My fourth meeting of Senator Kerry

one of the best yet

Published on September 10, 2004 By Robert Guinness In Democrat

I'll write more about my fourth Kerry rally experience later, but for now check out this excerpt from the message I sent to KerrySpace for a general idea of how the experience went...

------------------------------------------------

This is just a somewhat quick message to let you know that I
personally handed a folder to Senator Kerry this morning,
and said, "Will you promise me you will read this?"

He said, "Yes, I will read it."

I continued, "You *promise*?"

"Yes, I promise."

On the front of the folder was the following:

www.kerryspace.com
Space Policy Ideas
for Senator Kerry

Inside the folder I included 12 copies (one for each member
of his round table of advisors) of the list of bullet
points that Arthur sent to the Yahoo Group, along with a
few revisions based on replies to that message, and added a
few of my own thoughts. I titled the document "Evidence of
U.S. Public Support for Space Exploration".

I also included a print out of the kerryspace.com webpage,
and two copies of an article from space.com on "Helium-3
from the Moon as an Energy Source for Earth". Lastly, I
included several copies of our group contact info.

I sincerely wish I had had more to include in this folder,
but I had to put it together at the last minute. I blame
this on myself, that I didn't reserve enough time to
pour through our Yahoo Group messages, and extract all the
good comments/ideas that were made.
...
Overall, what I hope this experience shows is that we do
indeed have access to the man himself, Senator Kerry, as
well as his staff and advisors. Over the next two months,
every day Kerry will be visiting the so-called "swing
states" and others. We now I believe have KerrySpace
members in each of these states he will visit.

Think of the impact it would have if at every Kerry or
Edwards rally or Town Hall meeting, a member of KerrySpace
personally hands the candidate a note, document, or even
a simple statement of support of space. (It was very simple
to get access to Kerry in this case, and I can provide
instructions on how to make sure your item gets to Kerry
himself.) If we did this, Senator Kerry certainly won't be
able to ignore the issue of space, and a President Kerry
would remember this issue throughout his term.
...
I will tell you all more about the experience later, as
well as upload the pictures I took, and scan the autograph he
gave me. For now, I'm exhausted from a long night of work
on KerrySpace and a long day of politicking to the Kerry
campaign.

Comments

sandy2

on Sep 10, 2004

Hmm. Was your experience good? I have only met him during a number of fundraising events and dinners.

stevendedalus

on Sep 10, 2004

I admire you for your grit; but is this really the time to stress space exploration?

Madine

on Sep 10, 2004

One would think Bush would be the space candidate.

Although I (gasp) agree with Steven, I see controlling the debt as a higher priority than space exploration.

Robert Guinness

on Sep 10, 2004

i agree with prioritization, and yes debt is maybe top priority. but space is always long term priority, and needs to remain being pushed to stay a priority. so there is really no time for stressing or time against. cannot be overlooked. wait, can be stressed, but can never be forgotten. is almost always forgotten during presidential campaigns, so we're trying to change that.

Robert Guinness

on Sep 10, 2004

Hmm. Was your experience good? I have only met him during a number of fundraising events and dinners.

Yes, it was a fun time, rather exciting. Did you get to talk with him much when you met him? What did you ask him?

sandy2

on Sep 10, 2004

Did you get to talk with him much when you met him? What did you ask him?

No. I did not. Sadly, all we exchanged were the customary greetings shaking of hands a few comments pose for a picture, sign an autograph and then be bustled along by secret service. I don't know how secret service have been at your events, but at the fundraisers I have been to they have been very impolite to the guests.

Robert Guinness

on Sep 10, 2004

Yeah, most of the time at these kinds of events that is all you can get. This time, however, I was lucky to chat with him for a good, oh I don't know, 20-30 seconds. not that impressive when you say it, but this is more than most people will ever talk to a President (if Kerry is elected), or even a Senator for that matter. I did get to have significant conversation with John Kerry's brother once, and he called me to thank me for his help and gave me his personal cell number. (See my previous posts about Kerry rally's). I thought that was pretty cool.

About the secret service...i guess it's not their job to be polite. I almost got shot or arrested by them one time (it was due to a misunderstanding), and they were real rude. I almost filed a complaint. But I figure it's their job to protect public figures, and it doesn't really matter if they're nice or not. I've found that a few of them are normal people behind their SS skin, and you can even get them to laugh sometimes.

sandy2

on Sep 11, 2004

Yeah. I have a somewhat closer relation ship with my senator and congressman. I meet with both at least once a year. I also have talked more with my governor, for oh say 5-10 minutes at another event. All I was saying about secret service is they could try to be a little nicer to people at a 2000-25000 dollar a plate dinner. Its not like we didnt already have to go through metal detectors and xray machines anyways.

kingbee

on Sep 11, 2004

One would think Bush would be the space candidate

jeez. im overwhelmed to the point of near-paralysis by the possibilities here. mandine dammit, play fair

Muggaz

on Sep 11, 2004

jeez. im overwhelmed to the point of near-paralysis by the possibilities here. mandine dammit, play fair

Hahaha - You bet me to it Kingbee...

George W. and 'space' indeed

BAM!!!

Brian

on Sep 12, 2004

stevendedalus
"I admire you for your grit; but is this really the time to stress space exploration?"

There is a great deal more to do 'out there' than space exploration.

Even if we assume that the government should stick to what they're good at beyond our atmosphere (space exploration) the government can and should take measure to promote commerce and industry.

And it needn't cost an arm and a leg. Or even much taxpayer money - X-Prizes, tax breaks, tax holidays and so forth are _cheap_ for the benefits returned, and don't require a 20,000 person army to administer.

Robert Guinness

on Sep 12, 2004

And it needn't cost an arm and a leg. Or even much taxpayer money - X-Prizes, tax breaks, tax holidays and so forth are _cheap_ for the benefits returned, and don't require a 20,000 person army to administer.

I agree! Kerry seems to agree, too.

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