So last night I had the chance -- thanks to a very timely post from DtheO -- to attend a raucous, inspiring event featuring Elizabeth Warren at the landmark Doyle's pub in Jamaica Plain. Thank you so much, DtheO, for letting me -- and others -- know about this event!
Having the chance to see a candidate in a setting where they...how to say...let their hair down a bit is quite refreshing, as well as fun and funny -- and in this case more than inspiring, especially as we enter the final, exhausting two week stretch before Election Day when we'll all be working our tails off.
To say that Elizabeth was in fine form last night would be an understatement. The Oklahoma twang definitely comes out a bit more when she's in a bar.
Guinness in hand (she was serving), she was joined behind the bar by several members of the Boston City Council (Ayanna Pressley, Felix Arroyo and Matt O'Malley).
I arrived in time to join the overflow crowd which was beyond enthusiastic and fired up. After remarks from Pressley, Arroyo and O'Malley, Elizabeth stepped up onto a crate so she could be seen and spoke about how, when she was debating whether or not to run for the Senate, one of the places she visited was Jamaica Plain, basically to find out whether, if she did indeed run, would she have support. And needless to say JP said "You bet!"
She described the sales pitch for running from Democratic Party leaders (presumably) as "a really lousy sales pitch" which included assurances that her family, reputation, life's work, and she herself would be attacked, dragged through the mud and slandered relentlessly -- but they hoped she would still agree to run. :-)
She then spoke movingly, as she has at other recent campaign events, of her three older brothers and how the lessons from their lives inspire what she's fighting for in this campaign. Her eldest brother flew hundreds of combat missions in Vietnam, so she learned early that supporting veterans no matter what is critical. Her middle brother is secure in his later years now because he has a pension from being a union construction worker, hence she learned a long time ago how important unions are. And her third brother took a lot of risks starting businesses and had a rough go of it; in his old age Social Security and Medicare are the only thing he has to rely on, so she knows first hand how important those programs are and will never undermine them.
She wrapped up her remarks by relating that as the only girl in a family of boys and especially given the big age difference between herself and her brothers, she learned early on that she had to fight for everything and not to be afraid. She then assured the crowd that despite all the ugliness of this campaign so far and who knows what's in store in the next two weeks: "I am not afraid." It was probably the only time this week/month you could have heard a pin drop at Doyle's...followed quickly by wild cheering and stomping of feet. :-)
The highlight for me was finally having the chance to give Elizabeth a big hug and thank her for running and putting up with all the mud. She got lots more hugs as she made the rounds taking pictures with folks in the crowd.
Several local news sources have photos and video from the Doyle's event. Check out their coverage at the links below, as they won't let me embed their content:
http://jamaicaplain.patch.com/...
http://www.bostonherald.com/...
More GOTV inspiration arrived in my Inbox this morning:
* A new poll by MassInc for Boston's NPR news station WBUR shows Elizabeth up by 6 points! As Joan noted in her recent diary, based on the last time MassInc polled the race, they show a significant switch toward Elizabeth, so this is encouraging news at this point.
* The campaign has just sent out a wonderful video called (appropriately) "Momentum" with lots of great video from campaign events over the past year:
Two more weeks to go! I hope you're feeling as fired up as I am!
Obligatory link to ElizabethWarren.com for donations & GOTV sign up.