17th CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT COMMITTEE NOMINATING MEETING: PRECINCT COMMITTEEMEN AND ORPHEUS HAVE NOW LEFT THE BUILDING

Wonderful facility, Great Hosts (even met us on the side street and gave parking tips), Neat Building. A special thanks to the Galesburg Street and bridge department for routing us to the back parking lot by destroying the surface of Kellogg St.
No particular Shenanigans and very good parliamentary skills by the Chair. Six things of note:

1. Hare, Schwiebert, Mellon worked the door;

2. Hare had the best orchestrated standing "O" of the group--one, two, three, kick, everybody up, cue the balloon drop;

3. Mangieri had a reception for Hare afterwards;

4. Boland nominated Mellon (this is not a typo);

5. One Citizen stood up during the meeting and demanded the voting results be made public. The Chair agreed. The same guy then did a TV interview "demanding" that the results be made public. Either a hearing aid or a little less publicity hunger is in order for that fellow;

6. Schwiebert and Boland pledged their undying love and a new District Office to Macoupin County (That appears to me to be a virtual financial impossibility but it shows how much attention a County can get when it pledges to vote as a block and won't tell anyone for whom--damn good leadership!)

Fill in the blanks for the rest of it (NAFTA stole G'burg's jobs, I'm most electable because I beat the Creature from the Black Lagoon in the last election 75-25, I used to walk four miles uphill, both ways, to and from my log cabin to school, in the snow every day, I think outside the box because I can't find the box, Ronald Reagan was not good name for a Highway or a President, I vote pro-labor at least more often than Orrin Hatch, I love the Arsenal more than any of these other guys, I invented ethanol before Al Gore invented the itnernet.)

Actually the speeches were quite good. Mellon's speaking learning curve has been notable, Schwiebert and Boland marshall arguments very well, Sullivan just has a warm, personal style seasoned with a decent story-telling gift and Hare is just a good, old-time lefty red meat speaker.

All the while, Zinga is at an undisclosed location in Anger Management class. It'll never take. Andrea, you're no Amy Stockwell.