Our longtime friend, Jen the Michigander, was in attendance today and generously shared this account. Thank you, Jen!
The rally was held at Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan, a relatively affluent suburb some twenty miles north of Detroit. I drove out there with my father (who will henceforth be known as Dad the Michigander). Outside, the crowd was wrapped around the O'rena waiting for the doors to open. It was a nice, diverse group of people-- black, white, Asian. Although the event was held on a university campus, I saw people of all ages ranging from senior citizens to a little boy of perhaps four or five, dressed up as Woody from Toy Story. Also among the young folks was a girl about ten years old who had a copy of "Hard Choices" tucked under her arm.
As we stood in line, we encountered two protesters carrying handmade signs that said something about Benghazi. They looked to be college-aged, but I don't know if they were students at Oakland University or if they had dropped in from someplace else. The guy standing in line ahead of us heckled the protesters, which was fun to watch. (If anyone plans to see Hillary over the next few weeks, you might want to prepare yourselves for this type of thing.)
Since Dad the Michigander is a senior citizen who walks with a cane, a volunteer let us cut ahead in line. We went into the O'rena, found seats, and waited. And waited. And waited. About an hour and a half later, the rally began.
We heard from a number of Michigan Democrats running for various offices. Each one emphasized the need to make sure people voted because "when we vote, we win!" The "we" meaning Democrats, of course. Everybody stressed economic issues-- school funding, student loan debt, jobs. Marriage equality and a woman's right to make decisions about her own health care also came up repeatedly. I don't recall hearing much, if anything, about foreign policy.
Hillary came out at the end, sharing the stage with Gary Peters who is running for Carl Levin's Senate seat, and Mark Schauer, who is the Democratic candidate for Governor. Peters and Schauer gave their speeches first. It was good to see them in person. I think they should use portions of their speeches for their next round of ads. Again, the emphasis was on domestic and economic issues.
When the time came for Hillary to speak, the audience jumped to their feet and went nuts. I was near the back of the O'rena, but I could see her "grandmother glow" pretty well. She told the audience about Peters's and Schauer's middle-class backgrounds. She gave detailed information about how they fought to save the auto industry in 2008. As some members of the media have already noted, Hillary took a few shots at Mitt Romney without mentioning his name. (At least I don't *think* she mentioned his name. I am remembering all of this off the top of my head.) Much of Hillary's speech centered around the same domestic/economic issues that the Michigan Dems had stressed in prior speeches. Most effectively was the way she redefined the term "family values", taking it back from the right wing so that it means raising the minimum wage, closing the wage gap between men and women, giving people time off-- with pay-- to take care of sick children or elderly parents, and enacting other policies that allow families to flourish. In closing, Hillary reminded us that Rosie the Riveter was from Michigan and that now we have Mary Barra cracking the glass ceiling at GM. The audience knew exactly where Hillary was going with *that* reference! But no, she didn't make any announcements. 2014 comes first.
- Jen the Michigander
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Gary Peters just sent this email.
I just stood with Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
I looked over the crowd at Oakland University. The energy in the room -- the excitement on peoples’ faces -- reminded me what we're all working for.
Every Michigander in that crowd, all of their families, and families across Michigan deserve a Senator who works for them. Not for the Koch Brothers or special interests. For them. That's why Hillary was here in Michigan.
We're coming into the final stretch here -- and we need to be ready. Help us reach the $5OO,OOO we need by October 31st to keep going.
If you've saved your payment information with ActBlue Express, your donation will go through immediately:Hillary's with us. Everyone who was at Oakland University tonight is ready to bring this thing home.
I hope you are too.
Give what you can tonight: http://action.petersformichigan.com/ ImWithGary
Thanks.
Gary
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