Noisy Democrat, Democrafty, ObamaKerrygirl, and Leuftmensh were as well. (Noisy Democrat taped both the Worcester and Faneuil Hall events and will put them on JKmediasource.com after she processes them.)
Before Kerry arrived, the event had a feel of a political rally with lots of MA politicians all talking and laughing with each other. You could see many people who worked for Kerry years ago finding long ago coworkers. Ed Markey came in and was shaking hands and greeting everyone. He looked very engaged and happy.
The event started about a half an hour late - and Menino, Warren, and Patrick all warmly introduced Kerry. Menino joked about Kerry keeping his tradition of being late and hoping that he and Teresa would stay in Boston - so the city would get the taxes and because of all Teresa does in the city. (Menino was actually easy to understand - no mumbling.) Warren was very effusive speaking of the great respect that she saw in the Senate - on both sides of the aisle for Kerry and how influential his word was there. She said that she had expected to work with Kerry for years, but it will be just weeks. Patrick spoke of how Kerry was always immediately there for the state.
Kerry spoke of Faneuil Hall and the great debates through the years that were held there and of Massachusetts heritage. He spoke of how politicians are only as good as their staff and thanked everyone there who had worked for him - giving the numbers (which I forget, but I think was over 600 staffers and over 1000 interns - he joked that lest taxpayers ask why he needs that big a staff - they were not all at the same time.)
He assured Menino that he would stay in Boston and he introduced and thanked all the MA Congressmen there (Tsongus, Markery, Lynch, Tierney - and possibly more.) He also thanked "Billy" Delahunt, speaking of how they knew each other since Delahunt was DA and Kerry First Assistant DA. He spoke about how MA had the strongest delegation which helped the state. (It may have been where we were seated, but I had not seen Lynch interact with regular people as Markey did.)
Vicky Kennedy, Cam's wife (Cam was in DC), his two sisters (Diana and Peggy), Vanessa and Teresa were there. He said Alexandra was in NYC and couldn't come but was going to DC (today) for the swearing in. When he introduced his sisters, he spoke of how Peggy will now work for him, but that as he did not hire her that was ok -- and in fact, she was protected - so even if he wanted he could not fire her. He spoke of Diana teaching in many countries - including Iran - where she was on the last plane out leaving everything behind -- something he joked he would talk to them about!
At the end of his words, he reached out to those in the front - with Teresa at one point grabbing on to his jacket to keep him on stage. He was energized and smiling.
After the event, as we were standing outside, Kerry came out and people moved to the other side of the police barricade and he quickly shook hands with everyone who joined the line - I would guess over 100 people still remained then. I was standing near a guy, who Kerry noticed as he approached where we were - asking him how he was - he responded that he was doing fine and he noted that you (Kerry) were obviously doing well. As Kerry passed, the guy told us he knew Kerry from years ago - before he was a Senator and that they had sometimes gone drinking together. (It was interesting hearing some of the people speaking of how long they knew/supported him - including a guy who said that he was involved in politics since high school in 1984 when he supported Shannon in the primary and Kerry in the general election. )
Noisy Democrat told us that the Worcester event - on the beautiful Holy Cross campus was very different but also very good. It was mostly students and hard to film as he walked around as he spoke to the kids. Congressman McGovern introduced him there - and charged him with the task of finding world peace. She said that before it started, she could here Kerry laughing and joking with the college's leadership behind closed doors.
I will try to remember more, but the important thing is that Noisy Democrat taped it and people will be able to see it. She and Leuflmensh say that they intend to keep their site up - which is really good news as what they have done is incredible.
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