Observations From The Mississippi Jefferson Jackson Hamer Dinner in Canton

I attended the Jefferson Jackson Hammer (JJH) Dinner along with a friend of mine who takes excellent photos. I got good video of folks at the event and many good pictures. This is just a few observations of mine about the dinner.

- The turnout was low. (update: I may be technically wrong. Estimates from party folks and other media say between 2,000 and 3,000 attended and was perhaps the most attending ever in Mississippi.) It was better than past years, but I don't know how it compared to when Howard Dean came. I think he set the high water mark for attendance. I'd say at least half the tables were unsold. (update: no matter how many people were there, there was clearly space for far more. It may have just been a poor choice of venue.)

- Though Ronnie Musgrove was in DC, his campaign put up a large number of signs around the inside of the Multipurpose Center. Many folks had Musgrove stickers on when I got there, though I didn't see anyone handing them out. Melody Musgrove was present.

- As we approached the building initially it was clear that there was a strong pro-Obama presence. As we exited the parking lot several folks offered us Obama rally signs which we politely declined because we didn't have a place to put them. They also had a mini rally going on outside.

- The room was wrapped in Obama signs large and small with only one large Clinton sign inside when I got there about an hour before it started. Their folks did good prep work. I believe a majority of those present either had Obama stickers or Obama rally signs.

- For an event starring Senator Clinton, it seemed rather split with likely more Obama supporters present than Clinton supporters.

- Because there was so much empty space they asked the folks in the risers (who paid far less than the folks on the floor) to fill in leaving mostly journalists in the back to observe.

- I can't imagine that if Obama had confirmed that there would have been so many empty seats considering the crowds he's brought to (admittedly free) rallies.

- The man introducing Hillary called her a shero (She + Hero I guess)

- Hillary was good and focused on red meat issues that even the strongest Obama supporter should love.

- She said a few things that irritated me considerably which I'll go into detail about tomorrow when I give a wrap-up of both the JJH speech and her Hattiesburg appearance today.

- She said her mother was born before women could vote and now Hillary was running for president. I'll admit I got a few chill bumps on my neck. Progress takes time, but you've got to admit that's a great leap forward (even if it took a while).

- "I'm so pleased that Mississippi's voice will be heard in this election." - Hillary Clinton. Perhaps she didn't get the Mark Penn memo that says small/southern/caucus/black/highly-educated/or none of the above states don't matter.

- She proposes a national service plan (I've heard Dodd and then Obama on this idea before) that would pay folks up to 10,000 a year for two years to devote themselves full time to service.

- She said that if you are willing to teach, nurse or serve and protect, than the government to forgive your debts as a reward.

- She made a passing reference to phone calls at "3 am" and then said Bush didn't respond to that call (concerning Katrina).

- She pledged to end (American, I think) child hunger by 2012.

- "Mississippi can vote for a woman on Tuesday. Let's go make history together." - Hillary Clinton (I think she's trying to fight back against her comment saying Iowa and Mississippi didn't belong in the same category/group.

- As soon as Hillary was done her folks left in mass.

- The civil rights preacher (whose name I'll add soon) speaking in Obama's place took the podium and stated "this is a new form of white flight isn't it?"

- He didn't (IMHO) speak very well and at times appeared to be saying whatever came to his mind and not giving a prepared speech. He would have done better to have had some sort of focus.

- I left.

Pictures and Video will follow tomorrow.

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If you don't have an account on Facebook, you should really think about it.

Even folks like Sid Salter and Melody Musgrove have made the jump.

Ronnie Musgrove's Gulfport Announcement

Between 30 and 40 folks showed up to the rally/announcement at 5 when it was scheduled to begin. I'd say the turnout wasn't too bad considering the college championship game is tonight. One of the folks there said he'd been to the Wicker event also and the number of people was about the same. Musgrove was on time and brought his new wife, Melody, and his daughter. Both are pictured with him in the shot above.

Locals of interest that I recognized were Andrew "FoFo" Guilich, a former Biloxi mayoral candidate and Leonard Blackwell, a local attorney who served on the Mississippi Gaming Commission.

The location wasn't the best with Highway 90 on one side and the train tracks not too far off on the other. At one point in his speech Musgrove competed with truck traffic and train whistles for the WLOX microphone. I overheard his say that he'd picked the location. He was a friend of the Coast when he was governor and he's been down to the Coast a lot since Hurricane Katrina.

I asked his daughter in law in attendance why more wasn't said about her husband serving in Iraq and she said they wanted to be careful not to say anything they shouldn't.