Just Another Day On The Front Lines...

Covering The Kerry Political Rally
In Central Point Oregon

By: Richard Alves
August 14, 2004
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"If you are a hunter or a fisherman, you know we better make damn sure there is habitat out there if we want to preserve our species." Senator John Kerry 8-12-04.

Tuesday afternoon I received a press release from the Kerry-Edwards campaign announcing John Kerry would be making an appearance Thursday afternoon at the Jackson County fairgrounds in Central Point, Oregon. The Fish Sniffer knew Kerry was coming to Oregon but, for security reasons, the Kerry campaign did not announce the venues until 2 days before the event.

Last week I had gone through the Kerry-Edwards website with a fine tooth comb looking for any kind of policy statement relating to endangered species, wildlife management, western states water policy or anything that could remotely have an impact on California and Oregon fisheries. I only found the following quote:

"John Kerry and John Edwards are committed to implementing the law in a manner that works for both wildlife and property owners. The Kerry-Edwards administration will enter into cooperative agreements with property owners to protect endangered species, while granting correlative rights to landowners to conduct activities on their lands without risk of prosecution. To facilitate implementation of the law, John Kerry will consolidate the now parallel efforts of the two federal agencies that administer the Endangered Species Act (the Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service), and he will seek adequate funding from Congress to enable federal officials to implement the law in accordance with the best science available."

The proximity of Central Point to the Klamath River, about 40 miles, would make it the perfect place to make a policy announcement about the environment. Dan Bacher, Fish Sniffer print Editor, thought that the possibility of getting breaking news relating to water or fish was great enough that we should cover the event, considering the minimal policy statements on the Kerry-Edwards website.

First thing Thursday morning I called the Kerry-Edwards Portland office asking for a press credential. Within an hour, they called back to tell me I had been accepted. I was instructed to show up with a copy of the Fish Sniffer masthead and my writer's credential. They also informed me no bags, bottles or cans, in addition to the usual contraband, would be allowed into the event. Lovely, it was going to be 100 degrees and I hand to wear my writer's vest to lug camera gear!

The pickup's thermometer read 92 when I crested Siskiyou Summit shortly after 1 PM. Eight miles later in Ashland, at the bottom of the hill, the reading was 98. Definitely a scorcher for this neck of the woods! Getting out of the truck after a seventy-four mile air-conditioned ride felt like crawling into an oven!

There were well over 500 people standing in a line that snaked through the shady spots provided by a few small trees. Since it was an hour before the gates were to open, I talked to people about what they thought were the most important issues of the campaign. Number 1 was the war, but there were a number different reasons expressed. Number 2 was jobs and the economy. Number 3, and this surprised me a little, was the environment. The opinions about water management, fisheries management and forestry practices were, in general, well thought out and expressed.

The gates opened and the process of checking 9,500 people through security began. At the far end of a large fairground building I could see ten or so airport type metal detectors and thousands of folks waiting to walk through. The press and the handicapped were in another line, mostly out in the sun. A half an hour later, as I'm nearing the front of the line, a reporter and cameraman from local TV station X just walked up to the front of the line and demanded entrance.

It was apparent the usher, a local party volunteer, had not been given instructions on how to manage the line. The Secret Service screener said, "I'm just a screener, it's not my job to make policy on how to manage the line." Another volunteer, assigned to a handicapped person in a wheelchair said, "You have all these handicapped people out in the sun. They shouldn't have to wait for a TV crew." I then said, "I was told to go to the back of the line when I got here. There is plenty of time and I don't see why a camera should give them any special privileges." I added, "I'm here looking for a story and maybe this level of disorganization is worth writing about!" Immediately, the usher asked the Station X crew to go to the end of the line. The talking head scowled at me as he walked by.

While waiting in line, I had placed everything loose, such as car keys, wallet and change, into my vest pockets. I got through the screener in a snap. Two screeners then began to go through my vest. All film canisters had to be opened. They had to look through my camera, after the film was removed. All my lenses had to be checked. They even opened one of my ballpoint pens!

By the time I got to the press check-in table, a small table in the shade of a small tree, my fishing shirt was sweat soaked, unable to wick moisture as fast as I was making it. "Oh, you're the fishing writer," the volunteer at the table said. "Do you have a business card? My husband is the news director at station Y and would like to talk to you."

It was a short walk to the livestock pavilion, where the rally was being held. I was immediately greeted by the Kerry staff press liaison. "You must be the Fish Sniffer," she said. I'm thinking, "OK, here's your sign". I was wearing a Fish Sniffer hat and had a logo on my vest. It was clear they knew an outdoor writer was going to be covering the rally and the Kerry staff was paying attention. I was escorted to my assigned spot on the camera scaffold, eight feet above the dirt floor and fifty feet front and center from the stage.

A half an hour later, the TV crew assigned to the space next to me showed up. You guessed it! It was the crew from station X. "I wish I freedom to act like you did when I'm working," the reported said. "I'd be fired tomorrow for doing something like that," he added.

It was 3:45 and Kerry was scheduled to arrive at 4:30. The pavilion was filling up and the crowd was getting louder by the minute. The camera scaffold was full and it was hot! We took turns making runs for bottled water and kept waiting for Kerry to show. 5:00 passed. The volume of the music on the PA system continued to rise. Local volunteers were walking through the crowd with garden sprayers trying to cool people down. The EMT station had a steady flow of customers suffering from the heat. Only the handicapped had chairs, everyone else was standing. Local candidates took the stage for a half an hour. At 5:40 the cameraman next to me quipped, "I thought it was the Rolling Stones' act to show an hour late."

After running out of speakers, staffers took to the stage and started tossing t-shirts out to the crowd. Cell phones started ringing on the press scaffold. The buzz quickly spread that Kerry had landed at the Medford airport a few miles away. My cell phone rang, it was my wife Deborah. She told me local news was covering the event non-stop and that Kerry was getting a 10-minute briefing before heading to the fairgrounds.

The press contingent traveling with the campaign arrived and set up in a matter of seconds. This packed the press scaffold. The local TV reporters were prepping their appearance for the cameras as the Kerry motorcade rolled into the fairgrounds. The strategies employed to fight sweat blotches showing were interesting. The women broke out fresh jackets, the men just hoped a cotton undershirt would get the job done and they all wore dark shirts.

The crowd went crazy as Kerry walked on stage. After a long introduction by his wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry, John took the mike at 6:30. A half an hour later I had three sentences remotely relating to fish or fisheries. They are the quote at the beginning of this article and the following:

"Environmental and labor standards will be established on foreign trade."

"I will be a president who actually believes in science."

The following morning I received another press release from the Kerry-Edwards campaign announcing their Environmental Action Day on August 21... kind of like going fishing and having your buddy say, "You should have been here yesterday." Well at least getting the story was interesting.

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