Workin' It: Thirty Eight Days Until the Election

Welcome BW Readers. Today I am reporting on a rally I attended in Champaign in which close to 150 were there cheering on our candidate, David Gill, who is running in the IL-15 Congressional race. It was a beautiful day and the turnout was pretty good, considering more people were en route to the UI football game. The rally theme: For a Brighter Future.

The gentleman in the pic on the left is Rob Fustin, VP of the Local UAW 751. He said that unions appreciate David Gill because he wants to raise the minimum wage and supports unions. Middle class was built today because of the unions, although he didn't say it literally that way.

I liked this poster which some folks gladly held in their laps. See picture on the right. Sorry, didn't get the name of the supporter.

Fustin was a really nice guy. He lives in the southern part of our district--one that is a Republican stronghold. He says that he speaks to retirees and sometimes he wonders if he is preachin' to the choir, but I pointed out sometimes they need inspiration. And I think David Gill can do that for them via the canvass of another Illinois-15 district resident.



We also were treated to seeing a speech by Tony Fabri, who is on the Champaign County Board, but also the Chairman of the Champaign County Democratic Party. Wow, he got the crowd going about why we need David Gill in Congress to fight Bush and the rubber stampers.

Tony is the in the blue jeans, David Gill in the suit, and the tall guy in the orange jacket to the right is Mike Frerichs, who I met earlier this summer, and is running for State Senator. I also got a nice chat in with him, and told him about my visit with JRE in June. He was very happy for me and seemed impressed that JRE gave me that type of accessibility. The point I was making is that more pols need to be like that, not that I am special because I'm not. He was more impressed that JRE was in Uganda as I told him about the IRC gig.

Then David Gill delivered a great rally speech after Tony. I hadn't seen David for months, but he was still the same dude--optimistic despite the odds, and gave really good reasons why he wanted to run. The main one: Americans deserve a change.

Gill pointed out that as an Emergency Room physican, he sees the underinsured or uninsured. I knew 47 million were uninsured, but today he told us another 100 million are underinsured. Gosh, that blew my mind. He said it's been a moral failure that our Congress and current adminstration has done nothing to help our people who go into bankruptcy because of health insurance costs. He gave an example of a man in his 40's who died in the Emergency Room because he waited too late when he had warning signs of a heart attack. The family later told Gill that he waited because they didn't have enough insurance for emergency care, let alone a regular doctor's visit. And this poor man became a statistic, in which another 180, 000 Americans are likely to die for that same reason this year.

David had so many stats about healthcare, it was incredible. And he said that in the 90K mileage he has put on his car, people still ask him all the time if he could look at their ailments, yet wondered why he wanted to be in Congress. He named pols such as Bill Frist, who has investment interests in HMOS which are driving doctors out of business, or Tom Coburn, who thought a doctor who gave a woman a necessary abortion should be punished. What kind of doctor is that?

There were children with their parents today. In my own mind, I thought about the costs of the war, but also, what if this child got sick? What if her parents couldn't afford her bills without going into serious debt. Would if they had to choose between the gas pump or electricity bills which are going to jump nearly 55% this winter?



I loved it when David said he was for Net Neutrality! Whoop! Clean environment, etc.

Later when I was doin' part of the meet and greet afterward (we do it afterwards in Illinois instead of first in Iowa, LOL--and we don't have to pay for them here)--just a donation if we like-- I found Fabri so accessible--and he surpised me. He's like David in that regard. I took a couple of pics of him and asked for his permission to blog it. He was very agreeable and seemed pleased that a relative newcomer was willing to get out and do the "v-socializing" for David and other Dems in Champaign. I also told him about my blog, and he said planned to visit it soon.

Additionally, Fabri said he like my button, and I had to ask which one as I had David Gill's first, then JRE/One America 2008 under that one, and he said that he liked both. He was telling me that he also liked John Edwards. I said David and JRE weren't much different in their vision for America, just different professions: David, a doctor; JRE, a lawyer.

David was there with Polly, his wife of 19 years, 3 kids, and she has had her cancer battles this year. Polly had some rough times this summer, but she is a big fighter, like Elizabeth Edwards, and I think Polly's battle may have been a bit more tumaltuous. Polly does appear to be a fighter. I met her for the first time today, and she said when I asked, "are you hangin' in there" and she said yes.

David reminded us all that he gets no money from DCCC. That's a shame on our own Illinois folks, such as Rahm Emanuel. If anyone has a high fiver or a ten to donate, click here.

Today was a good day to be workin' it but to see others workin' it. I thank my fellow David Gill supporter Dawn for the pics of rally (2 of them here), and I'm looking forward to meeting Mike Richards who is running for a Champaign county seat. I was invited to a gig tomorrow about 4 blocks from my house, so I will go and get his views .

Tags: David Gill, Polly Gill, Illinois Politics, Congressional Races 2006, Mike Frerichs, Benny's World