6:22 P.M. Hello again, ye of the blogoverse. I’m hoping there’s a “y’all” out there to say hi to – it would certainly be sad if I were the only person who really didn’t feel like paying $100 to see Tim Kaine. It’s still very sparse here, no doubt the VIP reception is where the action is at, but Gail Buckner is out here working the small crowd so far:
Rep. Marin is also here. You’ll have to forgive me for this snarky comment, but as much as I (and probably everyone else) loves Beth Farokhi…
…this is not acceptable campaign material. It looks terrible, there’s no union bug, it’s laminated for crying out loud, and please, Beth, spend the $10 and get something other than a Bell South address. We love you and we want you to win – that’s why we say these things.
6:32 P.M. While I’m on the topic of campaign stuff I don’t like…
When I first saw this I was like “Huh? Who the hell is Ray?” Obviously it’s our presumptive gubernatorial nominee, but really, no cursive on signs. It needs more pizzaz, and as cliched as the swooshiness is, it could use something other than a solid blue background IMHO.
6:58 P.M. Ha, well as usual I have merely managed to miss where the action was. There are actually the usual throngs of people here, just nowhere near the candidate tables. Is that indicative of the general lack of enthusiasm for our 2010 candidates? Anyway, to start with YD emeritus extraordinaire Emily Schunior (in addition to other luminaries) is running for Sally Rosser’s DPG position, and you who know her KNOW she deserves and needs your support against whatever creature wriggles its way out of the tool shed:
Also spotted was (I have heard) our emcee for the evening, CCDC chair Will Fowlkes:
I present Alex Wan, hopefully soon to rock the city council:
And finally the obligatory YD photos – Trevor Southerland, Demishia Wright, and Amy Phuong. Youth power!
And last and least, a dishonorable mention to Dr. Burks, a personage YD’s are sadly all too familiar with.
7:17 P.M. Folks have moved up to where the drinks are (as well they should) and are making the slooow trek to where the food is. Gen. Poythress is here (surprise) as well as all sorts of other VIP’s (to me at least). Amir “Shoulda Won” Farokhi met my next representative in House 34, Stacy Evans:
Jason “Awesome” Carter met our friend Rep. Stuckey-Benfield:
And YD Shannon Marietta had a nice chat with Buddy Darden, a personage those of us (un)fortunate enough to live in Cobb know and love:
Really going to try not to miss the food this year.
7:33 P.M. We’re underway. Jane has given the usual “we’re doing great” speech even though we’re not, and now we have a Jewish invocation the rabbi humorously summed up as “They tried to kill us, we won, let’s eat”. I feel like I take a photo of Mike Berlon and his wife at every event, but here they are again in their glory:
7:49 P.M. We’re on to the food, which I really am for sure going to eat after this post. Both our next attorneys general are in attendance:
We also have at least a couple of the Titans of Labor with us (Richard refused to allow me to leave without taking his picture as well as Tasso’s and Angelia’s! Y’all all look great.)
Our friend David Wilkerson, aka our next state rep after “Representative” Wix is relieved of his duties:
The ever-jovial CCDC table (as opposed to the one that has four people, which is where I am):
And of course, our entertainment that our donations are so generously providing:
8:08 P.M. Don’t know how the food was last year (except the bread) but it was pretty good this year. Not gonna win any Martha Stewart accolades but it looked like it had some herbs and such in it, and the beans and polenta with our dear comrade the rubber chicken were pretty tasty too. The program has started up again and we just got done listening to some pre-recorded pap from our Senate and and House officers. Now we have my BFF Winifred Dukes up to introduce our state constitutional officers, probably as much “work” as he’s done this whole year so far. While we’re on this subject, Thurbert came to the CCDC breakfast this month and actually gave a pretty good speech – like I wouldn’t mind voting for him, actually.
8:14 P.M. Oh please, Winifred, can I sign up to be a candidate and get this magical support from the DPG? THAT sure sounds like a productive use of my time. </snark> Commissioner Thurmond is up here introducing a tribute to Tommy Irvin.
8:22 P.M. Tommy is one of the few guys I think can safely be called an uncontroversial choice for one of the “Georgia Giants” awards. It’s always a little awkward listening to him speak, but hey, if I’m still alive at that age, never mind that sharp, it’ll be a freaking miracle.
Sally is up here introducing Andrew Young as our other “Georgia Giant”. I’m cool with giving him an award for his life up to the last five years – let’s just not go into that Wal-Mart stuff, I guess.
8:30 P.M. Ambassador Young wasn’t able to make it tonight, so his wife accepted his award on his behalf.
Congratulations to BFD commenter Stephen Deak (I assume that was you?) as a recipient of a lifetime achievement award. Now Hank Johnson? I don’t dislike him, but a lifetime achievement award? Huh?
Kasim is up introducing Tim Kaine. Time for another drink?
8:36 P.M. Oh, with our friend Tim Kaine leading our efforts in November, what have we to fear? (wait, don’t answer that…) Chairman Kaine is opening his speech with the usual “rah y’all rock” stuff.
Apparently after the “Why I/you/we are Democrats” stuff we are going to indulge in a little “sweet, we/I/you passed health care reform”, which is fine with me – a little gloating when you win never hurt anyone.
8:51 P.M. Tim is predicting that #hcr will be great for us politically – I hope he’s right. The nice thing about this speech being primarily about events of last night is that I don’t actually have to say much about it, since it sounds like the rhetoric of oh, only the last YEAR OF OUR LIVES.
8:58 P.M. While Tim is now talking about the general awesomeness of our president – we don’t need promises anymore, by the way, but more action would be nice – I point out that the Georgia House today failed to pass an opt-out of #hcr, just like the Senate did last week.
Tim’s talking about 2010 again. He says the “other guys” are “energized”, by which I can only assume he really means “whipped into an orgy of rabid hatred characterized by open calls to assassinate the President“. Tim is claiming that our gubernatorial race is on the DNC radar, to which I say “Really? Show us the money, Tim.” If he’s excited he might be one of the few people in this room who’s really enthusiastic (the applause he just got notwithstanding).
9:11 P.M. The Chairman just finished up and actually got a sizable amount of applause and partial standing ovation. I bet he had that #hrc vote set up just so he’d be able to give a decent speech tonight (which he did). Jane is delivering the concluding the remarks, but it seems a lot of people aren’t particularly interested in the benediction based on the people heading for the doors.
9:16 P.M. Well that’s it. Quite a benediction/sending forth to set us on our ways. I will admit that Gov. Kaine left me feeling better about the world than I did after Evan Bye Bayh did a few years back. And with that – good fight, good night.
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