All Phillipe + Jorge can say after Tuesday’s presidential primary is that we are overjoyed the Patriots resigned Randy Moss.
Beyond that, it is obvious that Clintonistas were heavily entrenched in Little Rhody, thanks in part to Billary’s past appearances here, dating back over a decade, when Hillary plumped for her increasingly galling husband.
The bright taken-away this week, as we have seen across the country, is how more people are energized to get out and vote. We credit this to the hope and interest brought to the scene by Barack Obama, who has roused dormant voters, whether they support him or not.
P+J are also pleased to see that Obama, our candidate of choice, lost little in his lead in pledged delegates. Our fear remains, however, that the desperate and ruthless Clintons will find a way to game the voting, buying off the superdelegates, questionably seating the Florida and Michigan delegations, or both. If so, kiss the future of the Democratic Party goodbye. Today’s ’utes are bright enough to know a hummer when they see one.
The Biggest Little cocktail party
The annual rite known as the Providence Newspaper Guild Follies was held last Friday evening, at the Venus de Milo in Swansea, Massachusetts, and the highlight, not surprisingly, was politics, politics, politics.
There is always a lot of political content at the Follies, since the occasion is used to tweak the state’s movers and shakers with skits and song parodies. This year, on the cusp of the biggest presidential primary in decades, there was a real buzz in the air. Escorted by a beaming Sheldon White¬house, a few Secret Service agents, and communications guru Christine Heenan, the very impressive Chelsea Clinton popped up to work the room on behalf of her mother. Chelsea kept her cool even while being swarmed by the multitudes.
As usual, the place was loaded with media types and politicos. We commiserated with Bob Weygand, former congressman and LG, on the waning fortunes of the URI basketball team (Bob is the VP of administration at his alma mater). We got in a quick hello to the old pro, former Governor Sundlun, and touched base with our own profile in courage, Linc Chafee, and his fabulous wife Stephanie. A special shout-out goes to Tom Roberts, husband of the lieutenant governor, and always a joy to see.
Early on in the stage festivities, a wildly exuberant John Kerry jumped on stage and fired off some pretty funny one-liners. If this guy had shown up in 2004, he would have cleaned Bush’s clock. But then the junior Senator from Massachusetts made the ill-advised move of pressing the Barack Obama
cause from the stage. Hillary partisans began to hiss and scream “Hillary!” Kerry quickly got the message and exited stage left.
Suffice it to say that the Guild Follies gang, after 35 years, has it down, and with a minimum of ringers (e.g. stand-up warrior Frank O’Donnell, who shared emceeing duties with the BeloJo’s resident wit, Scott MacKay) and lots of strong performances.
Steve Smith (the Journal guy, not the veteran rocker) directed the show, exhibiting his yowling rock chops on a couple of numbers, and there were some nice soulful vocals, courtesy of the Gomes gals, Lorna Jean and Crystal. The legendary Lonnie Love (aka Bob Kerr) made a rare appearance, at one point tweaking your superior correspondents. We thank him because, as Guild Head Ramrod Tim Schick always points out, the depth of ignominy is to not be attacked at the Follies.
