Obama table in Madison: September 15 Edition

[zulchzulu]

It was th first fall-like day with lots of people from all over the globe walking along and choosing from all kinds of locally grown, baked, crafted and political flavors. The Obama table is one feature to many at what the New York Times mentioned "The Dane County Farmers' Market in Wisconsin is now recognized as the largest in the nation, and is still growing."

There was a nip in the air with autumn suddenly making a show with crowds of people donning sweaters and long pants.

The night before the tabling, I made sure the weekly war scorecard was updated and very visible. Here's this week's sad news:

Weekly War Scorecard

Cost of Iraq Occupation:
(running total):
$451,601,726,593

American Deaths:
3,780

American Wounded:
27,848

Iraqi Body Count:
72,130 (Min) 78,555 (Max)

As of September 14, 2007 at 12:00AM

Sources:
www.iraqbodycount.net
www.defenselink.mil
www.antiwar.com/casualties
www.costofwar.com

Before I could set up with the bunting on the portable table and begin the start of the day, a family of people noticed the Obama bumperstickers in a pile ready to be displayed. The mother, probably in her thirties and nicely dressed for the autumnal morning, asked me what was going on. I told her I was still setting up a table for Barack Obama. She was very enthusiastic about seeing such a thing and asked if I had any buttons or bumperstickers.

Normally, I'd ask the person to wait a second while I set up. The process usually takes about three minutes to be presentable and then another ten minutes to tweak for the weather and crowd. If it was windy like the morning so far, you set up in layers of importance while you make sure that what you put on the table is weighed down by a rock, a coaster or something that a dog won't want.

The woman told me she had helped organize a fundraiser for Obama in Washington DC and just needed something to be visible as an Obama supporter at the University of Wisconsin football game hours later. Before I gave her some stickers, bumpersticker and a button, she told me about how successful the event was and they made a lot of money.

It was really great to see such enthusiasm even before I was set up for the day.

As the day went on, people asked about Thompson and Clinton and whether it's going to be them in the Presidential race. I stayed away from speculating about Clinton, but got many laughs referring to Thompson as "Frederick Of Hollywood".

I'm getting closer to finishing up a mini-documentary about the Obma table and will upload to YouTube soon. It will mainly be more about what you or anyone can do to set up a table and how to make it easy as possible to get it all going.

Less than four months to go before the first votes are cast...and the autumn is finally in the air.

[Ethelk2044]

1. As always, I enjoyed your post.

It is always nice to hear about the people you meet.

[illinoisprogressive]

2. I can't wait for your video. It should be wonderful