Posted on 11/03/2002 6:07:39 PM PST by sweetliberty
We have just returned to Budge's house to do the FReep report because there is a lot of information to report.
In attendance were Budge, Travelgirl, The Battman, parsifal, Don Frivoinai, sweetliberty, and another FReeper who, for reasons you will come to understand shortly, needs to remain anonymous until after the election.
We arrived at Budge's around noon to get everything set up for the maiden FReep of the Arkansas Hog Wild FReepers and the FReepmobile. We got to the site around quarter after 1 and finished up some signs and headed over to the convention center to await the arrival of XXX42 and his horde of Rats. There we were joined by several folks from the Hutchinson campaign and there were quite a few folks who came down from Mount Ida. There ended up being about 30 of us on the outside.
During the wait, we were informed of quite a few "questionable" things going on. For starters, there was one young man who is active with Tim Hutchinson's campaign who was threatened with arrest if he didn't leave the premises. He had done nothing to provoke this action other than they knew who he was. One of the FReepers who is a poll watcher was also threatened with arrest when she tried to go inside the convention center. Another young man who is a Hutchinson aide had a ticket to the event and because he had been seen talkiing to the "opposition" he was not allowed in, being told that it was a private event and they could exclude whoever they wanted to. There was also a group of black folks who were with us so this young man passed his ticket to one of the black guys, who removed all his campaign stuff and went in incognito, laughing saying that they'd never suspect a black guy. Will give you his report later.
Nobody would tell us what door Clinton would be entering by so we took a chance and hung out on one side of the building where they said the car would drive by. True to form, XXX42 was late by nearly an hour. But here is the great part. We were positioned between 2 entrances. One was a major side entrance. The other was a small, fenced-in service entrance by the garbage dumpsters. Well, guess which one he used. Think....which would be most appropriate. Yep, you guessed it. The snake slithered in through the garbage entrance. And he got a look at our signs. It was a classic moment in FReeperdom.
There was a whopping 500 people or so there for the "event". There were few enough people that there was a Jehovah's Witness convention going on in the building at the same time. When Clinton arrived the Jehovah's Witnesses started leaving. At that time we didn't realize that there was another event going on and Travelgirl and The Battman asked one of the cops on duty why everyone was leaving. He responded, "if Clinton entered a room, what would YOU do?" When the Jehovah's Witnesses left, the parking lot started clearing out.
Anyway, we may have to flesh in this post after we all get home because there is a lot to tell, but there is certain information that it is very important to get out there NOW! Back to our "spy". When he came out, he said they were running it like a church service, and the whole focus was on how the evil Republicans are trying to keep them from voting. They were saying that we have all the poll watchers this election to prevent THEM from voting. Now, here is the clencher. They were told that there would be attorneys posted at every precinct to prevent poll watchers from challenging ANY ballots. Now, mind you, one of our poll watchers has already had massive problems with them at the polls during early voting the past couple of weeks and has been advised to retain an attorney. They have had the sherriff remove her from the polls twice when she had done nothing inappropriate...only challenging ballots for improper or no ID. There is an all out campaign by these people to intimidate the poll watchers and then turn around and accuse us of voter intimidation. This is serious and at least one person has some legitimate fear. I can't really elaborate at this point. The reason we wanted to get this up right away is to get other FReepers on the case to get this publicized and contact appropriate media, political and legal sources to alert them that Republican poll watchers in this county are likely to be facing an organized, all-out Rat attack. Any help that FReepers can offer is needed!! Make phone calls, send letters. Whatever you can do. Post your ideas as well.
I suppose most of you have already heard the news... the friggin b>RATS in PUlaski Countgy (Little Rock) just moments before tthe polls were to close, got a BOUGHT JUDGE to extend the closing to 9 p.m. in that heavily democRAT county only! Bastages!
I crashed last night and didn't see this until I got on FR. While it didn't help Tim Hutchinson, I think the ASC's rulling did help Gov. Mike Huckabee. Pryor is going to be bad for Arkansas.
As far as the other races here I was most dissapointed with Ross (D) beating Dickey (R) by so much. Ross has done nothing but take credit for Dicky's accomplishments, so far. Maybe that is a good thing, except he votes against anything Republican in the House. The two Republican losses here are a bitter pill to swallow.
All in all, I'm celebrating the overall Republican gains in the House and of course, the re-taking of the Senate.
IMHO, yes. But it didn't work. For a better explaination go to the Arkansas Page here. The others were on top of it.
It's not perfect, but it's darned close.
WOOHOO!!
Hope y'all have enough champagne down there!
FReegards...MUD
I'll drink to that! :) I was just on DU and the whinning there is funny! Here is a partial quote from one: "I hate Daschle...he's a wimpy little prick who sucks at the teat of his corporate masters (sorry for mincing words, but this jerk has no integrity at all in my opinion...). McAuliffe needs to leave NOW...he and Daschle (along with Gephardt) took a party with a direction during the Clinton years, to a party where there are no core beliefs any more (actually, kind of where the Dems were BEFORE Clinton)."
A LOT of this going on there. Funny!
I hope I'm not in trouble for posting this!
The people of Arkansas may have lost yesterday, but it isn't for lack of dedication and hard work on the part of conservatives here, but American still won....
WE HAVE THE SENATE!!!!!!
You got that right! I've been saying that for a long time.
Fox just announced that the Vermont governor's race has been called for the Republican.
Ahhhh I love the sweet sweet smell of victory in the morning...
The thing is, now the GOP has got to quit diddling around and bust some a$$ in the next two years, or we are gonna lose bigtime in '04...
And a resounding NO to the tax increase proposal here in Hampton VA... Hoorah!
While we did suffer a painful loss here last night due to a whole lot of factors, still, America won big and it's about time! Thank ALL of you for making this election a success. I know y'all have worked very hard. FREEPERS ARE THE BEST!!!!!
Anyway, as promised, here are a few pictures from the FReep on Sunday. If I double-pinged anybody, I apologize. This was a long ping list!
Budge and Don Friovinai in the FReepmobile
Signs Are Ready to Go!
Don Froivinai Tries To Get the Message Out
Waiting for the "Arrival"
GREAT JOB ARKANSAS HOG WILD FREEPERS!!!!
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