Fans, foes both greet President
A road was the dividing line in Chesco.
By Dick Cooper
Philadelphia Inquirer Staff Writer
As Kerry supporters shouted anti-Bush slogans across otherwise serene Marshallton Road, Doreen Ellis, her two young children, and about 3,000 others filed quietly into a Chester County sports arena to hear the President campaign yesterday.
With a backbeat of "12 more days" filling the fall air, Ellis, of Willistown, said, "I think this is a wonderful opportunity for the children to see the political process.
"It is important for them to see this as well," she said, pointing to the demonstrators about 100 yards away. "It is important to see what our country affords, the freedom of speech."
On a sloping field on the north side of the road, across the street from the United Sports Training Center in West Bradford, about 175 Kerry supporters waved signs and chanted over bullhorns.
"Strike up the band, for the death march," Kerry supporter David F. Cleveland of West Chester yelled.
Cleveland said he was "excited to do what every American has the right to do. I am just glad to be participating."
The two sides of the national political debate formed up hours before President Bush's 1:05 p.m. arrival by helicopter, and they were not allowed to mingle outside the sports complex at Marshallton and Poorhouse Roads.
State police kept the protesters in a field, backing them farther from the road as the morning wore on. The Democrats were by far the noisier lot, seldom allowing a moment to pass without shouting their views.
The Republicans in line - the local GOP checked to make sure that tickets distributed on Tuesday and Wednesday went only to registered Republicans - occasionally shouted back a chorus of "Four more years." But for the most part they ignored the protestors.
"There are a lot more people in this line than over there," said Shay Capps, an owner of the Brandywine Picnic Park near West Chester, as he waited to see Bush.
Chester County Republican Committee chairman Joseph "Skip" Brion said 2,000 tickets were spoken for by Wednesday morning. All 3,000 were gone by 3 p.m. that day. Brion said the GOP just wanted to make sure that the tickets went to "supporters of the President."
"We have been saying all along how important Chester County will be for the President," Brion said at Republican headquarters in West Chester. "With the President coming here 12 days before the election, it shows how important he thinks it is."
A block away, the Democratic campaign headquarters was bustling Wednesday as area coordinator Steve Feldman helped recruit demonstrators.
Yesterday, Feldman joined the Kerry supporters on the protest line. He was the only one in a suit, having come from one function and on his way to a visit by Teresa Heinz Kerry in Bucks County.
"I am impressed," he said of the size of the Democratic turnout. "Usually, 50 is a lot."
All the Republicans were in the sports arena when the Marine helicopters began arriving with the President's entourage. State police on horseback moved the demonstrators farther back as the President flew in. His helicopter touched down behind a barricade of a dozen school buses that blocked any view of Bush.
He was whisked into the arena, and the protestors began filing away. They were gone before the President left for a stop in Downingtown, and the spectators filed out of the arena.
"They loved him in there," said Ray Wood of Downingtown.
Alyson Ferko of Downingtown said she was "so exited, it was hard to concentrate on what he said. There was a lot of excitement in the room."
Marguerite Davis of Downingtown said she does not agree with Bush's environmental policies "but he didn't talk about that today." She said she attended the speech yesterday so her 8-year-old son, Corey, could see the President of the United States.
Any how did Corey like the speech?
"I was kind of bored," he said. |
