibly write a diary on our day and feel good about it? I have to admit I was worried.
I shouldn't have been. The defining moment came along the route when a crescendo of applause erupted when the crowd saw the car with "Steve Young" signs. I was taken back by its intensity and stopped in my tracks momentarily to take it in. I still get goose bumps as I write this!
More below the fold:
I knew we were going to have another one of those moments.
The last time we were the very last entry; this time we were in the middle at slot 31 and not even the last politician. Jim Gilchrist of Minutemen founder infamy was after us in slot 44.
The plan was for Steve to stay in the car until after we passed Gilchrist who was actually staged ahead of us. We didn't want to tip them off to our pre-determined strategy of directly engaging the people. Turns out we didn't have to worry because Steve is the only one who wanted to actually talk to the people.
With so many veterans around and having four veterans in our group - Bill, Ranger Matt, Commander (because he was driving the car) Scott, and myself, Ron we had a lot in common with the guys walking the parade. For myself and I'm sure the others it was a trip back in time to our younger days. Seeing the bird Colonels and Majors 30-40 years after their tours in still-fitting uniforms made it easy to ignore the fact that these men and women were civilians just like us. I still wanted to salute them. We spent a lot of time before the parade swapping "war" stories of the fun kind.
That alone would've made it special but there was more.
Also walking with us was my wife Belinda, my son Shay with my grandchildren Kailey and Hunter, campaign manager Adrienne, friend Janet and her two adorably-ugly pugs, Lily and Angel draped with "Steve Young for Congress" signs. We were worried about them beforehand and considered not bringing them. Lilly has just come into heat and Angel can often be anything but by nature. They were both fantastic. There were no other male dogs around to cause a ruckus except for those of the salty variety called sailors who were far past their hell-raising-port-stomping days.
Steve loved the old 'Vettes and T'Birds around and didn't waste any time having conversations with the drivers and the guys hanging around. It wasn't about politics. He easily had friendly conversations with the supporters of the other candidates.
Our stay-in-the-car strategy was very quickly spoiled when Steve spotted someone he wanted to talk to. You should've seen the smiles on the line of Harley's-ridin-Republicans as Steve literally ran over to talk to them. Even the woman wearing the Bright Star over Baghdad shirt was drawn in. She wouldn't shake his hand because he was a Democrat but internally couldn't resist that smile and demeanor. She didn't shake his hand but her smile betrayed her pleasure. I've rarely seen anyone more conflicted.
You could say that the parade took place without Steve this time. In Tiller Days Steve managed to stay with the car at Solange's urging. Today he was in another world. He didn't seem to notice that most of us were out in front of him about 100 yds with the car handing out brochures and flags. He was going to meet as many people as he could. It didn't even occur to him that he was in a parade and that maybe he should've stayed within at least visual contact with his metallic-green convertible Mustang with his beautiful wife Solange and my two beautiful grandchildren riding in the back with Commander Scott at the wheel. Bill and I eventually went back to cover Steve to be there if he wanted another flag or brochure.
Those of us walking knew that we were going to hand out brochures and flags. What we did not expect was being showered with applause and encouragement to win this election. This was my moment of recognition that we were being pulled by so many people wanting a change and actually expecting it to happen. This was a dramatic difference from the cheers before when people were pleasantly surprised that a Democrat was actually running for this seat. This time there was the recognition of an ally. Add to this the waves of people coming up wanting flags to wave. I couldn't keep enough of them in my hands for very long before I had to run to the car to get more.
There also seemed to be more Republicans this time but they were out-performed by Steve's supporters. Minuteman Jim Gilchrist the board-stiff Independent had supporters out so there was competition. It wasn't even close as Jimmy did the Princess-smile and wave from his car.
Finally, we reached the end at Peppertree Park. It was then that we realized how many people we had actually spoken to and made contact with. We decided that we would give out more flags; we didn't find many people that we hadn't already given them to. Even the Gilchrist supporters had the flags. After we exchanged views on the illegal immigrant situation here in Southern California we parted with more of an understanding of the other. Damn, it was all so civil and so un-Republican.
I've got to relay one more particularly poignant moment involving my very good friend Bill. As he and I were walking the park the trumpet calling colors started to play. At first because we were in conversation we didn't recognize it but we quickly did and stopped to face the flag.
As we did this a big guy in front of us started muttering about our disrespect. As soon as it was over Bill engaged in an energetic conversation that started with "look buddy". Bill asked if it was possible to cut us some slack over not hearing the call. Bill asked him if he'd served and of course we all know the answer - he didn't. Another chickenhawk. When big guy couldn't win that part of the argument he tried other tacts relating to government policy from the point of view of a libertarian. Turns out Big Guy was a libertarian against all government. Bill asked him if he thought government was a good idea when it built the Interstate System. He asked him if government was a good idea for the military. Of course, the guy had no answers to these and had to slink away muttering to himself. I told Bill he should run against the Republican in the 44th which has no Democratic challenger. He said he was too emotional to be a good politician; I disagreed but we left it at that for now.
The magic today was an extension of the last time with the addition of the number of Veteran groups that Steve made contact with. They were delighted when Steve offered to go talk to them about their issues. They hadn't been treated as important before despite all the Republican talk of supporting the troops. Steve is changing all that in the 48th.
Okay, I'll leave for now but I'd like to offer to all of you the knowledge that the revolution is continuing. The gathering momentum that we saw this afternoon is real. We have a great chance on Dec 6th and 2006 is looking good. I saw today that we have extended the wave that we started in motion last week with the Nov 8 elections.
It feels so good.