Afternoon Scenes From JJ Dinner Day

The pre-JJ festivities fun continued throughout the late morning and afternoon on Saturday. All three Democratic campaigns brought their supporters and staffs out to make shows of organizational strength before the night’s dinner. We covered the morning activities in this earlier post.

This afternoon Katy Perry held a concert for Hillary Clinton (with Bill Clinton speaking before her), Bernie Sanders led a march with around a thousand supporters over the river, and Martin O’Malley played some music of his own with his guitar to a crowd of backers.

Here’s the scenes from the campaigns’ activities this afternoon:

After rallying on 5th Avenue for most of the morning, the Clinton team moved over by their Katy Perry concert area south of Vets Auditorium.

The national campaign manager for Clinton, Robby Mook, joined in the cheering section. He stood in the middle of the scrum, and you’d have no idea he ran the national operation if you didn’t already recognize him.

.@HillaryClinton national campaign manager Robby Mook out with his troops for chants #IDPJJ #IACaucus pic.twitter.com/XumcC49SzE

— Iowa Starting Line (@IAStartingLine) October 24, 2015

Martin O’Malley’s team showed up to outside to set up shop at the west entrance to Vets Auditorium. Their staff pressence obviously smaller than the considerable Clinton operation, and they mostly stuck to their area around the entrance. No massive back-and-forth sign-waving and chanting between the campaigns this JJ.

.@MartinOMalley supporters loud and proud before his rally performance #IDPJJ #iacaucus pic.twitter.com/oEMvRbsf4w

— Iowa Starting Line (@IAStartingLine) October 24, 2015

Clinton volunteers got the full caucus celebrity treatment today. Before the Katy Perry rally, Clinton campaign volunteers from around the state got to meet Bill Clinton at a training. He then introduced Perry.

Several hundred excited Clinton (or perhaps moreso Katy Perry) fans flowed into the Perry concert. She sung 3 songs and encouraged the young people in the crowd to go out and vote.

The Clinton campaign passed out matching t-shirts with the “She’s Fighting For Us” slogan to their supporters attending the dinner.

Clinton field organizers encouraged the crowd to sign up for text updates on their phone before the rally.

Above the Perry/Clinton rally flew a Bernie Sanders plane with a “Feel The Bern” banner.

A huge press corp covered it all.

Bernie Sanders supporters joined the sign wars on the east side of Vets Auditorium. It was a much smaller showing than the Clinton group (though Sanders’ campaign has intentionally downplayed these types of visibility rallies). The group also offered a sharp contrast to the matching-shirt and well-choreographed chanting of the Clinton operation. This was a motley bunch with homemade signs, and a noticeably younger crowd too. Many high schoolers and younger college students made up the core of the Sanders cheering section. A young man with purple-dyed hair led several chants.

A more motley crew of homemade signs, no matching t-shirts for @BernieSanders group. Interesting contrast #IDPJJ pic.twitter.com/IAyxn2MtGq

— Iowa Starting Line (@IAStartingLine) October 24, 2015

Sanders rallied around a thousand of his supporters across the river, then crossed the bridge in an Obama campaign-esque moment.

.@BernieSanders long march, complete with marching band, makes it way over the river to the hall #IDPJJ #IACaucus pic.twitter.com/bfXfzgvmKT

— Iowa Starting Line (@IAStartingLine) October 24, 2015

A local marching band fired up the crowd.

Drum line pumping up the @BernieSanders supporters before the JJ #IDPJJ #IACaucus pic.twitter.com/Ww2wKIk5lW

— Iowa Starting Line (@IAStartingLine) October 24, 2015

And now we’re to the dinner itself. Check back to Starting Line tomorrow morning for a full recap and analysis.

by Pat Rynard
Posted 10/24/15