Ohio(Vienna) Host VIctory Rally for McCain/Palin

17 September 2008 | DollyCali

[DollyCali]

Ohio(Vienna) Host VIctory Rally for McCain/Palin

How do you define “Boonies”

Well lets try Vienna, Ohio. Winner Hanger. Youngstown – Warren Regional Airport. Site of the McCain/Palin Rally on Tuesday September 16, 2008. A few pix are at the end of the post under “OTHER STUFF”.

Doors opened at 1 & the rally started about 20 minutes late at 4:20 PM. The airport parking lot is very small & most of the 8,000 or so attendees parked elsewhere & were bused in. Long lines & long times to leave were the rule. We had a handicap sign & parked right at the fence to the airport. A few okay things about being older & feeble?

I drove with friend Bill (Wheelbarrow) who at 83 does pretty well, but has some difficulty with mobility.



Lots of small town America around it replete with parks, farming, colleges, small businesses.

Heavily Blue/Democratic & BIG supporters of Hillary in the primaries. Not too far from Pennsylvania border this even drew people from as far as Toledo, Columbus, Pennsylvania. Lots of us from the nearyby counties. Our ride was about an hour east & an area I had quite a bit of familiarity with having biked here dozens of times & also in Vienna I did some pulpit supply at the Local Presbyterian Church.


It is in the Eastern Standard time zone. Elevation is 1,158 feet. The population, at the time of the 2000 census, was 4,021. The local media household income is 44, 570. It has 33 cemeteries!!!!! (in or nearby).. one of which we spent about half an hour checking out after the Rally.


The normal SS check welcomed us plus a myriad of vendors selling caps, shirts & buttons (not sure what else.. maybe timeshares?)

The venue was ideal for set up & the candidates. Two planes were in evidence plus a large tour bus. One plane was no doubt for logistical things.. staging, equipment etc. Easy for candidates to deplane & speak & off they go again.

The Hanger is owned by a GOP - er –the man who invented The Club . & the use donated to the campaign. Inventor James E. Winner Jr. derived the idea for the device from his service in the Korean War, where he and his fellow soldiers were instructed to secure the steering wheels of their Jeeps with metal chains.

I took well over 2 gig of pictures.. Just sharing a very VERY few..










Lots of media critters crawling around.. misrepresenting what they heard & saw in press & media later..... grrrr

The Aircraft

involved

The large plane with just McCain on fuselage was there early but the plane carrying the candidates did not arrive until about 4. Cheers abounded when it was seen in air approaching. The bus pulled up blocking for most part the exit from REAR door of media types. The candidates & their security exited from the front & although late did NOT go right to the podium area in the hanger but came to the fence to greet us.











The

Candidates

I was rather lucky .. as we were late (about 3:30) the hanger was packed & the area outside pretty “busy”.. so I just wandered around talking to pix & doing one of my favorite things.. taking pix!

I had a pretty good location to get the pix of the arrival but even though in second row from fence the hands, signs, cameras all flew in front of me & so my 80 or so pix only resulted in half a dozen or so of the candidates & they aren’t great. The plane landed & candidates approached us from a LOW BRIGHT sun vantage. Terrible for phototgraphy – shooting into the sun with LITTLE time to change adjustments etc.

John & Cindy went by first & were greeted enthusiastically. She is VERY VERY CLASSY & glamorous.. just oozes of sophistication & sweetness. He was all smiles & warm to all he pressed flesh with.

Next was Sarah & Todd… Craziness took over. More for her but some for him. They were only about 6 feet away & I yelled out “Hey there First Dude!” (Sarah’s name for him) & he made eye contact, smiled & gave me a wink.

The people/shirts

Lots of interesting attire present - and worn by a lot of interesting people. Very fashionable women heavy in diamonds to bikers in jeans & leather. Business suits & Sweats. LOTS of children.. LOTS. I am sure many parents took their children & grandchildren to experience this. Little girls (3 or 4)chanting Sarah, Sarah, Sarah.. and squealing when she walked past. Many kids on parents shoulders with cameras to get better view & shots.

There were a LOT of Hillary supporters.. with shirts & also with the McCain buttons & signs (no sticks)

I had on a shirt I made & if I had a couple dozen with me they would all be sold. Long story on the shirts I did take (they hid for 2+ hours )




















Above is Wheelbarrow where he found a spot to sit during the pre & Rally time.

The Signs

So many interesting signs.. here are a few

[DollyCali]

OTHER STUFF

On way out VERY CLOSE to airport was the church I did supply preaching in during the late 90s.. also adjacent a neat cemetery. One marker here.. Nofurther comments. I found also a bit down the road (rt 305 heading W) this charming school.. in the back the football team was working out & the cheerleaders were on side of school going through their routines

[DollyCali]

ARTICLE LINK AND VIDEO

VIENNA, Ohio -- Republicans John McCain and Sarah Palin brought a populist message to the Mahoning Valley Tuesday, whipping up a rally in Vienna, Ohio, with vows to fix Wall Street and help working-class Ohio families.

McCain said under his administration there would be stiff regulations and lending standards.

"We're going to put an end to the reckless corruption and unbridled greed on Wall Street,"

McCain told a crowd of about 8,000 in a giant hangar at at the Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport.

And if Wall Street doesn't heed his call for reform, McCain said, "They will have a fight on their hands with the president of the United States."

McCain was trying to appeal to voters in a region that Republicans haven't carried since 1972 and that Democrat Hillary Clinton carried with 65 percent of the vote in Ohio's March primary. About half of the area's voters are independents, presenting him with an opportunity to court swing voters.

But he told the rally that this time of financial crisis was "not a time for political opportunism. This is a time for leadership."

Vice presidential candidate Palin, the Alaska governor and rising GOP star, received a rousing welcome, speaking before McCain. She bashed Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama for his economic policies.

"He actually wants to raise taxes in a hurting economy," Palin said. "He will raise taxes and kill jobs, and that will make today's bad economy look like the good old days."

[PhilosopherStones]

I don’t dare post the first thing that came to mind when I saw the Clinton headstone. Naughty, naughty boy!

Great photos and a great story!

Thank you for sharing!

[DollyCali]

VIENNA DOES McCuda

Vienna OHIO that is

P--I--N--G

[BigBobber]

Thanks so much for the great report!

[DollyCali]

hehehe.. well, that is why I posted it..

thought the VERY SAME THING!

[arasina]

Magnificent work, Dolly!

[mylife]

Good job yoose two!

[DorisCCC]

Great pictures! Thanks for sharing.

McCain/Palin’08

[proudtobeanamerican1]

[Miss Didi]

Thanks for the thread and fabulous photos!

[ishabibble]

Great report, Dolly!

[JustAmy]

Thanks for the ping, Dolly.

Great report and super pictures.

Sure wish I could go to one of their rallies.

Go Sarah, Go!

[radiohead]

Great report. We need more ‘Lipstick Republicans’!

[MEG33]

I feel the crowd excitement..Great pictures and report, Dolly!

[yorkie]

Dolly - all I can say is, “WOW!”

Thank you for the first hand report!! Great pics!

[ToriJasmine]

Thanks for sharing your pictures. I was there too. We were inside the hangar to the right of the stage. It was hard using the camera because we were all standing practically on top of each other. Here are two of the ones that I managed to take. center>

[DollyCali]

Thanks for the great additions.. you were a WEE LITTLE BIT CLOSER than we were obviously & got some great shots. Is that Ken Blackwell i see in one of your pix? One of the SS men (I think on Todd’s crew) looks a little like Putin to me. I noted him along the fence when they went by & also in your pix

[DollyCali]

Thanks for adding your pic.. I see even up close hands & cameras took center stage!

From the back it seemed very dark in the hanger/platform area. I dont know if they had any major lightening other but my pix were not great.. using manual settings. Flash at that distance would be worthless.

Too bad we didn’t coordinate sooner to meet each other..

[DollyCali]

Thanks ladies. I guess we will be blessed with many visits to our area as we are one of the battleground states. I found it fun to be caught up in the whirlwind of the excitement even if I was so far away that Clint Eastwood may have been on stage & I couldn’t tell. The words of course were quite easy to hear even though I am pretty deaf for the most part. Good sound system.

People for the most part behaved & both the Secret service & local law enforcement said it was a very good crowd to work with.. not problems at all & people were polite & cooperative