I have only covered a few of these big rally events. The last one was a Bernie Sanders rally in Eau Claire back in the day. And back when I was a blogger I was the Wisconsin Democratic Blogger at the 2008 Convention, which was an interesting experience I promised myself not to repeat. But let me tell you a little about my experience today covering the Eau Claire Harris/Walz rally.
I got an email yesterday telling me where the event would be and the rules for media attendance. I was alarmed by the mention of media setup from 4:30 to 6:30 AM. I am normally not a 4:30 person. After a little email and text back-and-forth it turned out they were talking about media with huge cameras and satellite trucks, not folks like me with a little tripod and a cheap video camera. This was good, I did not have to be there till 9-ish. I was armed with the address of the media entrance (which turned out to be the same place as the ADA entrance).
Upon arrival at the parking lot my car was given a once-over by security staff including looking under the hood and having a dog circle the car looking for, I would assume,, explosives. I passed. I was glad I removed the dog bed and a few other oddities last night. I then parked and went through the security line, which was a lot like airport security if people were getting on a plane with tables and chairs and tripods and cameras and cables. I hoofed it over to the media tent and looked at the camera riser and discovered it was going to be difficult to find a spot. I finally found a place from which I thought I could aim at the stage, but when the camera personnel came in it was clear I had chosen badly. I had already been there two hours looking at the looming crowd that seemed to keep coming. When the gates were opened an inrush of humanity occurred as everyone found spots to - wait. And wait.
Around noon as I was panicking trying to find a spot on the riser that was not taken up by huge video cameras and people grousing about how the wifi was down and the wired internet was problematic and they were having trouble doing their live stand-ups, I realized that my very simple batch of gear might not have been as bad as I thought.. We will not discuss how my trusty Olympus OM-D EM5-ii broke at the National Night Out last evening. Again. Forcing me to go back to the old Canon video cameras. Suddenly the very nice young woman from PBS came to take down her tripod since she was headed elsewhere,and she asked me if I would like her spot. Almost simultaneously someone had an armful of water bottles and was handing them out. Life was looking up. As the morning went on I accumulated a list of things I would do differently next time, like remembering the dead-rat windscreen for my microphone and bringing a second pair of earphones.
Eventually, things actually started to happen and we got talks from Sarah Godzliewski, Tony Evers, Tammy Baldwin, and others, along with a brief concert by Bon Iver. After which everything ground to a halt for what felt like an eternity. We could see the motorcade arrive while the stage crew hauled off Bon Iver's equipment. Things took another hour or so to get started after which Tim Walz took to the stage followed by Kamala Harris. We ended up finishing around 3 PM and I hobbled back to my car on my now-exhausted legs.
A few things struck me during the rally. As the crowd was waiting a bald eagle showed up as if on cue, and did a circle over the crowd, which drew a big response from the audience. There were also a couple of helicopters doing slow circles around the crowd, which intrigued people for a while, but eventually just became part of the ambiance.
As the afternoon wore on it grew quite warm and uncomfortable. Two people fainted in the front of the crowd shortly after Tim Walz took to the stage. He stopped his speech and seemed to put all of his focus on making sure the overheated people were getting water and the attention they needed.
The crowd was clearly having a good time even though I am sure everyone had wished things had moved along quickly, especially those who arrived promptly at 9 AM like me. I was all too glad to get back in my car, drink a lot of water, and crank up the air conditioning. I finally decided I was ready to drive off, only to be blocked at the exit as the motorcade sped past (apparently on their way to The Local Store in Eau Claire where they met the Volume One folks and Bon Iver, also purchasing a few local products in the process.
All in all a good, but tiring day. I am getting too old for this stuff. As I drove home I noticed that a lot of people had apparently given up on getting into the event through the official channels and had just parked on the side of the road - for up to two miles away. The New York Times quoted one person as saying that getting there was "like getting to Woodstock". I can understand the sentiment. And when I make the film, I'm going to call it Port-O-San.
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