Round Two - Gloves Off....Not Really

I thought the people in Minnesota were nice, but man, the folks in Nashville are over the top with their niceness. Everywhere you go, people are saying hi to you and reminding you to have a good day. Restaurant workers and bartenders actually engage in conversation with you. A bartender the night before described a bunch of local beers to us, even gave samples, and never seemed annoyed.

Today we had lunch at a good Jewish style deli called Noshville before heading to the debate hall. The food was good, at least my pastrami sandwich was. Scott didn’t seem to impressed with his Reuben. It did look a little greasy. A woman and her husband at the next table overheard us talking about the debate and struck up a conversation with us. They were talking about how they were Obama supporters and wished they could be at the debate. The woman was impressed by how we all came from different parts of the country to take pictures at the event. She asked to shake my hand when we left. Damn nice people here.

We got to debate hall at Belmont University close to 2pm. We would have arrived earlier if we hadn’t been delayed by a multi street closure for McCain’s motorcade. We must have been sitting for 15 minutes while Tennessee troopers locked down a half mile section of road in the pouring rain to accommodate his motorcade. Haven’t these cops ever heard of leapfrog intersection control?

With close to 6 hours to kill before the debate started, we did a few final tests on the cameras. The four Getty photographers would all be shooting tethered into 2 editor’s computers. When everything checked out, a few of us went to the food tent to grab a snack. The food and beverages at the debate has been sponsored by Budweiser and when we walked into the tent at about 4pm, the beer was already flowing. First of all, I don’t remember any media event over my career where there was free beer BEFORE the event started. I’ve seen a few where they might have some beer after, but never before. People were drinking cups of beer as they munched on snacks before the main meal was served. Don’t these people have to work?

The second weird thing about the beer in the media tent is the fact that since 1951, Belmont University has been a dry campus. No Alcohol. The University made a one day exception for the campus to serve booze to media mob. That was very kind of the University to be so accommodating. I felt cheated though. I never got to have a beer on the historic day. Damn.
The debate itself was pretty good for pictures. The “Town Hall” setting is much more photogenic than the kind where they stand behind podiums. I was shooting from a ridiculously small cut riser with 7 other photographers. It worked, but it was pretty tight. With both candidates moving around to speak directly to the audience, you had many opportunities to get both guys in the frame.
I usually don’t hear too much of what people are saying when I am shooting so I only caught bits and pieces of the debate. The one thing I did hear was when McCain referred to Obama as “That One” when trying to point out that Obama had voted for some Senate bill. Nice one, Maverick. Obama shut him down later with his reminder to McCain of his “bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran” tune. The look on McCain’s face was priceless.
Both sides must have said "fundamental" a few dozen times. I'm sure people who were partaking in drinking games while watching the debate got sloshed with the frequency of that word. But, in the end, there didn’t appear to be many fireworks or below the belt jabs. McCain actually looked at Obama this time. William Ayers was never mentioned, I guess that's Palin's deal. McCain won't touch it. With the exception of Tom Brokaw getting testy when the two would go over their time limit and not follow the format of the debate, the event was pretty tame.

When the debate ended the candidate’s wives joined their husbands on the stage and greeted members of the audience. McCain left within 5 minutes while Obama and his wife stayed for over 20 minutes. Many members of the audience (who were said to be undecided voters) stayed the entire time. Obama shook hands, took pictures and spoke one on one with several people. McCain must have not wanted to shmooze those undecided voters. Such a Maverick move.

Baked Alaska and Delaware Punch

What ever happened to Delaware Punch? Remember, it was that super sweet grape-like flavored drink that came in a purple and pink can. It was known as the “soft” soft drink since it wasn’t carbonated. My mom used to love that stuff. I thought it tasted like perfume. Not that I have ever consumed perfume. You know what I mean. Now, baked Alaska is something that I have never tried. Where in the hell do you get baked Alaska? I don’ think I have ever seen it on a menu. I do like the flames. Is that normal? Someone should have had a bi-partisan viewing party for the VP debate with these two things served up for guests. Someone would surely get lit on fire by the baked Alaska flames. Good times.

Did you join millions of Americans and watch the VP debate? I was working during the debate, so I missed most of it. What I did see was fairly entertaining though. I went to a few different places to take pictures of people watching the debate. My first stop was at a viewing party hosted by the Barack Obama campaign. The venue was held at a night club which was as dark as a cave. There was a sizeable crowd on hand but I didn’t stay at the even very long since it was so dark, I didn’t want to kill people with the inevitable use of a flash, which I am not a fan of. The crowd was pretty raucous, booing, hissing and often laughing as Sarah Palin spoke. I don’t think anyone actually listened to what she was saying. As I left the Obama event, I noticed people overflowing onto the street at an Irish Pub across the street. They seemed a little more civil as they watched the debate but this is San Francisco and people were certainly poking a lot of fun at the republican VP candidate as she dodged questions and in some cases changed the subject. More pictures of the back of people's heads as they watched TV. I wish they would stand with their backs to the TV so I can see their faces. Would make a much nice picture.
On my way to my final spot, a laundry, I listened to the debate on the radio. I was becoming increasingly annoyed with the “you betchas” and the “gosh dangits.” I understand the whole “wanting to appeal to the working class” but come on. I thought I was listening to Edie McClurg (the woman with the high pitched voice from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off and Planes, Trains and Automobiles). Man, what an annoying voice. And that accent is getting old.
At the wash and dry in the Mission District, several Latino families were doing their laundry as Palin and Biden duked it out on three of the six televisions in the building. Nobody was watching the debate. I guess it is difficult to follow a debate when the sound is down and you probably don’t understand English. They seemed to be enjoying the other TVs with Telemundo and Mexican soap operas.