I saw JK at Harvard Law School today : )

[MBS]

have to get back to work, can't offer the whole scoop right now, but hope to get back with the details within the hour. But he was (of course) great!

I'll leave you for now with a few factoids:

1. He came to talk to Harvard folks (mostly students-- at the Law School, Kennedy School, undergrads, and a sprinkling of students from the Divinity School and School of Education-- but a few others like me) who are doing phone banking for the Obama campaign. (They've commandeered a lecture hall in the Law School for the purpose).

2. The crowd (filling the huge lecture hall: 200-500 people. .) gave JK a spontaneous standing ovation when he arrived, and another one when he left.



The standing ovation alone made my day. :loveya:

More later, I promise. I took notes .

[blm]

1. Thanks for the warmth in my heart right now.

.

[beachmom]

2. You lucky duck, you!! Looking forward to the rest of your report

when you get the time.

[Democrafty]

3. That sounds amazing!

But what was he wearing???

[MBS]

4. navy blazer , (?) khakis, and (?) loafers

Vineyard Vines blue whale tie. I'm sure about the blazer and the tie, not about the rest. Sorry, forgot about the need to absorb all the fashion details for this forum. Oh, he was NOT wearing glasses. I know that's an important detail for some here ;-)

[Democrafty]

5. Thank you!!! n/t

[Noisy Democrat]

6. Aww!

Thank you for warming the cockles of this Kerrycrat's heart. The standing ovation story makes me very happy.

[MBS]

7. Here're the promised details

February 4, 2008, day before “Tsunami Tuesday”.
MBS got email at 1:39 pm that JK coming to Austin Hall at Harvard Law School at 1:45 pm to speak to Obama phone-bankers.

Cool! That’s right next door! MBS makes lame excuses to colleagues about “needing to do something, back in about 15 minutes”, then runs over to the Ames lecture room in Austin Hall. The room , which holds at least 500, possibly more, was almost full. Almost everyone there had phone lists, and were making calls on cell phones. MBS got a seat in front row on the right side, nearest the door.

Around 2:15 (oops, already AWOL from work more than the promised 15 minutes, oh, well B-)), JK enters to spontaneous standing ovation. Oh, even 11 days later, that still warms my heart. :loveya:
JK polled students for their affiliations: Lots of law students, undergrads, many from the Kennedy School, a few from the Divinity School , and at least one in the Graduate School of Education (she was sitting next to me) .

Here are some of his comments, not necessarily in the order he made them (I only had a small piece of scrap paper handy, so I just scrawled the notes wherever I could find room on the sheet. ) . Words in ( ) are my paraphrase, words in italics are my commentary
ON DIVISIVE POLITICS especially of last decade
• "Divisive politics wastes everyone’s time, and insults the intelligence of the electorate and (inhibits) democracy"
•”Stunning”yup, his exact word :) that JK has spent less time at the W White House than during the period of either Bush 1 or Reagan
On JK and Teddy Kennedy signing onto Obama campaign, and signing on for change:
(For both of us)" deciding to support Obama" (vs. Hillary and other senate colleagues) “was not a small thing.Both of us have had the Clintons to our homes” . . But we were both so frustrated” (clear implication: "you think you’re frustrated.. we two senators are frustrated, too!")
Obama has the ability to “inspire people to be reasonable and pull people together”
. . on the need for change: “Obama offers a chance”. .

“I’ve never seen such energy. . (this is) the biggest grass-roots effort (I’ve seen) in the last 20-30 years."
On resistance to change in Congress: “Our colleagues are threatened” by (the energy for change embodied in the Obama campaign). . .the “grass roots accountability sends shivers down the spines of our colleagues”

MISCELLANEOUS COMMENTS
JK mentioned that he did NOT sign on to HRC’s 1994 health plan, but “went with Bill Bradley and Bob Dole”

ON THE PRIMARY
The primary is “as much of a crap shoot as I’ve ever seen”
“Some of my Clinton friends—the few I have left—(guessed that) Obama could be up by 100-150 delegates after Super Tuesday” . . but JK guessed that other things could happen, too. . . even JK's alternate scenarios, envisaging a less strong win for Obama, still implied that HRC was starting to fade. . this man is not stupid politically. I keep thinking of someone’s comment, I can’t remember who it was, or exactly when he said it (but a year or two ago, I think), that JK is the most underrated politician in America. That comment still feels right to me.

Audience question: “What next?”
JK answer: (strategy and prognosis depends on outcome of Super Tuesday). .(a) He suggested that MA students campaign in Rhode Island, next door. . (b) There are the super-delegates “the high mucky-mucks of Democratic politics. . congress, committee people. .”an awful lot of them want to be with the winner” a diplomatic statement if I ever heard one :) By the way, I've heard on TV since then that this is a project that JK is focusing on , in his campaign efforts for Obama(c) He also envisioned the probability that the primary would come down to “a dogfight, hand-to-hand combat”. . a most apt pair of metaphors, alas. .

At the end, another standing ovation. On the way out, Kerry shook hands with everyone in the front row. I was ready! When he got to me, I introduced myself :“I’m MBS, one of your supporters". “You look familiar”, he said. LOL :rofl:. He put his hand on my shoulder and asked how I was (oh, how to summarize the last wretched year in a sentence? I just said, “Fine”).
As I wrote earlier, those two standing ovations, so well deserved, and so overdue, made my day. But he deserves lots more.

[karynnj]

8. This is amazing that he was saying that pre-Feb 5!

In a way there is a lot of similarity in the way Obama is winning to JK in 2004 - the similarity is hidden by the extreme difference in the competitive field - but its the same solid ground game - in Obama's case in Iowa, but even more in the post SuperTuesday states - where HRC woke up and saw she had no plan B.

Obama and the people behind him are clearly better strategists that then hyped Clinton people - who still could find a way to win, though it would likely destroy the party in the process.

[blm]

10. Looks to me like the lessons Kerry learned and organization he developed in 2004

is being put to use again. It's obvious to me that Kerry's been helping Obama much longer than his public endorsement. You don't get a national network like that in a month.

[Democrafty]

9. Thanks for the update!

It sounds like a great event, and I'm so glad you got to talk to JK!