Early voting for president started yesterday in Connecticut. I spent the previous evening a few feet from the man who may be the next Vice President of the United States.
The reception — at Governor Lamont’s (very large) home — was the 4th time this year I’ve been to a political event.
Their vibes mirror the ups and downs of this very tight — and critically important — election season.
The first was the “3 Presidents” at Radio City Music Hall, in March.
I’d seen Bill Clinton and Barack Obama before. I’d never seen President Biden.
Stephen Colbert (left) interviews Presidents Biden, Obama and Clinton.
I had great seats — about 18 rows from the stage, dead center. Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer warmed up the crowd. Then came the first lady, and the entire Biden clan (including Hunter).
Talent included Queen Latifah, Lizzo, Ben Platt, Cynthia Erivo and Lea Michele.
MC Mindy Kaling joked about why people would pay up to $500,000 a ticket (that was not my seat) to support someone who wants to raise their taxes.
As expected, Obama was the rock star. Clinton was raspy. Biden mumbled a bit but made no gaffes, and was fully engaged.
It was remarkable to see them together, but at the same time seemed very natural and oddly reassuring. Their affection for each other – fighting similar ideological battles, but also occupying a unique position in the world – came through strongly.
Barack Obama, with Joe Biden.
I expected only rah-rah stuff. But Stephen Colbert asked interesting, even provocative questions. There were a couple of softballs, but he did not shy away from Israel/Gaza, and Biden’s age.
It was a very different scene 3 months later, at an LGBTQ event at the Manhattan Club.
It had been scheduled a while earlier, for the night after the presidential debate. No one could have known beforehand what a disaster for Biden that turned out to be.
His fumblingly geriatric performance was, well, the elephant in the room.
The president’s voice was more robust than the night before. He read well from a teleprompter. He had a bit more energy.
President Biden, at the Manhattan Club.
But the podium was placed close to the wing, so he did not have far to shuffle out on stage. The energy in the room was low.
The highlight of the night was Biden’s introduction, by Sir Elton John. Much to everyone’s disappointment, he did not sing.
Sir Elton John, behind the presidential seal.
A Sunday afternoon last month could not have been more different.
The crowd was more diverse in age and race than the previous 2 events. Once again, I had great seats — just behind the $1,000,000 contributors, dead center.
The energy was sky-high, even before Whoopi Goldberg and Billy Porter came on stage.
The vice president gave her basic stump speech. But she delivered it with poise and passion, and the reaction was electric — a far cry from Biden’s talks.
In just 3 months, the race had turned on its head. The first crowd was excited, primarily by a former president. The second was dutiful. This was pulsating.
Vice President Kamala Harris, at Cipriani Wall Street.
The venue for vice presidential candidate Tim Walz 2 days ago was much more intimate: about 200 people, on Lamont’s back country Greenwich patio.
Governor Walz was much more relaxed than in his debate with JD Vance earlier this month. He spoke easily about topics ranging from gun violence and reproductive rights to the economy, and repeated his now-famous line about the importance of getting along with one another: “Mind your own damn business.”
He also described his genuine friendship with the Connecticut politicians gathered there: Governor Lamont, Senators Murphy and Blumenthal, Representatives Hayes and Courtney.
(Noting that Hayes — who is in a tough re-election race in the 5th District — has been National Teacher of the Year, while he was “only” a finalist for State Teacher of the Year, Walz said, “It’s easier to become Governor of Minnesota than Teacher of the Year.)
Governor Tim Walz, on Sunday. (All photos/Dan Woog)
The Westporters and others gathered there listened raptly to Walz’s remarks. He gave the crowd “the assignment”: Don’t let up over the next 2 weeks, in the run-up to yet another razor-thin election.
The crowd laughed appreciatively when he said, “If the universe has any type of justice as that moral curve bends, we’ll win Georgia by 1 vote. And it will be Jimmy Carter’s.”
The political landscape is very different from the first event I went to, just 7 months ago.
But the mood is still the same, on both sides of the aisle: anxious, uncertain, fearful of what will happen if the other candidate wins.
It’s been intriguing to have seen those 4 events this year.
Two weeks from today — or, perhaps, days or weeks later — I’ll find out whether I was with the next president and vice president.
Or just 2 footnotes to history.
So glad it was a “good time for all.” Dangerously sad, however, that Ms. Harris does not have a chance of saving us…with young men now “leaning” toward Trump, 72 million ass holes favoring him, Jill Stein syphoning off the few votes that could tip it our way and now, the coffin’s nail, Musk handing out a million bucks a day to “petition signers”, we, the constitution defenders, the true believers in our America, are deeply, and quite permanently F….d.
the recent trends are more favorable to Harris
You are just an angry rich white liberal Dan. Kamala wasn’t even voted to become the nominee. Talk about democracy.
Americans are seeing what a disaster the liberal Marxist socialist party of the democrats have become.
Trump 2024.
Make America Great Again!!
Don’t cry Dan you’ll be ok! Get out of your bubble one day and see what America is like under Harris/Biden policies. Rich Westport liberals don’t have to worry about food prices. They only worry about gas powered blowers. Lol!!
If you vote for a racist, you’re on Team Racist. And there are plenty of you in Westport.
Far less “liberal” than you might think, Jeff.
Just a lover of America, the American constitution and the American system of justice; all of which go down the toilet with the unthinkable, but likely, Trump Presidency.
Harris was indeed voted to become the nominee by, you know, the party delegates. It was even reported by FoxNews!
Let us all know when you’ve declined to participate in the liberal, Marxist, socialist, social security and Medicare programs.
Oh dear! With prices sooo high, how will we ever be able to afford the Made in China sneakers, bibles and watches trump is trying to hawk??? Boohoo!
For everyone’s sake Vote Blue
the daughter of President Gerald Ford endorsed Harris. Trumps Mike Pence refused to endorse Trump
Great reporting, Dan. Good pix, too. Thanks for sharing that!
Harris leads Trump by 20 points by younger voters CNBC
Thanks for sharing this perspective. I’m curious how you hear about these events and come by these tickets. Is it as a journalist? It’s a fascinating slice of history win or lose. Let’s hope it’s “win.”
Likely Dan decided to only spend six figures for his ticket, even if it meant being several rows back, so as to save the rest of his savings to continue bringing us the best possible blog!
We wish President Biden all the best wherever his post-January plans may lead him. It will be remarkable to have six living ex-US presidents!
Biden passed so many important bills that Trunp was not able to get passed. The USA economy is the envy of the world.
Yup, even the Economist magazine agrees: https://www.economist.com/leaders/2024/10/17/americas-economy-is-bigger-and-better-than-ever
The political historian, Allen Lichtman, has been making the rounds on networks. He has an interesting theory about who’s going to win and why. You can listen to his recent interview with Karie Couric on you tube.
Thank you Dan for your up close perspective on these events. So glad you were able to attend.
Great experiences. Regardless of political beliefs, great exposure although those fund raisers tend to lean away from real substance & policy discussions which sadly is how the campaign is being run this time. As I travel around the country often for work, it IS very different “out there” from the Westport bubble folks. Lots of Americans hurting out there and feeling more like they’re falling behind than getting ahead.
Tim Walz is my favorite. 🤡 As Reagan always said: Surround yourself with the best people.”
Guiliani was there Paul Manafort Jenna Ellis was there Peter Navarro. Michael Cohen.
I concur w/you on that.
Steven Colbert is a poor excuse for a David Letterman replacement. His interview with Harris was pathetic as he asked no hard ball questions. If it wasn’t for Donald Trumps campaign he would have no material for his show.
The line between journalism and entertainment has become so blurred as to not exist.
Just like this blog. All entertainment, all advertorial, all making good with the homies.
Really? Then why on earth do you read it?
The Republican party is a joke.
MAGA acolytes are imbeciles and fools following an even bigger imbecile and fool. Let me not forget corrupt and incompetent and a failure in literally everything he’s ever done.
When most of his past Republican administration says he can’t be trusted ever again to hold the office of POTUS, I’ve heard all I need to hear. He’s a traitor to the US. Treasonous from Day 1.
Send Trump packing. Vote him off the island. Kick him out of the house. He’s a ZERO.
VP Harris is intelligent and articulate. She can ably expound on the economy, immigration, foreign policy, etc.
Vote Harris / Walz.
I apologize- not for having to say this- but for it being so long!
Trump is the easy part of our current political dilemma to understand (at least for some citizens). After all as a 35 year old he was already called by a Mayor Koch deputy mayor- “the vilest human being he had ever met and would not believe anything he said even if Trump said he had his tongue notarized!”
Simply put- Trump is a real estate huckster saying whatever it takes to make a sale- beginning with the size of his crowds (not larger) and then going on to January 7th being a love fest (Dead and injured capital police) while still claiming the election was stolen ( 39 courts found it was not)! And of course explaining that grabbing women by their private parts is just routine men’s locker room talk (never in my college track team or high school swim team experiences) and that all 17 women who accused him of doing exactly the same thing are all just a bunch of liars (with an 85 million dollar judgement against Trump) !!! And Paying off Stormy and McDougal with NDA’s before an election and then claiming he didn’t have sex with them (all attested to by a Trump associate and the publisher of the Inquirer- the catch and kill guy)!
How many of his former White House staff, military advisers, attorney generals does it take to say Trump is unfit before the message gets through!!
With all that as background- the hard part for me to understand in our political dilemma, and the scary part for me, are all the folks who would in fact watch Trump shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and still vote for him! And these folks, in large part, are now in fact- watching women die from being denied access to standard medical care during their pregnancies and being forced to wait until they are at death’s door for indicated routine medical treatments. Trump is responsible for these laws that turned easy medical decisions into life and death situations, difficult or impossible situations on whether to save the mother or continuing a doomed pregnancy! Whether to do an abortion for a 10 yearl old, a rape or incest victim, or a blighted pregnancy !
As a physician it has been painful and heart breaking watching Trump give out misinformation during COVID (ivermectin, bleach internally, no masks, UV light internally) against the advice of 99.9% of the medical community that cost the lives of countless Trump followers (while vilifying Fauci- a dedicated Infectious disease icon known world wide!)! Those who took Trump’s advice and didn’t get covid shots resulted in at least twice as many deaths in red states as blue states. Trump talked out of both sides of his mouth all through a pandemic- taking credit for producing a vaccine that he then told people not to get- but when he got sick he took everything the medical community had available!
Trump did not deliver manufacturing jobs, Biden did. Trump made us a scary laughing stock amongst our Nato allies, Biden undid that. Trump had and still is having private conversations with Putin about what ( the pent house condos Russian oligarchs bought in Trump’s buildings, the hotels Trump will build in Moscow )??? Trump insisted there be no USA interpreter in the room where it happens and no documentation of the Putin conversations- a historic first in our nations international history- for Trump!
So it is the roughly 48% of the American electorate that frightens me. Including just nice hardworking people in our community, but also standing with them the Proud Boys ( who are standing down and standing by for the next insurrection), Neo nazis (marching in Charlottesville chanting Jews will not replace us) Evangelicals (believing Trump’s is their deliverer), online trolls (who threaten and stalk the enemy of Trump) , and FOX news (who routinely hand out false baloney as news)- all of these groups could easily become the Brown Shirts for Trump- undoing our democracy and taking us back to totalitorism!
Democrats are not the enemy. Independents are not the enemy. Republicans are not the enemy! Immigrants are not the enemy- we are all immigrants- whether one generation removed or ten!
The enemy of our democracy is Donald Trump and all the folks who would watch Trump shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and think it is a good thing!! And then vote for Trump!
Forgot to add- Please vote for Harris/Walz-
All the trinkets Trump is selling are made in China. The gold shoes, watches, bibles, clothes lines, flags, even the steel used to construct Trump Tower. He should try onshoreing his own products.