Sept. 17, 2004
www.guilfordian.com
Presidential candidate John Kerry visits Greensboro
Andy Freedman
Staff Writer
Before I say anything else, let
me just start off with this: I
met John Kerry, and that's my picture
with him you see right there. Yes, I
am cool. Anyway ...
On the rainy, miserable morning of
Sept. 7th, I woke up in a huge bed in
a hotel room, slightly startled by the
fact that I wasn't waking up near a
heap of my own smelly laundry in
Binford Hall. After those first few sec
onds of post-wake-up confusion, I
remembered that I was staying with
my sister in a Sheraton Hotel, and
that I was going to a town hall meet
ing sponsored by John Kerry's cam
paign at the old train depot in down
town Greensboro. I also realized that
three floors above me, at that very
moment, John Kerry was probably
waking up, too.
My sister is a senior producer for
reporter Candy Crowley of CNN and
has been covering the Kerry cam
paign since the spring. She got me a
press credential that granted me
"background access" to this event.
After hopping on the press bus and
being introduced to dozens of
reporters for network news compa
nies, I realized that I would be riding
in the actual Kerry motorcade to the
event.
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Once the motorcade got underway,
I had the opportunity to look out my
window and see traffic stopped for
miles, all because of us. Needless to
say, I felt unusually important. At
every single street the motorcade
crossed, there were at least two
police cars waiting around, making
sure the area was safe. Soon, we
arrived at the train depot to a chorus
of chants and yells from both Kerry
and Bush supporters who were stand
ing across the street as we entered
the station.
I entered the room while Kerry was
being introduced by Kay Spangle, a
woman from High Point who said she
had recently been forced to close her
small, family-owned furniture business
after 25 years. "I am very unhappy
about the situation we are forced to
live in. I am 70 years old, and I'm not
ready to throw in the towel," said
Spangle as she introduced Kerry.
After wading through a sea of
applause, Kerry calmed the audience,
only to rile it back up with his self
introduction, "I'm John Edwards' run
ning mate," in acknowledgement of
his presence in Senator Edwards's
home state.
Kerry wasted no time in laying out
his plans for a potential presidency
while highlighting the faults of his
opponent, President George W. Bush.
First, he addressed the loss of 2.7
n^^EKSI
KERRY-EDWARDS CAMPAIGN 2004/ SPECIAL TO GUILFORDIAN
Freedman and sister pose with John Kerry
million jobs,
many to over
seas markets,
during the
Bush presiden
cy. Kerry hit
home by say
ing that
approximately
150,000 of
those 2.7 mil
lion lost jobs
were lost in
North Carolina.
"Every presi
dent has creat
ed jobs except
for George W.
Bush," Kerry
said, as he
vowed to generate more jobs in the
United States if elected.
"W stands for wrong-wrong choices,
wrong direction, we need to make it
right," said Kerry throughout the
speech, as the crowd chanted along
with the tagline.
Kerry discussed what may be the
most controversial issue in this elec
tion: the war in Iraq. Over the past
few months, many accused him of
being unclear on his proposed solu
tion for Iraq, and suggested that the
senator has no plan whatsoever. "The
most catastrophic choice George W.
Bush has made is the mess he has
made in Iraq," Kerry
mmmm sa id "it's not that I
would have just
done one thing dif
ferently, I would
have done every
thing differently."
"Now that we're
there, we do not
want to leave the
country in ruins,"
said Kerry. He dis
cussed what a
waste of money he
believes the war is.
"That's S2OO billion
not invested in
schools, health care,
stem cell research,
technology, home
land security, cops,
firemen, and pre
scription drugs,"
Kerry said, garner
ing more applause.
Kerry went on to
promise the people
in the depot that he
would get all troops
Greensboro. N.C
out of Iraq in four years.
During the Q and A, he touched on
several items he usually doesn't
speak publicly about, like his plans for
the environment and an education
policy he believes is better than No
Child Left Behind, one of Bush's
prominent bills.
Kerry left the depot having generat
ed a large amount of excitement, sup
port and applause, and having laid
out his plans for a potential presiden
cy. After hopping in the motorcade,
we all went to the airport where I said
goodbye to my sister and saw the
Kerry/Edwards plane off on the run
way. Just before Keny got on the
plane, one of his campaign assistants
pulled him aside to have his picture
taken with me. I simply told him that I
was a student in the Greensboro
area, too frozen to think of anything
else to say. I don't remember if he
replied to that.
As the manager tried to take the
picture of Kerry and me with my sis
ter's digital camera he accidentally
turned off the camera, making for an
awkward situation, considering Kerry's
busy schedule. Kerry was going to
Cincinnati, OH, to give the same sort
of speech later that night. I stopped
cringing when a photographer for the
campaign came up and took the pic
ture, and later gave it to my sister.
Phew! Kerry gave me a hard pat on
the back with a smile and got on the
plane. That was c 001.3€
This article is part of a weekly series
about the upcoming presidential
election.
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