Clinton

BILL CLINTON spoke last night at the University of Oregon in Eugene in behalf of his wife's candidacy, and of course, your trusty citizen journalist Nezua was on the scene.

The speech was attended by about 800 - 1000 people. I didn't count, but the venue was switched at the last moment from a ballroom at the EMU that had a capacity of 700, I believe, to an outside courtyard which wasn't quite full. I asked Hillary's press liaison what necessitated the change, and she told me that there were more people in line than would fit in the rather small ballroom. The switch was after the security sweep was done and everyone's credentials checked and everything locked down. Because of the last minute move, the lighting and sound and security went from controlled and having a feeling of being well-organized to an "on-the-fly" and very thrown together situation, in some ways quite lacking. But nothing that prevented us from doing our jobs.

LAST WEEK we watched a young man (whom one person wrote me and called "arrogant") engage the democratic process as he questioned Hillary Clinton during her Town Rally at the South Eugene High School (April 4, 2008). The bold student wanted to know if when all was said and done the Senator was more interested in her own candidacy than preserving or encouraging the viability of the Democratic Party's eventual as-of-yet-unselected nominee. In Part 4, this conclusion to our four part series, she responds.

(Please excuse the audio buzz that can be heard for aprx. the first 50 seconds.)

• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 3
• Part 4

The latest video by Oregon's Official MTV Choose or Lose Street Team 08 Citizen Journalist, Nezua.

Clicking the picture above will take you to the video page.

Crossposted to The Unapologetic Mexican and OpEdNews.

HILLARY CLINTON IN EUGENE [3] continues our HRC four-part series, which features the Senator's appearance at Oregon's South Eugene High School Gymnasium. You've read the comments of Tapper and Suarez and myself and probably many others, regarding this very appearance. If you're one of the chosen ones, you've even seen Parts 1 and 2.

In Part 3, an unscripted Town Hall Question and Answer session leads to one of the room's younger political participants confronting the Presidential candidate on her campaign's negative slant. Watch as Senator Clinton is (respectfully) called "self-serving" to her face. And then come back next week for Part 4 (the conclusion to the series), in which we will see Clinton answer the charge.

The latest video by Oregon's Official MTV Choose or Lose Street Team 08 Citizen Journalist, Nezua.

Clicking the picture above will take you to the video page.

Crossposted to The Unapologetic Mexican, Jesus' General, and OpEdNews.

COVERED THE HILLARY CLINTON campaign stop in Eugene yesterday, at the South Eugene High School. While there was a smattering across a few demographics (there were young people, too), it seemed to my eye to be mostly white women, and older people. (You can't judge by who is behind HRC in the monitor; these people are picked purposely, and often for the very traits I discuss now: sex, age, skin color, and "ethnic" appearance.) However, I did no formal tally, and when the video is made, you can make a judgment for yourself on that aspect.

The truth is, Clinton did her best (even pushing through a tired and "froggy" sounding voice), and her supporters cheered their loudest, and I appreciate her (and their) spirit and ambition and Clinton's manner of laying out her platform. But it was inarguably not a good day for Clinton. She was late, she made everyone wait in the rain longer than we were supposed to, and then inside we waited longer than scheduled. She was heckled about her vote authorizing the Iraq invasion and No Child Left Behind, and about two out of five (I have to check my tape to be sure) questions came to her from Obama supporters. Not to mention the press pass was a cheap xerox instead of a printed and designed document (campaign budget), the gymnasium could have fit, along with nine others the same size (rough guess, probably on the low side, actually) in the venue Obama spoke in when he was here March 21 of this year. I can't help but compare, and I guess in a race like this, that's the point.