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Political Rallies Have A Certain Allure

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By KLINT LOWRY | The Suncoast News

Published: November 1, 2008

NEW PORT RICHEY - There are two ends of the political spectrum in this country. No, not Democrats and Republicans, but something more basic - those who are interested in politics and those who aren't.

Averaging out the reported estimates, something in the neighborhood of 2,500 people from the interested camp came to Sims Park Monday to cheer Democratic vice presidential candidate Sen. Joe Biden at a rally that launched of a late-campaign blitz through an Electoral College vote-rich battleground state like Florida.

They will have a chance to have a similar experience today, Saturday. Biden's Republican opposite number, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, is slated to be at Sims Park for a rally beginning around 9 a.m.

This all could seem puzzling to those who've never felt compelled to go to a political rally and have only seen them on television. The candidates seem to say the same old lines they've been saying for months, and they seem to be saying them to enthusiastic supporters whose votes are in the bag already.

Why are people willing to wait in line, besieged by souvenir peddlers and campaign workers, then go through a metal detector and possible pat down, then stand in a fenced-in area for two hours waiting for the event to begin?

"We just want to feel like were a part of it," said Eric Baldwin, who came from Lutz with wife Tamara to see Biden. This was their first rally, and it was pretty much as they expected.

"We've been following the campaign for almost two years now, and we're excited and we wanted to participate, do more than just watch it on the news," Baldwin said. "I don't think (Biden)'s going to break any major news tonight or there's going to be a portion of the crowd that wasn't going to vote for Obama and now they will."

Coming to something like this is a way of helping make sure people stay excited and actually go out and vote on Election Day, he added.

Don and Paula Ritsz of New Port Richey wanted to contribute to the energy, too, in a different way. They came to the Biden rally wearing McCain-Palin T-shirts, not to cause trouble, but to stir the pot a little in a positive way.

"It's fun," Don Ritsz said. "We believe what we believe and they believe what they believe."

Open dialog, thinking for yourself and respecting the other guy's opinion are important parts of democracy, Ritsz said. Actually, he added, he's liked Biden for years, and would have liked to have seen him on the top of the Democratic ticket.

Bill Kropik and wife Karen came to celebrate democracy in a more bipartisan way. Instead of campaign pins and T-shirts, they came decked out in the Stars and Stripes. Bill, a former New Port Richey building official, was sporting an Uncle Sam top hat.

The couple said they attend whenever there are political rallies in the area, regardless of the party. "It's a part of history, and people should be proud they have a right to vote," Karen said.

About 200 hundred yards, three rows of barricades and several police officers away, a vociferous group of supporters of Republican presidential standard-bearer John McCain was trying to be heard over Biden's amplified voice. Like the Obama-Biden supporters, their minds were made up and they had no delusions of coming away with a mass of converts.

Still, their being at the Biden rally had its purpose, Brad Case of Tarpon Springs said. "To show there is an opposing voice," he said.

Not everyone can afford cable TV, and the traditional broadcast network news operations seem to be making it sound like a Nov. 4 Obama landslide is inevitable, Case said.

So they were there to help make sure people knew the McCain campaign and its supporters were alive and well, Case said.

One of the plusses of coming to a rally in person, Case said, is you aren't seeing what some TV producer thinks you should see. Instead, you see and hear everything from the candidate and everyone else who's there, he said.

Over and over, the stated motivation for both supporters and detractors to come to the rally was a sense of participation and a desire to be able to look back one day and be able to say, "I was there."

"It's part of my life," said Joyce Peterson, who came with friends Pam Raddatz and Elly McCarthy. At 72, Peterson said, she has to honestly wonder how many more presidential elections she might get to be part of. She doesn't want to take this one for granted, particularly with the possible election of America's first African-American president, she said.

"This is history," Raddatz said.

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