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Gray Davis and the Democrats would seem to have had everything on their side. A posh venue with a massive supply of security personnel. Celebrity guests, including Hillary Clinton and Gray Davis himself. The press, prepared to fawn over their every move. And an large crew attending a precision organized, well-financed event. I don't think we could have afforded their sign-printing bill, much less the cost of renting the venue.

But there we were, right in the belly of the beast. Literally; the ABC Entertainment Center, by an interesting quirk of fate, backs up on the Century Plaza hotel, and the basement section of it has a wide opening into the sunken area in which the event was held. So we could look through the shield of potted bushes, into the very heart of the venue. We could spy on the chairs being set up, the press tables being erected. We could look at the massive volunteer staff - there seemed to be about fifty or so of them, hanging around the periphery of the event, bored out of their skulls, peering at us with looks ranging from bovine indifference to open malice.

Here's a map of the basement area. The public sidewalk Ron wanted to protest on is immediately above the potted shrubs, and the venue itself was open to the sky, so you could look down on the venue from the sidewalk.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

                      THE VENUE
		      (the space where everything
		       was going on; closed to
		       non-invited people)


    [potted shrubs]            [potted shrubs]      [more shrubs] 
                             steps down about 1/2 story 
---------------       THE ABC ENTERTAINMENT CENTER FOOD COURT
                      (open to the public)

Subway shop             tables

So Ron and friends were a bit baffled as to where to go. The traffic island in the center of the street was also closed to us by security, and the other side of the street was a long, long way from the venue. (Picture a eight-lane freeway-like road with a very wide center median and you'll get the picture).

Here is where Steve, the legendary ChickenMan of earlier freeps, came in. He decided, on his own initiative and with Ron's distinct frown of disapproval, to try attacking the Davis people at their weakest link: The shrubs. He was able to round up a detachment of our supporters and went down there. The more straightlaced contingent, including Ron, stayed up on the other side of the street.

Ron, in his negotiations with the security folks, got permission for me, as a representative of the press, to go to the sidewalk above the shrubs (where he originally wanted the whole protest to be). Accordingly, I had an excellent ringside seat for what was to come.

There was no question that the enemy was intimidating. The Century Plaza is a very nice and expensive venue. There were tons of volunteers, all gazing at us with bovine curiosity. There were lots of signs, all alike. There were Greyhound Busses with seemingly limitless numbers of people coming for the event. The idea that there were actually people on this planet who supported the re-election of Gray Davis was, well, stomach-churning. I must confess that it left my mind thick with fear, especially since at that point it didn't seem like we had that many people. But this was soon to change, and in a dramatic way.

So there I was, shooting all the Democrats with their mysteriously perfect but identical signs, waiting for something to happen, when something did. No, Hillary didn't speak. Gray Davis didn't speak. Instead, I started hearing that Grey Davis had gotta go. Hmm, not a Democratic Platform plank, I thought, although I couldn't say I disagreed with the sentiment. But the words refused to go away, however much I might disbelieve them. "DUMP DAVIS!," the words appeared to be saying. My camera swung around, trying to detect the source of the sounds. I noticed a couple of Davis supporters trying desperately to wave their own signs in the general direction of the shrubs, apparently feeling they would scare our troops. And there they were, swinging a bunch of Simon and Bush signs! A true triumphant moment for our side, and I knew I had to go back there and support them by getting video. On the way down, I happened to meet a lady with a UAW shirt and a Davis sign. She was asking me where you sign in. I told her that I was the enemy, but, well, it's over there. "Good luck, and I hope you lose," were my parting words.

She told me union support for Davis was so strong she had no question that he would win.

So down I went, only to be met with an enormous group going up to the next level shouting "GRAY DAVIS HAS GOT TO GO!" Apparently they had been kicked out of the building and were going back to the street, so I went with them, shooting video all the time. One of my favourite shots have to be these defiant folks, going up this nice long ramp, with their banners swaying proudly and "GRAY DAVIS HAS GOT TO GO!" Fantastic video, folks.

Most of the people in this stage of the protest were young; I found out later they were San Diego based students. Apparently there's a big Republican club down there, so they decided to come help us out. They were eager for more action, so ChickenMan (who certainly was no chicken today!) led them across the street, into the illegal zone.

The worst thing about the illegal zone was not the security people, but the stench of diesel from the generators on the TV trucks and the idling engines on the busses. "Don't these Democrat folks know anything about pollution controls?" I wondered. The security people took a surprisingly long time to react, so I got choice footage of our folks marching back and forth. One of them even tore up a Gray Davis campaign sign and dumped it into the venue - an action which I strongly suspect caused the snoozing security folks to wake up.

At this point, I guess the contract Ron negotiated with the venue was null and void, since I was asked to leave along with the other Freepers. I first resisted, saying that Ron had gotten an agreement that let me stay. Security checked this out and vanished. Then a different security guy in a discreet uniform told me to go. I gave him the same story. No dice; he was with the Secret Service and refused to listen. I should have offered to let him frisk me, but at that point, with no protest to cover and the same old crowd shots being all I could get out of the venue, I decided on a strategic retreat.

As it happens, this was the right decision, as yet another "Gray Davis has got to go!" started from the basement. I rushed down there and was able to capture footage of a unified group, all shouting "Gray Davis has Got to Go" and other anti-Davis slogans.

Well, we got kicked out again - I think we were making a lot of noise, and people were definitely noticing - but we had made our point. Gray Davis has, indeed, got to go.

We reassembled on the sidewalk for more chanting and sign waving, all done with commendable enthusiasm. A contingent tried to recapture our earlier audacious experiment by going on the median; this daring effort lasted about 10 minutes before we were kicked off. "We can't go on the sidewalk, we can't go on the median, where can we go?" one freeper chanted. But we returned to the sidewalk without incident.

Marilyn protesting our exclusion from the median

There's no doubt that our message came across; it was more conspicuous than that of the people attending the venue. For still pictures of this part of the freep, see the photo album. Note that it has two pages.

Interestingly enough, in the AP story that came out about the event, "about 30" protestors were mentioned on the street. There was no mention of our successful attack of the venue with our "Gray Davis has got to go" chanting easily drowning out the music on the stage. This would seem to be a vindication of Ron Dog's "be totally legal" strategy. But I can't help but think our people got a lot more pumped up from almost literally staring up the belly of the beast, down there in the basement of the ABC Entertainment Center.

The good guys, featuring our original, grass-roots protest signs

In this event, we were the underdogs. We had less organization. We had the establishment, with its security guards, guns and cops arrayed against us. And yet we prevailed to make our point and even get in the news.

It was quite a day.

*

I was told to meet the gang at the Subway sandwich shop which had supported us during the demonstrations. (They gave us permission to demonstrate, although building management later made their brave pronouncement moot).

When I got there, Hillary Clinton was speaking. I could hear her voice booming through the absolutely horrid acoustics - she was echoy and I could barely understand a word she was saying, other than "I wholeheartedly endorse .... Gray Davis".

The eGray Hooker talks about our many successes

Then it was Davis' turn to speak. I was so exhauted after the long freep that I didn't take much in the way of notes, and I couldn't understand him anyway, for the same reason. One thing we can say about his speech: It was mercifully brief and sounded incredibly bombastic in tone. Simon LA Campaign director Jill said that the loudest applause came with his family leave proposal (which is being paid for by a tax on California workers, the lucky guys that we are) and there was tepid response at best to his anti-global warming bill. I'm pretty sure they're hoping it will be rescinded before it actually goes into effect, that being well into the term of the next governor, even assuming we're stupid enough to re-elect Davis.

After that, I got a little video of a whole bunch of union announcements. Somesuch from the FireFighter's Union, the Longshoreman's union, and so on. It's pretty obvious that it was Union clout and Union funding that drove this event. No wonder they could pay for all the slick signs.

I hope we can get rid of family leave. It's blatantly discriminatory for single guys like me, who will be paying for it but will probably not have any chance to use it. Sigh.

Ron tries to decode the hidden message in the vapid Gray Davis sign

RonDog, ChickenMan, Marilyn (posh, with nice pearls, not the Simon worker) and I went to the Subway sandwich shop for an after-freep analysis. We all agreed that things had gone amazingly well, and the captured Davis sign ("Experience we trust. Values we share") will be put to good use scaring our friends.

After that, we went up to H-something's bar to see the rest of the gang. I showed off my PowerBook and pictures and I'm pleased to say they were all warmly received.

The freeper women were glittering in their charm, but sadly it appears that not one of them is single. Darn.

*

After the after-freep party, I, tired but satisfied, went back to my car.

"Hold it," I thought. "That's not my car - It has a Gray Davis bumper sticker on it!"

"Hmmm ... but it looks just like my car."

Closer examination showed that a vandal had crudely plastered a Davis sticker on my bumper, only partially obscuring my Simon sticker. At first I was furious. Then I wondered if I could get another Simon sticker from one of my fellow freepers.

Then I discovered the Davis sticker had not been well-fastened and it came right off. My Simon sticker, I was pleased to learn, had been entirely undamaged by the escapade.

There's some pretty nice symbolism in this, no?

For the press and Simon campaign, we also have Full-Size pictures available. These are useless unless you want to print them, and take a lot of time to download, so don't look at them unless you really want them.