Bwog editor Lydia DePillis is still in Kentucky, where polls will close in 26 hours.
FRANKFORT, Ky.--It started like high school--those big group trips to the state capitol, where little children run rampant around the marbled halls of power. Except this time, the visit involved stripping at the podium of the Speaker of the House, as well as a thorough investigation of the outgoing chief executive's office.
This morning, before an afternoon of blanketing the town with Beshear paraphernelia (a procedure known as a "Korean lit drop," in which vans make periodic stops and deploy their passengers to hang banners on every door within a three-block radius) the group stopped by Frankfort's majestic capitol rotunda, where they quickly located the den of their opponent.
Nellie Bowles, CC '10, led the way into the chambers of Governor Fletcher, attended by a sweet, middle aged woman. Everyone else milled nervously outside, until the secretary invited them in--the Governor was out in the state campaigning, she explained. The Columbians poured into the antechamber, peering into his capacious work area ("It looks like Bollinger's office!"), and marveling at the Ten Commandments perched on a corner cabinet.
The secretary may have suspected the group's mission--a few kids still had their Beshear stickers--but they immediately developed a silent understanding that she should not officially know what they were up to. "We're just road tripping," Elyse Ross, BC '08 blithely explained.
She gently but firmly shooed the group out after catching two students adjusting the lighting behind the two stone tablets for an optimal photo op. Later, students filtered upstairs to the House chambers, admiring the elegantly appointed rows of desks. Bwog later saw photographic evidence that two students had quickly closed the door and stripped down to their knickers in front of the Speaker's podium--capitol security guards might get a treat if they have an occasion to review the tapes later tonight.
After group pictures on the steps, the Dems returned to the staging location, where they reassembled for yet another photo op, this time for Newsweek. The magazine is writing a story comparing the activism of Columbia and Berkeley in 1968 to now, and apparently, the CU Dems are exhibit A.
In other news: this campaign has involved some occasionally awkward interactions between paid employees and Columbia volunteers. Just now, one of those got physical: a paid driver ran into one of the big 15-person vans, leaving a significant dent in the driver's door (no one was hurt). "I think it's going to be ok, but the side is bashed in," said media guy Jon Backer. At least SDA can't pin this one on the Dems.
One more entertaining wrinkle: nothing but props for my Spec colleague Josh, who's been doggedly pursuing the Republican state headquarters for an interview. He's now been thrown out three times, and the GOP complained to the state Dems, which has asked that Josh stick to his own campaign. "The Kentucky democratic party was having a conniption about it, but we calmed them down," said Backer. The web of phone calls is hard to sort out, but at some point the news got around to the Frankfort field coordinators, who weren't happy either.
Pesky reporters.
