campaigning

Today was a day to remember.

A little before noon, I got a call from a reporter saying that four of Mark's opponents in the primary -- Albert Reiderer, John Fairfield, Chuck Eddy and Henry Klein -- endorsed Alvin Brooks in the general. At their press conference, Eddy and Fairfield said that Mark is a loner who can't build consensus, that no one likes him, and that you can't learn government from a book.

The reporter wanted to know if Mark would be available for an on-camera interview that afternoon, to respond. I said yes, and booked it for 1:30.

I promptly told the other folks working the campaign. One of our team said, "We need to get as many folks down here as we can, to stand behind Mark."

So we got to it.

We sent out an e-mail to our supporters list. I put together a press release. And we just started pounding the phones.

Soon we had a huge crowd of people gathered outside the headquarters. A lot of them were wearing the bright-orange campaign shirt. Some were holding up yard signs and hand-written signs reading, "WE WANT THE FUNK!" A couple people even brough dogs, who they dressed up with orange bandanas with "Go Funk!" written on them.

As the press began to arrive, it suddenly occurred to me that our official campaign page has a link to a video of members of the City Council praising Mark for his 18 years of service to City Hall. They were voting on a resolution honoring him, which was sponsored by ... Chuck Eddy.

And, wouldn't you know, the video also has Fairfield saying that Mark had done an amazing job, and that they should play chess some day.

So I whispered that in all the reporters' ears, and promised to send them links later.

So the whole thing goes off great. The energy was incredible. Later one of our team said, "That was like a Frank Capra moment."

A little later I'm in the office and I see this hand-written note from Albert Riederer congratulating Mark making it out of the primary and saying how he hopes they'll work together in the future.

And, I come to find out, Riederer has an appoint scheduled with Mark for 5 o'clock in the afternoon.

Of course, he didn't show. It's obvious he never planned to attend. (More about Riederer tomorrow.)

Ah. Kansas City politics.

P.S. Check out the coverage on Channel 41 and Channel 9