| Chris Dodd: Gave a pretty good speech - touched on most of the important issues and sounded good. He just did nothing to excite me or set himself apart from the crowd. I got distracted by emails on my phone during his speech. He has the coolest stuff though. He appears to have crept into each of our hotel rooms and left a little donkey Pez dispenser. And he gave us a bag of stickers and buttons and written materials.
There were a constant good number of people in his hotel room, but the rooms are small and I never made the effort to wait through the crowd to talk with him.
Wesley Clark: This was my guy last go-round. Today, Clark had no actual campaign materials - some supporters appear to have created the cool four-star lapel pins, but Clark's physical presence here and his speech indicate to me that he is ultimately unlikely to enter the race. His speech focussed almost exclusively on national security issues - it just didn't feel like a presidential speech.
Characteristically, however, he stayed in his hotel room talking with and greeting members longer than any of the other candidates. He is a great man and I think he would be a great president; I just don't see it happening.
Barack Obama: He's a star. He gave a moving speech reminiscent of the early Bill Clinton speeches in '92. In the speech, he clearly distinguished himself from Hillary in style. He spoke of principles and values; she spoke of issues.
Obama's folks either didn't get the memo on how to set this meeting up or he isn't actually getting in the race. He has almost no physical presence here. Since everyone seems convinced he's in; then this is an indication that he has absolutely no professional, experienced national campaign staff on his payroll at this point. He has no material, no stickers. That stuff doesn't matter intrinsically, but the people at this meeting need to be convinced of his seriousness. I'm not convinced, no matter how good his speech was. Oh, and he didn't show up for the meet-and-greet with the members; there were two guys in the room with a piece of paper to put your email on. Boo.
John Edwards: Opposite of Obama in preparation for this event. He has the same familiar faces advancing his entrance into the room that he had last cycle - they are good at what they do and it pays off in the form of electricity and drama he creates in a room. He has some signs and t-shirts printed up and a whole lot of volunteers.
In his speech, Edwards appeared to be a hybrid of Obama and Hillary. He spoke in equal parts of principals and issues. He has become a very effective speaker and is making me consider him much more seriously this cycle than last. He is the only other candidate to not show for the meet-and-greet, but he sent his wife.
Dennis Kucinich: Terrible speech. The only line I remember is, "the stench of death." He has a few supporters here and some intricate issue papers. He was at the meet-and-greet, but I didn't stop by.
Hillary Clinton: Like it or not; she is way ahead of the pack right now. You can feel it in that ballroom among many of the leaders from each of the states. She has her materials everywhere and a lot of volunteers. She had the biggest meet-and-greet; even had beer and wine. Fancy. :)
Her speech was fine, but it seemed defensive and unexciting. She said all the right things and touched on all the right issues, but like I mentioned earlier she was very wonky. Not much passion.
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Sorry for the brief descriptions, but I've got to run to a meeting. More later...
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