By Don Crane
One thing I learned very quickly from this presidential primary season in North Carolina is that unless you register at, or regularly visit a candidate's web site, it is very difficult to find advance information about when and where a candidate will speak. Television news rarely tells you. Events are difficult to find on newspaper web sites. Also, your work schedule has to be flexible because you may find out about an event the morning it happens.
The campaign's web site is the best mechanism to convey information to you. It provides a summary of their stance on issues; allows you to find or plan events, participate in a group, start a blog; read speeches: and follow what's happening on the campaign trail with access to the campaign's blog, press releases, video, and more.
Donating money or otherwise registering on the web site will subject you to daily email receipts. But in the campaign season, not even its email channel may be a reliable vehicle to receive timely campaign information. As a case in point, I received the first notification of a Hillary Clinton event on April 29 at 4:17 pm. I read it -- Senator Clinton and Governor Easley at North Carolina State University on April 29 at 8:00 am -- and thought ... cool, I want to go. Wait a minute, the event was held at 8:00 am, eight hours pror to email receipt. I don't know where the message visited between the Send button at 9:22 pm of April 28 and when it was received at Bellsouth (AT&T) at 4:17 pm of April 29.
Discouraged, but still optimistic about seeing a campaign event, I visited the HillaryClinton.com web site to view upcoming events. There, it said that Bill Clinton would rally the next morning, now today, at the Apex Town Center Community Center in Apex, North Carolina. I registered an RSVP, which doesn't do much for you -- like guarantee a spot at the event -- but does provide the campaign with information about you.
I called the venue to find additional information. How far in advance should I arrive given heavy turnout -- it is President Clinton -- and any security procedures? The venue knew only that its doors would open at 7:45 am and the president would speak at 8:00 am.
Don't believe it.
Arriving at the site at 7:15 am, I estimate a line of some 300 people had already formed. With the chill of early morning air -- the temperature was in the mid 30s, the truly unfortunate who stood near the ABC 11 television truck had no choice but to breathe its diesel fumes.
Photography by Don Crane
Volunteers weaved throughout the line of people, first handing out Hillary stickers to be worn on the shirt, and then circulating a form (name, address, phone) required by the Secret Service.
Photography by Don Crane
Other volunteers sold buttons for the campaign – Hillary, read one; America’s First Gentleman; read another – or Hillary Clinton t-shirts. Sill others handed out Hillary signs at the asking.
Photography by Don Crane
When the doors opened at 8:15 am, the line weaved through the parking lot and into the street at the back end of the property.
Entry to the facility went very quickly. Volunteers opened the doors and everyone was directed into the gymnasium. The following stock photograph provides a glimpse of the gymnasium. Presdient Clinton would eventually deliver his speech from the approximate location of the where the photographer stood while taking this photograph.
The crowd filed single-laned into the auditorium. A separator was drawn to divide the gymnasium in half, making for a cozy gathering in case there wasn't a large turnout. As the crowd drew larger and larger the curtains were pulled back to fill 2/3 of the auditorium.
Photography by Don Crane
On the wall opposite of where the president spoke, stood cameramen -- NBC 17, ABC 11, and others -- and their video cameras on an elevated podium.
Photography by Don Crane
Clinton took the stage at approximately 8:45 am and spoke for approximately 45 minutes.
Photography by Don Crane
"There's a difference between the two candidates here," former president Bill Clinton told a crowd in Apex, N.C., in one of his seven events in the state today, according to ABC News. "Her opponent says, 'Well, she's just pandering to voters.' That's not true. Look, folks, there are people out here who are choosing every week now between driving to work and having enough food for their kids, between driving to work and paying their medicine bills."
"She just disagrees with her opponent on this," he added. "Hillary has got a long record as an environmentalist. But to say that giving people a little slack on these gas prices is going to discourage us from switching to higher mileage cars is just factually wrong. We're dealing with people here that cannot pay their bills. And it's going to be a tremendous drag on the economy if we let this situation continue. So she believes that we should suspend [the federal gas tax], get people through the summertime, the high driving months."
Photography by Don Crane
"If you vote for her, you'll make her the next president," Clinton told about 400 people at an Apex community center.
Photography by Don Crane
View a 1:54 minute segment from the speech at the Apex Town Center Community Center:
After speaking, Clinton moved off the podium and toward the spectators who came to listen to his speech. He shook hands with everyone who stuck out his hand. He moved slowly around the perimeter of the stage, speaking to everyone. If people wanted their picture taken with him, Clinton passed the camera to a secret service agent, who then took the snapshot. He held babies and posed to have a picture taken with them.
Photography by Don Crane
Former President Clinton is in the midst of a two-day swing in the state with eleven stops. Yesterday, he made stops in Boone, Wilkesboro, Elkin and Mount Airy. The Apex visit was the first stop of what is to be a very long day for the president. From here, Clinton was scheduled to appear at rallies in Sanford (30 miles), Lillington (22 miles), Dunn (16 miles), Hope Mills (36 miles), Lumberton (26 miles), and Whiteville (33 miles).
As for the folks in Sanford, the next stop this morning? Their event was scheduled to begin at 9:30 am. They have a wait longer than ours. Presdient Clinton was shaking hands in Apex at 9:30 am.
Oh, and about the email for this Bill Clinton event in Apex? It was sent on April 29 at 9:33 am but, according to the message thread, arrived at my inbox on April 29 at 6:01 pm, which is suspect because it wasn’t visible at 10:00 pm when I last looked that same day.
Related stories:
- http://www.newsobserver.com/politics/story/1055305.html
- NBC17
- http://www.newsobserver.com/politics/story/1055305.html
- Photos of Former President Bill Clinton in Apex
