A lot of people might recall then Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson's speeches the last two times Bush came to Salt Lake City. (2006 speech) (2007 speech)

Well, Rocky is planning an even larger demonstration when President Bush and Mitt "double-gitmo" Romney visit Utah again next week.

Since leaving office in Jan, has formed High Road for Human Rights Advocacy Project, which is sponsoring the event.

Rally for Peace and Human Rights.

If you're in Utah next Wednesday, May 28th, take an hour from 5:30 - 6:30pm at Washington Square in Downtown Salt Lake City (451 South State Street) and lend your voice to this protest.

Even if you're not in the Salt Lake City area next Wednesday, High Road could use a a little help with money to help defray costs. This is a very expensive undertaking and High Road is a non-profit still in its very early stages. You can help out HERE.

Reading about the impressive crowd size at the Portland Obama Rally caused me to reminisce about another awesome Presidential rally - John Kerry's Portland water front park rally in 2004.

Here are some of the awesome pictures:

The crowd size was estimated at 50,000.  Link

Some 50,000 people came out to hear John Kerry and special guests speak in Portland on a sweltering hot summer day. Your phototographer arrived before 10AM, and Kerry finished speaking a tad after 2PM. (I'm wearing a towel over my head - find the shot of me in here).

Along with Kerry, the rally included quick speeches by Oregon's Democratic representatives and leaders: Governor Ted Kulongoski, Senator Ron Wyden, and Representatives Darlene Hooley, David Wu, and Earl Blumenauer. Celebrity guests included actor Leonardo DiCaprio, and rock musicians Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora (who played two accoustic songs).

Finally, the Kerry busses arrived, and Kerry's step-son Chris Heinz spoke briefly first. Then Tereasa Heinz Kerry spoke for quite a few minutes. Jim Rassmann (whose live Kerry saved in Vietnam) also spoke briefly. Retired General Tony McPeak - a Republican critic of Bush's policies - was on stage but did not speak.

Kerry spoke last. He got a lively reception from a large crowd that had been waiting several hours in the heat.

Watching that rally, I was very confident that John Kerry would become our next President.  He and John Edwards were getting amazingly huge and enthusiastic crowds all over blue America.

I cried the day I watched John Kerry concede in Boston on TV.  It was incomprehensible to me why he would lose  --  he was getting huge and fantastic crowds all over the place compared to GWB.

I'm less naïve now.  Like Kristen Breitweiser, I have learned to understand that it is all about swing state electoral votes.  Big crowds in Oregon and Pennsylvania are fantastic but they won't guarantee us victory in November.  Both Obama and Clinton would beat McCain in Oregon according to the most recent head-to-head Oregon poll (Link),  but that would not guarantee us victory in the 15 critical swing states that include Ohio, Florida, Michigan, West Virginia.

Kristen's article Reality Bites: Swing-State Math is very helpful to me in understanding why John Kerry didn't win.  It's a must read.  

Excerpt:

In '04, I traveled as a surrogate for the John Kerry campaign. I was sent to places like Iowa, Ohio, Nevada, Colorado, Wisconsin, New Hampshire, and Florida. Quite the roadtrip.

In the beginning, I wondered why I kept getting sent to these random "swing states." Iowa (a state in 2004 with, yes folks, only one Starbucks!!) Why did Iowa matter? I was a political novice. So dumb. So naïve.

To me, it seemed so terribly undemocratic that a handful of states could determine who became our president. Likewise, It never truly clicked in my head when my New Yorker friends would wryly state that their vote didn't count. Of course their vote counted. Every vote counts. This is America, right?

And then on Election Day '04, I learned the hard way why those swing states mattered so much. John Kerry lost Ohio and Florida and therefore lost the election to George Bush. Four more grueling years of Republican rule. My impression on that sad day? 1460 days to go.

Now with roughly 240 days until Election Day '08, one thing remains the same: THE ONLY VOTES THAT WILL MAKE THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ELECTING JOHN MCCAIN AND A DEMOCRAT TO THE WHITE HOUSE ARE THE SWING STATES.

So with all this talk of delegates and superdelegates counting and not counting, why has nobody (at least to my knowledge) looked at how either Clinton or Obama performs against McCain in the crucial 15 swing states? Frankly speaking, isn't that really all that matters?

Like Kristen, I want a nominee that can win the GE -- the one that has a better odds at winning the swing states.  In my opinion, that candidate is Hillary Clinton.

I don't believe this but The Page says it is validated by the fire chief in the city of Portland.

Folks, Obama is more popular than NFL football, which averages about 68,000 a game on Sundays. My prediction of 60%-40% over McCain in November might be on the money. And anyone who scoffs at this....just remember, 40%-45% of people who can vote, don't. Obama isn't only shooting for traditional voters, he is shooting for this much larger pool, about 80 million people, of disaffected voters. I'm not kidding at all when I say we could be witnessing the end of the Republican party.

This is called taking your country back.

http://thepage.time.com/2008/05/18/obama -gets-largest-crowd-to-date/

Just for grins... Wikipedia says Portland has an estimated population of ~568K people. That's 1 out of 8 people in the WHOLE FREAKIN' CITY, with more waiting to get in.

Confirmed: The largest rally in presidental primary history was in Portland today.

A picture is worth a thousand words:

Marc Ambinder reports from Philadelphia:

    PHILADELPHIA -- It wasn't so much that Barack Obama had real fight in him tonight, or that more people attended his rally in front of Indendence Hall than any other event since he announced his candidacy. It was the spontaneous demonstration of support that happened when it ended.

   5,000 people (at least) had nowhere to go but up Market Street. Obama's charge of the night: "Declare independence!" was with them. They started with the familiar "O-Bam-A." By 7th and Market, they had graduated to "Yes we can!" By 10th and Market, with hundreds streaming in between cars on the road, they were just cheering. At first, a few Philly cops, killjoys, tried to rough the crowd to the sidewalks. It didn't work. The cops retreated to the sidewalks. By the time I ducked into my hotel, a full mile away from Independence Park, the Obama crowd was still marching.

Last night was a little unusual in my quiet life.  At a local college in NW Pennsylvania, a rally was planned for Hillary Clinton, with just a couple of days notice. As might have  been expected, the plans were poorly made for the size of the crowd that arrived to see Hillary.  Because you see, we haven't had a primary in Pennsylvania in many decades and practice is needed in what to expect.  We have just had to go along with whatever the rest of the country decided for us.  Not this time.

I object to poorly made plans at rallies like this because I usually end up being tortured by the results as I and so many others were made to do last night.  We waited in 38 degree weather for over 2 hours to get into the rally. We waited in bitterly cold wind and snow , and because the weather had changed significantly during the day many of us had thin spring jackets on. My friends and some family members arrived an hour and forty-five minutes early, and waited in a line that wound all the way across campus before we were cleared by security and could go in. But in the end, after all the hassle and cold, people were roaring when Hillary walked into the room, and were ready to show her how much we appreciated the time she took to stop there.

But, that is not what I am writing to tell you about last night.  Most of all, I want to explain how my heart unexpectedly swelled when I was walking onto the floor of the gym where the rally was held.  I was so proud of the people of Pennsylvania and my small city for coming to show their support for Hillary Clinton, and for encouraging her to stay in the fight until the end.  This despite announcements coming from all sides from Obama supporters, politicians, and media telling us that the campaign is all over, and we shouldn't claim a right to vote our hopes and dreams for the "sake of the party".  Really, it seems their calls are for the sake of Obama, and themselves, without a thought to millions of others who participate in the same society as equals.  In my city in my state, we have not even begun to fight and it is telling that there is such tremendous interest in a candidacy that supposedly is not alive, and barely limping along.

Plug In America Needs Your Help. You Are Invited!

Plug in America Press Conference and Rally

Date: Wednesday - March 26, 2008
Time: 10:30 a.m.
Where: California EPA Building
..........1001 I Street
..........Sacramento, Ca

Electric Car Drivers: Bring Your EVs!

We want zero emission electric cars on the road, and we want them NOW! Help PIA inspire Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and CARB Chair Mary Nichols to do the right thing by clicking here.

I realize that I am only inviting flaming and troll rating for posting this here, but I really feel like it is something people should see and consider. Please watch the video here and then wander back this way.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/02/24 /hillary-clinton-mocks-bar_n_88194.html

Granted, I am an Obama supporter, but I'd like to think I have also been pretty supportive of Clinton here. Generally I have felt that she would make an excellent president and intend to fully support her in the general should see receive the nomination.

I cannot, however, for the life of me, fathom what she thought she was doing here. This is so over the top, so completely absurd... I'm really at a loss. Who in the world let her get up there and make remarks like this?

Dean killed his campaign with a far milder performance than this.

I attended Hillary's debate rally last night on the campus of UT Austin.