Murrysville, PA canvass with Dean, candidates, and neighborhood kids.

[madfloridian]

Thanks for posting this, Josh.

BTW our turnout was way more than we expected. Never go by who signs up for these things. I have heard several say they had at least twice more than signed up.

http://www.democrats.org/a/2006/07/the_democratic_11.php

The Democratic Reunion: Governor Dean in Pennsylvania

This morning I met up with Governor Dean and around 80 volunteers at Bob's Inn in Murrysville, Pennsylvania for a Democratic Reunion event. Fred Terling, a DNC-funded organizer for Pennsylvania, helped organize the canvass with Jason Altmire, the Democrat running against Melissa Hart in PA-04, and a host of other Democratic officials and volunteers (including Danny Bertani, the Westmoreland County Democratic Chairman, State Rep. John Pallone, County Commissioner Tom Balia, and County Clerk Dave Patterson).

I got to Bob's Inn and found a packed restaurant of people eager to hear from both Jason Altmire and Governor Dean. Fred gave a quick run-down of the canvass itself, and given that the turnout was triple what was expected, had to think-fast on a shortage of walk lists -- certainly a nice problem to have. After a 10-minute warm-up speech and shaking quite a few hands, our small group headed out to a quiet neighborhood in Murrysville to start walking, while others scattered elsewhere across town, walk lists and door hangers in hand.



I'm won't even try pretend that Governor Dean's presence in a neighborhood on a Saturday morning is subtle. He's always well-recognized and people are always eager to talk. But as soon as everyone hit the ground, it was all business. The Governor was quick to get to the first voter, stunning the man who had stepped out to see what the gathering canvassers were up to. After a brief conversation, it was on to the next house. As Governor Dean worked his way down one side of the street (the even side), Altmire volunteers headed down the other. By the end, everyone was so thrilled with the way things had gone that the Governor walked back up the street, talking with residents who had missed on his first pass.

[AnnieBW]

1. Go Howard!!! Go Jason!!!

My folks are in Sweet Melissa's district (but not in Murrysville). Jason's a good guy, from a long-standing farmer's family. I hope he KICKS HER SKINNY ASS in November!

[madfloridian]

2. I hope so, too.

Looks like people were so enthusiastic. I hear it was really hot, though.

Good luck.

[BurgherHoldtheLies]

3. There was also a private fundraiser for Altmire w/ Dean (I attended)

After Governor Dean made the rounds in Murrysville, there was a fundraiser in Fox Chapel later that evening. They got twice as many people as they expected at that event too and raised some much needed cash to take on Melissa Hart. Both Jason Altmire and Gov. Dean spoke and then mingled with the guests. It was exciting and inspiring.

P.S. I got to shake Gov. Dean's hand.:woohoo:

[AnnieBW]

4. My parents were invited

But decided not to go because they had to be up early the next morning to do the money-counting at their church. Grrrr.... Parents. They can drive ya nuts sometimes.

Apparently Melissa issued this bullsh*t thing about "Jason Altmeyer being out of touch with the district's values". Sheesh.... by campaigning door-to-door, he's getting in touch with the district!

Oh, and I was wrong. Jason isn't from the Altmeyer Farm (Marshall Twp family farm) people. But his wife works for AARP. My folks know them pretty well, and are really impressed.

[madfloridian]

5. Nice article on this with a picture.

Of course it is filled with the usual Republican putdowns. They always do that. One paragraph about Democrats, the rest about what the Republicans say about them. Not much coverage of the event in the media, though, not that I expected it.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06211/709755-177.stm

"The Democratic Party is so sure that three-term incumbent Congresswoman Melissa Hart can be unseated that national chairman Howard Dean campaigned for challenger Jason Altmire yesterday in Murrysville.

"Jason is a fine guy," the former presidential candidate and Vermont governor said while stumping for Mr. Altmire on Gleneagle Drive. "But unless he can win this seat, I don't do this kind of thing."

The Hart campaign responded that Mr. Dean is an extreme, left-wing liberal, and that campaigning with him shows that Mr. Altmire is out of touch with the district's values.

The Democratic National Committee organized door-to-door canvassing yesterday, 100 days before the Nov. 7 election, in congressional districts throughout the United States.

Mr. Altmire, of McCandless, said he is closer now than the final votes in Ms. Hart's previous three elections. Two months ago, his polling found him trailing her 53 percent to 39 percent, "when a lot of people didn't know me."

Now, when pitted against no specific opponent, his polling shows Ms. Hart, of Bradford Woods, with a 50 percent to 45 percent edge."

[madfloridian]

6. I think this is one of only 3 threads about the Dem Reunion.

At least I have not seen anymore. On a board of over 85,000 last I heard, only 3 posts about an event like this. Two of them were mine. I got enthusiastic for a while, but now I'm not.

[madfloridian]

7. More stories at the blog.

http://www.democrats.org/blog.html