This weekend my wife and I spent a lot of time with the Warren campaign. On Saturday we attended the event in Hopkinton that Kate mentioned a few days ago. Elizabeth Warren appeared at the Laborers’ Training Center with Joe Kennedy III and former Senator Max Cleland. They drew a capacity crowd to a pretty large room, and people waited patiently for their arrival even though Warren and Cleland arrived over an hour late from their prior stop in Beverly. In the front row were combat veterans from World War II through Iraq and Afghanistan showing their support. They were led into the hall by my mayor here in Newton, Iraq War vet Setti Warren. Elizabeth Warren later called him “my cousin Setti.”
Joe Kennedy spoke movingly of having Elizabeth Warren as a professor in law school. He told the crowd that, on the first day of law school, she wouldn’t let him hide in the back corner and wouldn’t let him get away with being unprepared. She was a demanding teacher but her decency and values always came through, Kennedy said. When he graduated, she presented him with his degree and asked him the same question she had asked him on Day 1 of law school. This time he knew the answer. Kennedy said Max Cleland is a true American hero, who has demonstrated both physical and moral courage. He fought for his country in Vietnam and again in the United States Senate, and both times he paid a price, but he continues to fight for veterans and average Americans, who are being left behind by the Republicans.
Senator Cleland said he was first motivated to move to Washington (or, as he put it, “to get the hell out of the South and come to where the action was”), when Bobby Kennedy came to his alma mater, Stetson College in Florida, to meet with students in 1962. Cleland participated in a semester-in-Washington program and caught Potomac Fever. He said Hubert Humphrey said the only cure for that particular disease is embalming fluid (I thought it was Estes Kefauver who said that about Presidential ambition, but whatever), and he praised both Kennedy and Warren as candidates who understand how important the stakes are, at this time in our history, for ordinary Americans. Elizabeth Warren, he said, “is a very special woman. I know that for sure cause I looked in her binder.”
Max Cleland’s 2002 defeat angered me as much as the Bush-Gore fiasco and the Swift Boating of Senator Kerry. As I’m sure most of you remember, in 1968 Cleland lost his legs and right forearm when hit by an exploding grenade in Vietnam. He was elected to the U.S. Senate from Georgia in 1996. After the September 11 attacks, Cleland was one of the Democrats who proposed the creation of the Department of Homeland Security. The Bush administraton and congressional Republicans took advantage of the idea, stripping collective bargaining protections from federal employees being transferred into the new department from other departments. Like most Democrats, Cleland voted no on those Republican proposals and yes on Democratic bills that created the new department while maintaining existing collective barganing rights. Cleland’s 2002 opponent, right-winger Saxby Chambliss (who naturally had student deferments during the Vietnam War), ran ads showing Cleland with Bin Laden and Saddam Hussein. Cleland, leading in the polls by five points late in the campaign, lost by 7.
Elizabeth Warren said she learned two things about Joe Kennedy from teaching him: he has a big heart and he will work his tail off. She praised Max Cleland’s heroism and spoke movingly of her three brothers who served in the military. The first, she said, was a career officer who served 288 combat missions. She learned from him the importance of support for our military families by supporting a strong V.A and deploying them only when necessary. The second, after serving in the military, was a union member. She said she learned from him how important our unions are in preserving a middle class. The third brother, she said, had launched a few businesses that failed to take off. As a senior citizen today, he relies on Social Security and Medicare, and she learned from him that we must never, ever cut them. She stressed the difference between her vision for America and that pushed by Scott Brown, Mitt Romney, Sean Bielat, and Co.
I have seen Warren speak several times this year and, I have to say, she’s a different candidate now. She really seems to be hitting her stride. You can tell that she’s confident in her message and getting more comfortable on the stump. She also seems to be drawing big crowds across the state and inspiring many people to volunteer.
After the event ended we were talked into doing some canvassing out that way, and met a lot of voters. There were several, previously undecided, that said they weren’t sure about her because of what Brown’s been saying about this asbestos case. Happily I had in my car a file with many copies of the letter from asbestos victims’ attorneys posted by Lynne, and last week’s Globe article calling Brown on his distortion. The voters I met were surprised to see this and said they were disappointed in Brown and now thought they’d vote for Warren.
From there we went to the Berkshires, to spend the night with friends. Yesterday we canvassed again in the far western reaches of the state. Warren lawn signs were in abundance out there and it seems Brown might well get his clock cleaned worse than in 2010, when he lost most of these towns 3-1 or 2-1. On the way home we decided to stop for dinner in Shelburne Falls and drove up just in time to see…Elizabeth Warren, speaking to a couple of hundred enthusiastic supporters on the sidewalk near the Bridge of Flowers. We had no idea she would be there, so it was a pleasant surprise and the enthusiasm was clear. We were told that she had just come from a packed rally in Northampton.
Today, I’m back in Newton and Scott Brown is back on my radar. I drove my wife to work in Roxbury this morning and saw ten or more people with “Obama Supporters for Brown” shirts and placards in the Columbus Av. median strip. I wanted to ask them if they were for real, but the traffic flow didn’t permit it. Apparently Scott had these folks out at the Ashmont T station last week and at least some of them seemed to be in it for the pay. I also got to hear Scott’s new radio ad targeted at women. Did you know Scott Brown is not only pro-choice, he believes in equal pay for equal work? Silly me, I thought there were some things in his Senate voting record that suggested otherwise.
But if women can’t vote for Brown based on his record, they might be swayed by former Lowell mayor Rita Mercier, who argues Scott’s “house full of women” would not have been adorable or strong or independent without Scott in their lives. Only Scott’s strong male presence, you see, “allowed them to blossom.”
Nothing prepared me for Mayor MegabucksBloomberg’s recent suggestion that Elizabeth Warren’s election would usher in socialism, or a return to the U.S.S.R. Though phrased in a “one could say” sort of hypothetical manner, these comments are patently absurd. I lived in New York City during, and after, 9/11 and remember vividly that this guy only got in because the attack threw the 2001 election season into chaos. All of a sudden some people cared what Giuliani thought again. Since then Bloomberg’s been chasing the dwindling middle class straight out of an increasingly unaffordable city as he buys himself reelection every four years. What a joke.
Based on my weekend on the trail, I’m feeling good about this one. But let’s not forget the lesson of Max Cleland. A week or two out, he looked good in the polls. And just as Max Cleland was painted as weak on national defense after losing three limbs in Vietnam, Scott Brown has portrayed himself, sucessfully in 2010, as a moderate populist. A regular townie guy with a pickup, not like the mucky-muck from across the river who want to raise your taxes. The end is in sight, so let’s everyone canvass and GOTV!
Was nice to hear all the details, even if your canvassing description made me feel even more than usual that I’m not very good at it. (I certainly haven’t had anyone tell me they’ve changed their minds. But hey, at least I’m IDing supporters and “don’t bothers.” And I do plan to be forcefully badgering people to vote when it’s GOTV time….)
I’m really impressed with how much energy and enthusiasm Elizabeth Warren has on the trail, and she’s just spectacular doing meet and greet.
We talked with a lot of people and it was only two couples who said they were swayed. Their issue was the asbestos case, they thought maybe she hadn’t been honest and didn’t know what to believe.
I just said, “That was a very complicated case and it was in the courts for many years. Elizabeth Warren just worked on one specific issue, and on that issue most asbestos workers were on her side. After she left the case, the case kept going and the final result wasn’t good, but she didn’t have anything to do with that.
“So what Senator Brown’s been saying just isn’t accurate. But you don’t have to take my word for it. The Globe just had an article saying Senator Brown is misleading folks, and the lead lawyers for the asbestos workers in Boston sent a letter to their clients to clarify the facts. The letter doesn’t endorse Elizabeth Warren, they just want people to have the facts.”
“If you’re interested, I’ve got copies of that and you can look it over.”
So that was my spiel. These two couples took the letter and Globe article, scanned it, and said it seemed pretty clear Scott wasn’t being truthful about the case and that removed their one big concern about Warren. Seems they thought maybe Warren wasn’t honest and now think it’s Brown who’s not honest.
The truth, even if a bit complicated, shall set you free.
I think it highly unlikely I’ve had any effect changing anyone’s mind. I console myself that it’s more a setup for GOTV 🙂 Think it’s awesome you were ready with the asbestos case backup. Great work.
Great job canvassing; thanks for all you do. I’ve been going out about once/week in my Boston neighborhood (Allston/Brighton). This past weekend I found a lot more Warren than Brown supporters and more enthusiasm. Things are moving in Elizabeth’s direction.
My best canvassing win was finding a supporter who was moving to Arizona the next week, and getting him an absentee ballot application (+ stamped envelope) so that he could vote.
what a good idea, taking a few copies of the letter and article with you. Glad it was useful! It was from a friend of mine on FB who’d been a recipient and I posted it with permission.