Cedarburg: McCain and Palin's First Stop

I expected to be among a large, enthusiastic crowd this morning when I went to see John McCain and Sarah Palin in Cedarburg.

I've been to presidential campaign events before. I knew I'd have to go through security and I was sure it would take a while. Overall, I thought I had a good idea of what to expect.

Wrong.

The crowd wasn't large. It was enormous. The turnout was really stunning.

The line to get through security twisted nearly around a block, then crossed a barricaded street, and continued, and continued, and continued... People waited for hours.

I knew that we would never get through security.

I was right about that, and I really wasn't disappointed.

It was a beautiful morning and it was great just to be with so many, many people excited about the McCain-Palin ticket.


The press blocks my view.

When it was clear we weren't going to get near the stage, we opted to greet the motorcade, along with hundreds of others happy just to snap a few pictures and to wave at the next president and vice president of the United States.


Police: "Stay on the sidewalk!"

I talked to people from Madison, Green Bay, and New Berlin. They all said the same thing: I had to be here.

I met two people holding "Democrats for McCain" signs. They said that they had been leaning toward voting for McCain, but it was Sarah Palin in the VP spot that sealed the deal for them.

McCain's selection of Sarah Palin as his running mate was a defining moment for his campaign. Before the announcement that she would be on the ticket, there wasn't much enthusiasm.

People were united against Barack Obama, but they just didn't seem to be fully on board with John McCain. That has changed.

I saw a woman wearing a t-shirt handpainted with "Moms for Palin." Her little girl had a t-shirt painted with, "Sarah Palin is my role model." Her little boy wore a shirt that read, "I'm glad my mom is pro-life."

Women in their 20s stood at the curb with "Women for McCain" signs. Women in their 70s, maybe 80s, did the same.

There was a group of women holding homemade signs, "Pitbulls for Palin."


Pitbull Moms

There's no question that McCain has tapped into something very special here.

From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

At a packed street rally here this morning, Republican John McCain used his first post-convention stop to promise a war on special-interest influence and excessive partisanship in Washington, D.C.

"We're going to start to work for the people of this country," McCain shouted. "It's over for the special interests. It's over!"

The Arizona senator joined Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, his vice presidential pick, in front of an ice cream shop on a well-preserved main street the city says is virtually unchanged since 1900.

Without mentioning specifics in a brief address downtown, McCain said the duo would visit small towns across America to talk about real change.

Palin drew the loudest cheers and chants of "Sarah! Sarah! Sarah!" Both repeated popular lines from their convention speeches. McCain briefly touched on "tough times" facing job-seekers in Wisconsin and across the U.S. and promised lower taxes and better job training.

Palin focused mainly on the war in Iraq. She hit Democrat Barack Obama hard for opposing the troop surge.

If Obama's view had won out, she said, America would be less safe from al-Qaida, and it "would have left millions of innocent people to a violent fate."

The nominees chose one of the most reliably Republican counties in a hotly contested state to start the final two-month sprint in the marathon presidential race. Ozaukee County backed the Bush-Cheney ticket by 2-to-1 margins in both 2000 and 2004.

True, Ozaukee County is friendly Republican territory; but this crowd wasn't just an Ozaukee County crowd. It was a Dane and Brown and Milwaukee and Waukesha County crowd, too.

Whatever the polls say, the Obama campaign should be concerned about Wisconsin.

I saw cars with Illinois plates and Minnesota plates as well.

There is real excitement. People traveled long distances to attend the rally.

Rock star Obama is being challenged. There's a new star on the scene.

But polls leading up to the Republican convention showed that McCain still had work to do firing up the kind of core GOP voters that reside in Ozaukee County.

Campaign finance reports show that Obama had raised more money than McCain in Ozaukee County - one of the wealthiest counties in America - for the 18 months ending June 30.

No enthusiasm gap was evident today as McCain sought to build on momentum gained from Palin's surprise selection and the high-energy reception that both Palin and McCain received at the GOP gathering in St. Paul this week.

A lot of the interest seemed to be for Palin. Sara Rattan, 49, of Menomonee Falls carried a sign that read, "Read My Lipstick," a nod to a joke Palin told during her speech at the Republican National Convention.

"She makes me want to do more with my life because she's done so much with her life at such an early age," she said.

Christina Brockhaus, 30, of West Bend wasn't close enough during the speeches to see the stage, so she climbed the railing of temporary bleachers near the stage afterward, but the most she could see was Cindy McCain's blond hair.

"I would have killed to see Sarah Palin," she said.

Brockhaus said that as a moderate Republican she found both John McCain's and Palin's speeches "refreshing."

"I'm a (deer) hunting mom, and I just think she's phenomenal," Brockhaus said of Palin. "Everything about her appeals to me."

Sarah Palin has inspired many Republican men and women. They've finally shaken off that malaise they've been swimming in for months.

Palin has been a shot of desperately needed adrenaline for the entire party. Plus, she's convinced some Undecideds and converted some Independents.

For conservative women, however, her place on the ticket has a special significance.

I can relate to her. More importantly, I think she can relate to me.

That means everything.

I don't support Palin because she's a woman. If the choice was between Hillary Clinton and John McCain, no way would I have voted for Hillary.

I support Palin so fervently because she's a woman who shares so many of my values.

When the motorcade rolled down Washington Ave. to approach the stage in front of the Chocolate Factory, hundreds of people cheered and applauded. I mean really cheered.

When the buses carrying the press brought up the rear, the crowd booed. I mean really booed. I gave them a big smile and a big thumbs down.

For months now, the lib media have been telling conservatives that they should feel demoralized. They said the Republican Party is fractured. It's lost its way. Nothing can stop destiny's child, Barack Obama.

Those days are over.





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