An eyewitness report from the field
Kucinich supporter Ann Seidl of Madison, Wisconsin, traveled to Illinois to catch Dennis at a campaign stop he made in Naperville (discussed in a recent news article posted to this blog).
Ann wrote up a terrific account of her meeting with Dennis, which is published here with her permission. Please follow the extended entry link to read it.
I met Dennis!
Okay, so here’s what happened. I was already planning to go to Aurora, Illinois from my home in Madison, WI on August 5 to see DJK give a noontime address, ever since I saw it on his schedule. I figured it would only be about 2.5 hrs of driving time, and I could see The One in person (again, having seen him first in Madison on May 31). So I called the number in the email to see if there were still tickets for the luncheon, and the Illinois Co-Chair said, sure, but am I also coming to the breakfast? It turns out that DJK was going to be in Naperville, Aurora and then Chicago, and did I want to spend the day with him?! I said yes (!), and I posted to the Madison Kucinich list that I was driving down and I had room for others. Got 2 guys, one a 56-year-old drug and alcohol counselor and the other a 75-year-old retired steamfitter. Yippee!
We left at 7:30 a.m., talked politics all the way down, missed our turn on the Interstate and were a half hour late to the breakfast, but it was fine because DJK was 45 minutes late so we didn’t miss a thing.
The day before (Monday) I had picked a quart of mulberries from the tree in my backyard, thinking that DJK needed some mulberries, by golly. Plus I had two books I wanted to give him from a Buddhist philosopher and peace activist named Daisaku Ikeda (Nam myoho renge kyo, anyone?). One book is called _For the Sake of Peace_ and the other is _Choose Hope_. (Middleway Press, 2000, 2001 – I highly recommend these, Choose Hope especially ).
So here comes Dennis, out of a car. A group of us were standing in front of the coffeehouse and a crowd was already inside. He came up to us and started shaking hands. I shook hands with him and said, "Good morning, Congressman!" and he said, "Good morning" very pleasantly. Then he kept walking as if he was headed somewhere specific, but it was away from the door of the coffeehouse. He went up to the woman behind me and shook her hand. She was in a wheelchair. DJK bent down to look at her face. I don’t quite know how to describe it, but he was being considerate without in the least being patronizing, you know? Then he chatted up a couple of kids in a stroller (I don’t think they were registered voters <: ) while the adults were waiting for him to talk. Okay? This guy takes time for people in wheelchairs and children in strollers.
So in he goes after 5 more minutes of handshakes and starts talking. He was in a circle surrounded on all sides by supporters and curious citizens. He was marvelous, genuine, sincere, moving and invigorating, just as you would expect. Then he took questions.
The first question was a doozie. It wasn’t about the economy, the war in Iraq, health care. No, this woman started by saying that the kid beside her was her son, and that he had ADHD and a myriad of learning disabilities, sleep disorder and tics, and so did her other son. She believed these problems are the result of enforced immunizations, and the studies on these shots are being buried. And what did he intend to do as President?
Ooh-boy, I thought, what in the world is Dennis gonna do now? The first question, and it’s pretty obscure (while incredibly important, of course – this woman was very passionate and informed), and now Dennis is going to have to say some version of , I’ll look into that and get back with you.
Uh-uh. Dennis, my hero, my candidate, starts talking all about mercury poisoning, "thimerosal in vaccines" (I had to look it up), pharmaceutical companies that make this stuff, and legislation that’s in the works already. He knocked it clear out of the ballpark. I was stunned. The woman was so grateful that someone understood her pain. Once again, this guy never fails to impress me.
The rest of the questions were to be expected (war, economy, how he can beat Bush) and he answered with humor, aplomb, and grace.
Then the IL Co-Chair ended the Q&A and said DJK had to eat some breakfast. There was a small room roped off which had some oatmeal, fruit, etc. Of course, people didn’t leave him alone, they followed him into that room. He was completely poised throughout, and talked as much as he could. (He never did eat anything, they just wrapped it up for the car ride.) I hovered, waiting for my chance. Then I saw he was never going to sit down, so I began to talk with one of his aides, Dot, who is the Nat’l Network Coordinator, and I gave her the mulberries. She said, "Yum" and that she would give them to him. Then I said I have some books for Dennis as well, and she said why don’t you give them to him yourself? So I decided I would.
He finished speaking with someone and then he turned to me. I shook his hand and grinned like an idiot and said, "Hello, Dennis, my name is Ann and I drove down from Madison to see you." He still held my hand in that "longshoreman’s grip" someone else posted about.
Then I said, "I want you to have these books from Daisaku Ikeda."
"Oh, I know Daisaku Ikeda," said DJK. I am, of course, nonplussed again.
Then he looked at the books, pointed to _For the Sake of Peace_ and said, "I already have that," (knock-me-over-with-a-feather time) "but I’ve not seen this one," pointing to _Choose Hope_. Only then did he let go of my hand.
"Oh, then I want to give this to you. This man is my mentor in peace. You’ve heard ‘Nam myoho renge kyo?’ "
"Of course," said Dennis. (Pick-me-up-off-the-floor time.) "Would you write your name and address in the front?"
I said to him, "Oh, it’s not important. You don’t have to contact me, and I’m already on your volunteer list."
He paused just a second, looked at me in the face and said "It’s important to me." (Dying-and-going-to-heaven time.)
Okay?! OKAY?! While I am writing down my name and address, he chats with someone else, then I hand it back to him, and he shakes my hand again, and holds it, and says, "You have such a great handshake!"
I said, "That’s how my father taught me to shake hands. And you know, Dennis, I just read in an article, ‘Although slight in stature, he has the grip of a longshoreman,' and you do!"(What’s it like to have people quote your own press coverage to you? Weird.)
Then he said, "What do you do in Madison, Ann?" And I told him I’m a librarian and I work as a research consultant.
He said, "We’re going to open an office in Madison soon. Can we count on your support?" He never took his eyes off mine.
I said, "Dennis, you are going to be the next President of the United States and I will never stop working until you are."
"Thank you," he said, and then he was on his way out the door.
He talked to some press outside, then he waved at the adoring crowd, got in his car and drove off.
I could write all day, but you’ve already read enough. Suffice to say that we went to the lunch (Dennis was magnificent), then drove to Chicago where we walked with a hotel/restaurant picket line outside of the Congress Hotel (Dennis addressed the strikers and he was magnificent), and then we showed our support as union members were going into the AFL-CIO debate (where, I hear, Dennis was magnificent).
We talked all the way home about DJK, and the current scary state of the nation, and got home around 10:30 p.m. Ahhhh.
That’s my report. Thanks for reading!
~ann
madison, wi
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