Truman Days 2008

She made it all happen, and I will update with her name as soon as I find it in my notes.

The IBEW had the best spread...If the picture was larger, you would see that there is a table full of half-gallons of liquor, and plenty of it is top shelf. Mmmmm...Scotch...

The layout made for close quarters and mingling, and everyone was there. Organized labor, interest groups - including a motorcycle club because bikers are all about the civil liberties that a whole hell of a lot of them served in the military to defend - and elected officials...


Greater KC Democracy for America had a suite, and I gravitated toward them. They are just my kind of people. What can I say? They had Boulevard Beer, Goldfish and Pretzels. And internet access, so we could watch the session gavel to a close and cheer that the voter suppression crap was strangled in its crib. First of all, if you have a few bucks to throw their way, go to GKCDFA.org and toss something in the hat. They tapped out the budget putting the suite together, but it was important that they make the showing they did, because they have an upcoming event to promote - a training workshop in KC at Penn Valley Community College that will be held the weekend of June 14 and 15. You know that whole 50 State Strategy that was so successful? This is phase two, so get with the program. If you are local, attend the training academy in my neighborhood, and if you aren't find one in yours. But get on board, and arm yourself with the tools we need to win this fall. It's about the Supreme Court, not petty differences...

That is not PC from the Mac/PC commercials. That is Mike Sanders. He is the Jackson County Executive and a future state Attorney General, then Governor. (You read it here first!) Young, energetic, scrappy, and already a capable politician with an impressive resume, including a turn in Claire McCaskill's old office - Jackson County Prosecutor.


Missouri Democrats. Wearing blue, of course!


People who write checks and people who ask them to.


Alvin Brooks and current Jackson County prosecutor Jim Kanatzar. My crystal ball says Brooks might just make a run for Kit Bond's class III Senate seat in 2010, and if he does, I will eat broken glass if that is what is required to get him elected and give Missouri two Democratic Senators. Brooks is one of this communities greatest citizen assets, and would serve the state and nation just as ably as he has served his community for more than three decades.

Last night kicked off the festivities with hospitality suites and a lot of mingling. Damn, but this crowd knows how to have fun! And now I think back on what shaped my political leanings, and that was a huge factor - Grandma knew how to have a good time, and just seemed to be happier about life in the overall. Her general good humor, coupled with a few days of no electric power after a July storm, and her constant insistence that if it was up to the "god-damned backward-looking weak-kneed republican party we would all be sweltering from June to September, and bitching about the heat and humidity in German," and I ended up in her camp. (So did Grandpa at the end. In 1994, for the first time in his life, he voted a straight Democratic ticket. Three days after Newt stood in the well of the House with the Power Rangers, he died. That indignity killed him.)

Anyway, the festivities continue tonight, so installment two of Truman Days blogging will be along tomorrow.