Well, they all used the same venues in NH -- all 16 of 'em (or so it seemed).

It probably won't be all that bad.

Oh, if you saw the cramped road in front of the ancient school, with totally limited parking-well, heck, go on Google Maps and check out Fort Bragg Road (NOT Bragg Boulevard, altho it's close) and check out Terry Sanford High School, you will see for yourself. It's bad enough traffic when school lets out in the afternoon-THIS is gonna be a trainwreck.

I love chaos. I'm jealous.

Eh. the roads around here are little, too. People will get there way early. They'll park along the side of the road and walk in. The only real drag is the exodus at the end 'cause everyone's leaving at the same time. But it'll be all right.

If they park on the side of THAT road people are gonna get their cars bashed in.

(This would explain why I saw a bunch of what looked like Secret Service agents casing the area last week...)

She appears in multiple places every day, and society muddles on somehow. Business is transacted. Commerce proceeds unhindered. People go about their daily rounds. You'll be all right.

Just hope there's no phantom snipers following her... or worse yet, sinbad.
(I kid, I kid)

My mom saw her in New Hampshire wayyyy back when the primaries were still shiny and new. I guess the crowds tend to be pretty well behaved. More traditional political appearance than rock concert.

In all honesty I don't think it'll be as chaotic as an Obama event since he gets a lot more college kids, and she's more towards the older folks. Not knocking my own horse in the race, just saying, stick 20 college kids in one room, and 20 ladies over 50 in another, and I can tell you which room will look like a small bomb went off after an hour without even listening at the doors.

OMG there's a "green" home and garden show being held at the Rec Center of the local University this weekend. All the on-street parking will be taken up by Priuses with political bumper stickers and little electric cars with flower decals on the sides. (When I was a kid, we used those things in the shower! So that we didn't slip and bust our asses!!)

Hippies will be flocking to the home and garden show for free tomato seedlings. Wealthy, crunchy-granola suburbanites -- they'll be going for pamphlets on solar panels.

In all, it's going to be impossible for the normal person to exist in that part of the world on that day. People will be running into parked cars left and right, because Home and Garden fever has taken over this little town and we no longer know how to drive!

I, for one, wish they'd never scheduled this Home and Garden show here. I mean, people don't really need to be exposed to yet another variation on biodegradable outdoor carpeting. They don't really need a free petunia plant. Seriously, this whole thing is a sham. It's unimportant. It's messing with my existence. And dammit, WON'T SOMEONE THINK OF ALL THE PARKED CARS????? H-E-Double-Hockey-Sticks!!11!

All the on-street parking will be taken up by Priuses with political bumper stickers and little electric cars with flower decals on the sides. (When I was a kid, we used those things in the shower! So that we didn't slip and bust our asses!!)

Sounds like the parking lot of my co-op. I've never seen so many environmentalists so oblivious to the existence of pedestrians.

heh, pup, I see what you did there!

Yeah, it's all fun and games and whatnot, until, shit happens. Which was a pity in a lot of ways, but much more so because he seemed to be one of those Police Officers that actually *cared* about the community (video, and you'll have to sit through a 12-second commercial to see it, but I ask that you do).

Not to be Captain Bringdown or anything, or to talk ill of cops in general (I just do my best to avoid 'em at all costs), but, you know, just throwing it out there.

I am SO glad I'm not one of Hillary's Secret Service detail

eh? You think Fort Bragg is going to try to kill Hillary Clinton? Weird.

Taz, Fayetteville is made up of more than just Fort Bragg...

But I mostly said that because I know the makeup of the venue and it would be really hard to keep it secure.

Miko, I guess I am mostly complaining that there are tons and tons and TONS of places here that would be so much better for her to speak at. It boggles my mind TOTALLY that they would put her there.

It is the rattiest looking of the high schools here, also, but it is the BEST high school in the area - many of the local doctors, lawyers, etc in the district have their little darlings go there-it's one of the wealthiest districs-they have the best teachers, they have the safest atmosphere, etc. So if she goes THERE to rip our educational system I am gonna laugh my hiney off.

Why didn't she go to Fayetteville State? Oh, I forgot-it is a historically BLACK institution. They might have OBAMA fans there-oh noes!!! (/sarcasm)

Heh, I remember way back in the dark ages when I was a kid and actually got to show my horse at the state fair! Big doings in my mind.
Wouldn't you know it - President Ford went there to speak at the same time. I was so upset that it would be a real hassle getting in. The horses were stabled in temporary structures outside, and the show ring was inside the fairgrounds. When they called your class, you had to ride through the gate and straight into the ring because there was no warm-up area inside.

The secret service pretty quickly gave up trying to check those of us on horseback. But, I guess we didn't look like threats. Too bad they didn't have costume classes....

The secret service guys, in my experience, are the sane ones. Very professional. Courteous.

The assholes are the ones in the campaign. . Hillary has yet to come here but I expect her to be at a high school.

So if she goes THERE to rip our educational system I am gonna laugh my hiney off.

I dunno, it almost seems appropriate. There is something to 'rip' in a system in which we have a BEST high school where the children of the elites go, and worse high schools where others go. Seems like it makes some sense to critique inequity in a place like that. Not that she is going to critique inequity; I'm not sure that's been a major campaign plank in her platform.

Hey, this is American politics, though. These campaign arrangements happen locally, on the ground. Someone who's involved with the campaign has a contact or an involvement with the school, as well, and they've arranged things with her staff. This is how this stuff happens - it's what they mean when they say "all politics is local." When Hillary appeared a few times in Portsmouth, she appeared at businesses that were owned by her Hillraisers, and at a couple local high schools who have a history of being open to cooperating with campaigns. Depending on school leadership, sometimes this sort of civic engagement is exactly the kind of activity they want to host.

Miko, the school in appearance looks like crap. My kids had classrooms that leaked when it rained. UNLIKE most of the other high schools. It just happens to be smack dab in the middle of an area of Fayetteville known as Haymount Hill. Older established neighborhoods with sidewalks, where the "old families" of Fayetteville live, along with newer really expensive neighborhoods,mixed with artsy-fartsy hoi polloi and folks who don't mind living in crap houses for the school district. (the latter was us.)

Again, the venue is just wrong, wrong, wrong for this, and if I went to Fayetteville State or Methodist College I'd want to know WHY she couldn't go there. OR for that matter the Crown Coliseum, which is right off I-95 and would be easy for her to access.

Again, the venue is just wrong, wrong, wrong for this, and if I went to Fayetteville State or Methodist College I'd want to know WHY she couldn't go there. OR for that matter the Crown Coliseum, which is right off I-95 and would be easy for her to access.

Well, the events are planned by people in the campaign. I sugges you call the local campaign office and ask. I'm sure they had their reasons for choosing it and could explain them to you. We, of course, wouldn't know - it's local information. In most cases, it's quite simple: someone invited the campaign to speak there.

Just a note, too -- "hoi polloi" means "the masses," as in "the madding crowds," or "the wretched refuse" -- not "the highfalutin," --in case that's how you wanted to characterize those people.

We, of course, wouldn't know - it's local information.

I don't think bunnyfire is asking us for anything, except maybe a little commiseration.

"the masses" is what I meant, dear Miko.

Fayetteville, like many places in the South is kinda weird. You can have crack houses literally one street over from the desirable areas.

Terry Sanford is where the more well off sent their kids if they don't care if they rub elbows with everyone else-they don't have a gang problem, no one gets beat up in bathrooms, etc. Teachers actually listen to parents.

We do have a subset of the richer folk that send theirs to Fayetteville Academy. What these folks don't realize is that the rest of us know these kids are such blatant partiers we lesser folk would just as soon our kids not hang out with theirs.

(this is off topic,but when my kids attended, the principal was a really nice man who went there himself when he was a teen. Tragically his own brother was stabbed to death at the school and I think he witnessed it. His own daughters went to school with my kids-not too long after they graduated, he moved to a different school. I can understand why.

He stuttered just a little bit, too. Again, it makes sense. But he was a wonderful man and I am so glad my kids had him for a principal. He really seemed to care about the students.)

Yeah, commisseration is it. I just know how convoluted the parking is at that school, and how many wrecks I almost got in trying to pick up a kid from there (thankfully they usually walked, but still.) They really had to think really really hard to come up with a place that would be that nightmarish to park at and to get out of afterwards.

But, hey, not my problem-I have a previous engagement and won't be anywhere near the place. But I feel sorry for all the folks in Fayetteville that really want to see and hear her. (And here, people will come out just to gawk even if they don't like her politics.)

I commisserate, bunnyfire. When Hillary came to San Antonio, she was scheduled to speek at a Catholic college. Catholic. College. In a crowded part of town

Which means, not only did I have to sit at a light for 15 minutes while finding a place to park, then parking super-far away and having to walk a bunch in heels (it was right after work), but I also had to pass by a bunch of anti-Hillary and anti-abortion protesters, holding very graphic signs and shouting really offensive things (I mean, I respect their right to protest, but shouting "Pro-aborts should go to hell" doesn't seem very Christian, IMO). Then, on top of that, it was way too crowded and I didn't want to wait in line for 2 hours just to be turned away at the door, so I had to go back past the protesters to get to my car.

So yeah, I wish campaign events were scheduled a little more rationally.

I guess I don't really buy that this about commiseration. It seems like you more want folks to agree with you that Hillary's campaign staffers must be incompetent for picking the place, when in fact, it's toally par for the course and politicians speak in every sort of place at every sort of time (heck, I saw her here in a coffeehouse that normally seats maybe 40 people, with no parking, and we had about 250 people in there. That's how these thigns go).

And since

not my problem-I have a previous engagement and won't be anywhere near the place.

, and since we know you don't like Hillary at all since you've said so before here, it's just hard to believe you really 'feel sorry' for people going to see her. I guess I'm having trouble understanding why you made this post. It feels a little bit like maybe some trolling?

And I agree with muddgirl that campaign events tend to be chaotic, but I understand why they are. If you've ever coordinated even one major event, you know how challenging it is. It's just not easy to get large numbers of people in and out of a place at a specific time no matter what you're doing - wedding, talk, book signing, event. Add the celebrity factor of a candidate, the democratic imperative people feel to be participants, and the high emotions, and it gets tougher. Multiply that by four or five events a day in different towns. And add in a few plane rides and schedule delays, and the need to have new and different people on the ground as local contacts and organizers, and to communicate with them - and you see how challenging it is for campaigns to arrange anything at all.

I'm just really glad they still do real events at which real people are present. Chaotic it may be, but access to leaders is important. This is far better than the (perhaps looming) situation in which our only chance to assess people as candidates comes through video clips and sound bites. And in which they never, ever encounter a regular voter because they are so insulated by scripted, perfectly scheduled media appearances.

Miko, when Obama was here a few days ago, he too picked a small venue but he limited his guest list. Here Hillary is inviting everyone out-first come first served-and either she didn't think she'd get a big turnout and wants it to look crowded or her people are idiots. If she wants a small venue there are tons of other places that won't be such a nightmare to access.

You have to remember that in Fayetteville we are not used to getting people like this in town. I really really really am thinking that they will regret this particular venue. There are a lot of people in this area who will want to see her in person, and I am telling you this will not Wendell.

AND I am telling you she will piss off a LOT of people who will be thinking she should have gone to Fayetteville State. The very people who she needs to win over.

I do remember that you're not used to this in Fayetteville. But I am used to it in New Hampshire, and I know that it will be all right.

That was nice that Obama did invites for his event, but it's by no means standard. His events here were a combination of cattle-call and private-invite - some of each. As were Hillary's. As were Romney's. As were McCain's. So it's not like some candidates to it better than others - they all do a mixture of every sort of format and venue. Believe me, it'll be a little hairy, sure, it always is -- but the world isn't going to end. People that don't like jockeying in a crowd will leave, people that really want to be there will put up with it and stay. It's always a little disorganized to run a one-time appearance. There's an excitement to having the opportunity to be part of the process. Just because this is an open-invite thing doesn't mean it's poorly planned. The choice of venue, as I've said a couple times, has much more to do with the local campaign office and the invitation they extended and coordinated with the campaign than with any wish on a candidate's part to make lines look longer or any such thing. All candidates appear in all size venues and in different formats. It's usually the local committee working in concert with the staff who figure out the venue.

Just really saying - there's nothing to freak out about. The same kind of event, organized the same way, happens all over the country with all kinds of candidates. You'll all be fine.

The very people who she needs to win over.

Well, you have to ask, did Fayetteville State invite her? Were they in touch with the local campaign? Did they even express interest? What might be the local (not national) reasons why the two organizations might not be in touch with one another? Did anyone suggest it? If you really wonder, call and find out! I would be totally interested in the answers.

Well, I'll be sure to post an update. It is rather exciting to have these folks notice we exist, after all. It almost never happens because our primary is so late.

Miko, my husband is actually acquainted with and friendly with the head Democrat of the state of NC...I might see what he can ferret out for me.

My best guess is, and I hate to say it, it's racial. As I said before, Haymount Hill is where "old fayetteville" resides and also literally where most of the political power is concentrated, locally. Some of these people have probably never ever even stepped on the campus of FSU.

That is just about the only good aspect of the dragged out Democratic nomination -- that people in states that don't often get visited will have the chance to meet the candidates.

It looks like the school can seat 750 (Obama's event was for 150). it's being run by Fayetteville for Hillary, so they probably helped arrange the location. The campaign staff is meeting with the local organizers tonight at Georgia Brown's Bar & Grill at 6 PM. I imagine they'll run through logistics. You could certainly go if you wanted to express your concerns about the parking and crowding.

For what it's worth, I attended an open-seating Obama event in Portsmouth for 100 people at a banquet hall. There were 200 parking places. We waited in line a little over an hour. We had to park on the dirt at the far end of the parking lot, kind of made up a space. A little delay getting out at the end, waiting in line at the light, but nothing crazy.

My best guess is, and I hate to say it, it's racial.

That would've been my guess.

Fayetteville for Hillary only has two members, if their website can be believed-I didn't recognize either name, not that that makes that much difference. I'll have to ask hubs if he knows who they are.

It's a Meetups.com page, not a real website, so they may have more members of the organization who are not members of the Meetups site (like MetaFilter does). But it is likely it is pretty small. It looks like the group only formed on March 10, so there may just be a few people so far.

More Hillary detail for NC.

100 people *

Make that 1000 people. Heh.