A red letter day in Portland

This morning, I sent email to my son's teacher and said, "Joseph and I are declaring a field trip. We have an opportunity to spend most of the day with Howard Dean, and then go to the Kerry rally." To her credit, Claire said that was fine with her, and would no doubt be educational. We went to a 300-person rally at Portland State, which at 1:30pm was filled with young people, with maybe 20% of us old folks (over 30...?) in attendence.

Dean was, as usual, direct, personable, connecting with the crowd, and otherwise frank about his current support for Kerry, and his urge for folks to support Kerry, and if they weren't working for Kerry to work for local progressives, and if not that, run for office yourself! ;)

Then a bunch of us who were key in the Dean campaign here got to meet with Dean in a more intimate setting, and discussed What Comes Next with our movement. Probably half the people in the room were working on Kerry issues already. Most of us are working on GOTV (Get Out The Vote) projects. (Now you know, when you see GOTV, it's not a cable channel! ;)

Then we went to the Kerry rally. We got in the mid-range section, in front of the press risers, behind the "VIP" section. It was lovely to see such a great crowd there.

There were a few opening acts including a musician from Everclear, Representative Earl Blumenaur (district 3 from Oregon, and a great guy on transportation issues amoung others), Barbara Roberts (former governor, and pepperpot -- I want to be her when I grow up!), and then Howard Dean, who got to say some pretty nice things about Kerry. Then a gentleman from the Oregon coast who was from Kerry's unit in Vietnam (Kerry saved his life and he nominated Kerry for a silver star, though Kerry got a bronze w/V). I didn't get his name, but he was a Republican until January, and now he's rousing up support for JK.

Kerry's address was good. He is a little wooden, even in person. He needs to do yoga, or pilates, I think. A lot of tension, beyond the possible stiffness of an old military guy. As a sometimes yoga therapist, it made me wonder if the guy had some old injuries that he hasn't healed right. And his face is not animated.

However, I found his address reasonably inspiring for content, and sincerely delivered. He covered the usual topics -- his policies on health care, non-interventionist foreign policy, human rights by example. It was not just about "I'm not Bush" but more about healing the damage done, and moving forward.

But my ABSOLUTE favorite bit that he pitched was this: Any kid graduating from high school who puts in two years of public service -- whether working with elder shut-ins, tutoring low-income kids, building playgrounds, whatever -- that kid gets four years of tuition free at a state 4-year college or university.

I want to see that -- it could make such a huge difference. It's like the VISTA GI Bill. Right now so many kids are signing up for military service because it's the only way they feel they can hope to get a degree.

Joseph -- my 11 year old son -- says his highlight of the day was hugging Howard Dean. But Kerry's proposal for free tuition for public service tops my list.