Before 9/11, "Ground Zero" met the most contested, most critical voting areas in the country - In the 2000 election, this was along Florida's I-4 corridor, near where I was living (Sarasota). Hence, Vice President Gore started out Election Day 2000 - almost a year before 9/11 - at the Ground Zero spot of the Hillsborough County (Tampa) Democratic Party offices (near where I'd seen him a month before with Jimmy Buffett) - at 6 a.m.
This year there is no single Ground zero. But we have connections with many of them. Above is a picture from last week, where President Clinton and Senator Obama engaged in their only joint campaign appearance - not far from I-4, in Kissisimmee, near Disney World, which I took a Greyound bus through during spring break 2004 - on the way to picking up our car in downtown Orlando.
Below is Obama in Harrisonburg, VA, last week, speaking to the overflow outdoor crowd (before heading inside), that included my sister Penny and nephew Jacob, in the Shenandoah, at the James Madison University campus (where a friend once went to school), less than an hour from their Crozet, VA home.
I don't think they actually got to shake hands with Obama (though Stephanie apparently didi in Illinois).
Less than a mile from where I saw Senator Biden, across the Ohio River in Jeffersonville, was Governor Palin this past Wednesday, in another ground zero state, Indiana. Hank Williams, Jr. warmed up the crowd.
And Palin appeared with her husband, Todd.
Here's Senator Obama, before an appearance last week in the Cincinnati Reds' spring training stadium outside of Sarasota, FL, where I lived in fall 2000, near downtown Sarasota, which Stephanie, Vincent, and I visited regularly that year (and just about 8 miles from where Stephanie, Vincent, and Frisco lived for two years) - picking out a pumpkin in front of the First United Methodist Church in Sarasota.
Less than a mile from where I saw Senator Biden, across the Ohio River in Jeffersonville, was Governor Palin this past Wednesday, in another ground zero state, Indiana. Hank Williams, Jr. warmed up the crowd.
And Palin appeared with her husband, Todd.
Democrats I tooked with said the crowd was listless, because of the physical arrangement of the indoor facility, but I'm skeptical.
Back in Florida last week, Senator McCain appeared at a foreign policy forum at one of my favorite places in the state, still on the I-4 corridor, in the old Tampa Bay Hotel, which is now part of the University of Tampa. I walked through there last November. My "Florida" book also features the old hotel prominently. Below, after the forum, Larry King of CNN, interviewed McCain.
At Widener University, on the north (white) end of Chester, a largely working-class Philadelphia suburb town 3-4 miles from where I went to college and where I volunteered and worked off and on for several years during and after college, Senator Obama went ahead and spoke last week to a rainy crowd of some 6,000 (below). The same morning Senator McCain canceled a nearby outdoor rally (where the weather was also bad). PA (like IN, VA, and FL) is another Ground zero.
After the weather cleared - and inside - a couple of days later - just one train stop from Swarthmore, my college stop, maybe 4 miles from Chester, and in a high school where a college friend did her teaching internship, Senator McCain made one more pitch in PA.
Later that day, McCain was in Columbus, OH, where my Mother, Stephanie, and Vincent are from and where Stephanie, Vincent, and I met - appearing with California Gov. Arnold Scharznegger, who runs a annual fitness show in Columbus (capital of OH, 2004's Ground Zero, where I volunteered for one of the campaigns on two different weekends in fall 2004).
Yesterday (Sunday) - braving hecklers but not bad weather - Senator Biden and spouse Jill appeared back in FL, in my hometown of FL - outside the FSU football stadium and administration building dubbed the "University Center."
While the Bidens were in Tallahassee - and just hours after Senator McCain had left Columbus - Senator Obama was back in the 2004 Ground zero, at a sunny outdoor rally, on the banks of the river, in downtown Columbus - with the old Lincoln LeVeque tower (built in 1929, just before the last Great Depresssion) - in the background.
-- Perry
Back in Florida last week, Senator McCain appeared at a foreign policy forum at one of my favorite places in the state, still on the I-4 corridor, in the old Tampa Bay Hotel, which is now part of the University of Tampa. I walked through there last November. My "Florida" book also features the old hotel prominently. Below, after the forum, Larry King of CNN, interviewed McCain.
At Widener University, on the north (white) end of Chester, a largely working-class Philadelphia suburb town 3-4 miles from where I went to college and where I volunteered and worked off and on for several years during and after college, Senator Obama went ahead and spoke last week to a rainy crowd of some 6,000 (below). The same morning Senator McCain canceled a nearby outdoor rally (where the weather was also bad). PA (like IN, VA, and FL) is another Ground zero.
After the weather cleared - and inside - a couple of days later - just one train stop from Swarthmore, my college stop, maybe 4 miles from Chester, and in a high school where a college friend did her teaching internship, Senator McCain made one more pitch in PA.
Later that day, McCain was in Columbus, OH, where my Mother, Stephanie, and Vincent are from and where Stephanie, Vincent, and I met - appearing with California Gov. Arnold Scharznegger, who runs a annual fitness show in Columbus (capital of OH, 2004's Ground Zero, where I volunteered for one of the campaigns on two different weekends in fall 2004).
Yesterday (Sunday) - braving hecklers but not bad weather - Senator Biden and spouse Jill appeared back in FL, in my hometown of FL - outside the FSU football stadium and administration building dubbed the "University Center."
Below on the right horizon is the state capitol building (see "Tallahassee landmarks") where my Mother had her office for many years.
While the Bidens were in Tallahassee - and just hours after Senator McCain had left Columbus - Senator Obama was back in the 2004 Ground zero, at a sunny outdoor rally, on the banks of the river, in downtown Columbus - with the old Lincoln LeVeque tower (built in 1929, just before the last Great Depresssion) - in the background.
-- Perry
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