Tara's Election Night
| 09:22 UK time, Friday, 10 November 2006
After working without sleep for days, our intrepid Tara Gadomski, who covered the election for us from Pennsylvania and monitored the US press, also managed to produce a blog entry!
Here it is:
Despite ten years of working at becoming a cynical journalist I was still surprised at how orchestrated politics can be.
I reported on election night from the Scranton Cultural Center in Pennsylvania, where Bob Casey's supporters, and a large group of TV reporters and photographers, were gathered to watch the results.
I was the sole ´óÏó´«Ã½ crew present, but I had a volunteer assistant--my Dad, Michael P. Gadomski. Here's his website: . He lives near Scranton, and he is a professional nature photographer (he sometimes takes pictures of things like rattlesnakes and poisonous frogs--decidedly less dangerous than the wild animals found in politics.) He took the photographs you see in this blog.
Like at most big events, the press was unceremoniously corralled into two cordoned-off areas which were designed to provide a clear view of the stage. We were not allowed to leave the areas at all (and yes, there was a bathroom there!)
This is the part that surprised me: as the crowd grew larger, the area immediately surrounding the stage began to fill up--- with people handpicked from the crowd.
At first, they campaign advisors directed some "Young Democrat" college types to stand on either side of the stage. Then they added some parents with cute kids. A few senior citizens were thrown into the mix, then a handful of tough guys, with flannel shirts and baseball caps.
These people could have been good friends of the candidate. Or they may have just have been in the right place at the right time. But there did seem to be a concerted effort to make it a diverse group.
At the same time, the advisors were handing out placards and photogenic American flags to the crowd. From time to time, a campaign staffer coached the crowd on how to wave the placards effectively.
The placement of the crowd, combined with the corralling of the press, ensured that nearly every photo that came from the Scranton Cultural Center that night, was "on message:" colorful, diverse, enthusiastic, patriotic …..
Now, I'm not saying that these people were forced to do anything. They were all enthusiastic supporters of the now Senator-elect, and had given large amounts of time and/or money to the campaign. They seemed genuinely happy and honored to be at the election night party.
But the way that the crowd was "set," almost like extras on a Hollywood film, was fascinating to watch. And from the TV coverage I saw of other races, it seems this scene was repeated over and over across the country.
In the interest of fairness, I will say that the Republicans gathered at a hotel near Scranton may have done something similar---that is, if any press had gone to their rally. When I went to get comment on their election losses, the place was pretty quiet. As I interviewed one defeated volunteer, the hotel staff actually started to turn out the lights.
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