It was an exciting day. Banners are up all over town welcoming people to the DNC, Hugh and I (learn all about Hugh here) drove in early in the morning to attend the 8 a.m. organizing meeting for the People’s Revolution/Occupy Protest.

We stopped at the Starbucks, as the meeting was changed to 9 a.m. While drinking our brew, a few officers joined the line. We spoke briefly with them, and they were very nice. That is, they had the right attitude. They didn’t bother anyone at the meeting, which, because it was delayed again until 9:30, kinda sorta convened in an outdoor courtyard, and spilled into the street outside. While we were at the Starbucks, Hugh interviewed me about Jill Stein’s chances in Pennsylvania. I’m going to try an get a copy of the video for you to see, but I can’t seem to pull it off his FB feed <sad face> — bottom line, if she won 50% of the people who voted for Bernie in the primary, given that more people vote in a general than in a primary, she still couldn’t hit 10%.

It was interesting that the vast number of people were baby boomers. I had noticed the same thing last year at the Keystone Progress summit where Bernie Sanders was the keynote speaker. I found it interesting, especially as compared to the voting statistics based on age in the primaries.  Then again, all of these things cost money…

Met Will Conner, a nice young man from Ohio who is planning on running for Congress in the 2018 cycle as a Progressive. He and I talked ballot access, and how hard it was to get on a ballot if the party wasn’t there. It’s much easier for a Congressional district than a state in most instances, but we’ll see how Ohio rolls as it’s known for being especially difficult. Will be talking to him again in November to help with his initial FEC forms.

Had my arm stamped for the protest, and wrote on  one of the “How will you change the world?” signs. outside the Arch Street meeting house. Also had the opportunity to speak to a number of young people who feel there is no difference between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders. I wanted to understand the logic, and it appears that driving reason is that they believe that the only way to make the Democratic Party more progressive is to get someone like Donald Trump into the White House, so that true revolution can occur. Trying to explain that this was akin to Berlin in 1931 was an abstraction that they couldn’t really get their heads around.

Finally, I was able to meet Shanna East, who was in charge of the day’s protest event. She was helped by dozens of people with badges that indicated “Security” “Food and Water” “Logistics”, etc. It was all very reminiscent of the Occupy protests a few years ago: very orderly, well organized, with a lot of concern for the health and safety of the participants.

All in all a good few hours. At that point, it became far too hot for yours truly.

Tomorrow – pick up credentials day! More then.