#66: "I'm Clay Aiken, and I Approved This Message!"

[merrieeee]

Thanks Fear! Things are not going well but we are waiting for more test results. So there is always hope!

[ausdon]

{{{{Merrieeee}}}}

[FearofH2O]

Sunday, June 1 there is a BBQ in support of Clay in Cary. Three of us are going. I wish you could all be there.

[ldyjocelyn]

Oh man, I wish I could be there too! Have fun Fear -- and we want details!

[ldyjocelyn]

Just saw on CV that merrieeee's husband is NOT doing well at all. I'm sure she would want any spare prayers/good thoughts headed her way...and I'll be the first to send them....

[FearofH2O]

So sorry merrieeee. I hope your husband is comfortable and able to enjoy his visitors.

[ldyjocelyn]

New email from Clay:

Friends,

We got something exciting in the mail that we wanted to share with you. We get our fair share of mail, but when you get an official letter from the State Board of Elections stating your name will be on the general election ballot, everything becomes a little more real. And it signals that it’s time for the real work to begin. From now until November 4, we’re going to focus every day on holding Washington and Renee Ellmers accountable for their failed record and inability to work in the best interest of the people of the Second District.

It may just be a letter, but it’s clear – the road to November begins today. We’ve already begun to lay the groundwork for our general election campaign, and we’re ready to take on Washington in the fall. But we’re going to need your help.

Please invest $10 in our campaign today to help us gear up for the general election.

People across the district and state recognize we need new leadership in Washington. A prominent Republican business leader said Renee Ellmers has "gone Washington" and that our campaign could "get loose and win" in November. TV host Bill Maher nominated Ellmers this week to be part of his “Flip a District” campaign, where he targets the 16 worst representatives in the nation. And conservative special-interest groups are paying "trackers" to stalk and videotape my every move as I travel the district in hopes of getting material to use against me in an attack ad.

They know our campaign has what it takes to change the dynamics in this district. They know just how vulnerable Renee Ellmers is in this election, and they know we have what it takes to win.

The road to November begins today. It won't always be an easy one, but we're prepared to put in the work.

Starting today, we need your help – and the financial resources to run a campaign that can overpower the special-interest money that will be poured into our district.

Please give what you can today as we gear up for a winning general election campaign.

Thanks for being part of our team. We couldn't do this without you.

Yours,

Clay

[gbmifan]

Just saw on CV that merrieeee's husband is NOT doing well at all. I'm sure she would want any spare prayers/good thoughts headed her way...and I'll be the first to send them....

I am here reading everyday and am so sad to hear about her DH not doing well. Will keep her and her DH in my prayers.

[jmh123]

merrieeee, you and your husband have been and continue to be in my thoughts and in my heart! I hope you can feel the support of your friends here as you go through this most difficult and profound time.

[Couch Tomato]

Mine as well. Merrieeee, take care. We are all thinking of you during this time.

[merrieeee]

Thank you all! I really can feel the support.

It's a matter of time now.

[ldyjocelyn]

Merrieeee, my thoughts continue to be with you...

From Facebook, two new pics of Clay.

[FearofH2O]

Nice pics. I've received a couple of offers to subscribe to the theatre in Raleigh. Its just too far to drive unless Clay is in the productions. Pathetic.

merrieeee, continued good thoughts to you and your DH.

[ldyjocelyn]

Fear, have fun at the fundraiser today! Looking forward to your report. I will be around later tonight to pull pictures for posting...hope there are lots!

[FearofH2O]

Heading out now.

[ldyjocelyn]

From Cotton at CV, used with permission:

RED REPORT

The home of the hosts was beautiful!! The owner gave permission for pics. Clay gave permission for pics.

I'm bad at numbers but 50-100 attendees. Band on the pool patio. They we're good. Bluesy music

There was a wet bar. Wine and liquor. In addition there was a lemonade dispenser. I saw some folks w soft drinks s well.

Delicious BBQ (pulled pork), baked beans, deviled eggs, macaroni, green bean casserole, pasta salad, sausages and BBQ Chicken.

Also - Chips/dips, strawberry shortcake and watermelon. Very nice.

Best news of the day: Nick returned to Raleigh last night! To work in Clay's campaign! He looks great. He and his fiancé are set to be married on Oct4!

Clay gave his speech about representing the unrepresented. Talked about forming foundation. About seeing people who were not being heard.

About I Need My Paycheck Elmenrs.

Talked about going to vote and finding out that he had been "gerrymandered - ER - I mean - err_ redistricted!" LOL!

Laughed about using a sports analogy: most people sit around 20feet from the 50 yard line but too many politicians are out in the far left or far right end zones. But then there's Ellmers who is out past the end zone in the far right bleachers!!"

Talked about education and the investment we need to make in our students.

Thanked the hosts and everyone for coming.

He was very cordial to all. Circulated before and after his words.

I talked to the hosts and several guests. A great group of people supporting Clay.

I'm really glad I went!

On another note ClayBella and I had some interesting navigational advice from two devices who were arguing with each other!

Dueling GPSes¡

All fixed now and headed home with no tech disputes!

If you can go to one of these between now and nov please do!

[FearofH2O]

We had a very nice time. Steve and Dale , the owners of this lovely and rustic home, were very gracious and wonderful supporters of Clay. They, however, are not in district 2. The home was in a woodsy setting with no grass but a gorgeous pool in the back. Clay came in a little later than 3:30 because he had a meeting before this event. During his speech, Clay said he had on a suit this morning and had to change for the BBQ. He was told to wear shorts, but he said he was glad he didn't because no one else wore shorts.

Clay gave the stump speech that he usually does giving his background and why he is qualified to be in the House. He added several asides which got a lot of laughs. He posed for quite a few selfies. Nick is going to handle fund raising for Clay. I also talked to a very nice young woman, Ebony, who is Clay's new scheduler. She made sure that Clay came over to say Hi to us.I took the opportunity to tell him that 2 years ago at a M&G, I had asked when he was going to run for office in NC. I didn't ask for a selfie as my camera card was full and my phone was discharging. The event photographer had a few for me.

I didn't see Clay eat or drink anything.

Clay left shortly after 5, saying he had another meeting to attend and his entourage followed.

Tried to take video of Clay's speech but after a minute my card was full. Tried photos but the sunlight was blinding. I have a couple on photobucket but can't seem to bring them here. Cotton's pictures should be so much better.

[ldyjocelyn]

Sounds like a great afternoon! Nice to know that he was busy enough to only be there for a little bit!

[merrieeee]

That brightened my day a little. Thanks Fear!

[FearofH2O]

Thats great merrieeee. Take care.

[jmh123]

[ldyjocelyn]

Another red report, reprinted with permission:

I think it is a different Ebonie (her name tag), but she was adorable and I spoke with her in the "breezy" spot we found.

Without Fear's GPS I don't think we would have found the place. Gorgeous wooded community with huge houses. "Rustic" but modern at the same time with several levels. Had to use the restroom so met one of the hosts in his enormous kitchen preparing the authentic barbecue! Such a nice and friendly family and how special of them to do all of this for Clay and not even being in his District. Fay checked us in at a table in the driveway and was cordial and gorgeous as always. The food spread was amazing. In addition to the barbecue there were baked beans, green bean salad, macaroni & cheese, watermelon & MORE - everything you would want at an authentic NC Barbecue!

The pool was gorgeous with a fountain in it and the bar was fully stocked and open! The band and the female vocalist were really good. There was not much shade though so had to keep retreating to the inside room where the food and lemonade was. Kept running into Nick at the lemonade. Have to tell you that I did not even recognize him at first. He asked me if I had my picture taken with Clay yet and he told me I needed to be more aggressive. LOL. It was fun just watching Clay mingle and then his speech was very good. I don't think he ate or even drank anything at least that I saw. He was speaking with everyone and there were several men in suits there that I felt for. I'm not sure who they were but they looked important. Hopefully Clay had water bottles in his car cause he has to keep himself hydrated. By the way he is very slim and looks like he's lost weight to me. His hair looked freshly trimmed. When I saw he was making his way back out I stayed at the "breezy" spot to catch him just as he was leaving so I got the last picture. My phone does not do selfies so Nick had told me just yell if I needed him. So I did and Clay was gracious to me though in a hurry. I am very glad I got to be there.

[ldyjocelyn]

Cotton has given me permission to post some of her pictures:

Who'd a thunk he'd be that close to a POOL?!?!?!??!?!?!?!

More to come in the next post...

[ldyjocelyn]

Nick is back -- and looking good!

[ldyjocelyn]

One more red report from last night, reprinted with permission:

I am so glad I was able to attend today. It was very nice seeing Clay up close and personal as "politician Clay Aiken", AND had a great time! Clay looked great with the green checked shirt, with khaki pants and those wing tip brown shoes with no laces. LOTS of scruff. He stood very close to me a lot of the first while he was there. GAH! He made his way around talking to everybody, shaking hands, making small talk. He came to me and shook my hand and looked at me again and said, "have we met?" I said yes, he said where, I said Pittsburgh M&G, which was the most recent time but didn't go into other details because that was the only one where we actually like, you know, talked. LOL! I did tell him I gave him a Christmas CD, he said "what?" because the music was pretty loud, so I told him again it was a Christmas CD by my husband's brass group. He said oh yeah, like he knew that, but I don't even know if he actually got it because I had to hand it to his assistant after showing it to him. Anyhow, he chatted a minute asking where I was from and thanks for coming and stuff. Talked to people around me standing right there for a while.

Nick was there and talked to us a LOT! He had just come back to Raleigh to work on Clay's campaign. You can tell he thinks the world of Clay and believes in him. He said his fiance was moving there with him in a few weeks. He looked wonderful too, lost weight, had a beard, really sharp.

Clay made his way down by the pool, and he didn't look too scared! :giggle: Kept introducing himself and chatting people up. Meanwhile I was downing the lemon aide and Nick kept coming back for more too and chatting with us. Really nice guy and I'm glad he's there for Clay. They had two tables set up in this covered section between the driveway/garage/pool/house, which was where I hung out most of the time because most everywhere else was in the sun. Chips, crackers, cheese, chex mix kind of finger food out from the start. Then they brought the main course which consisted of baked beans, mac and cheese, green bean casserole, pasta salad, BBQ chicken quarters, smokes sausages, and pulled pork BBQ. I had a small sample of all the sides and the pulled pork. DELICIOUS! They also had an open bar, but I did not partake as I had a long drive to go.

Then someone came up and said Clay was getting ready to speak. I ran down the stairs trying to get set, parked half way under an umbrella and hit record on my phone. I held it on top of the chair while Clay spoke, but somehow didn't get anything, sorry guys. There were other people videoing, so I hope some shows up. I got rushed and didn't get it set right. There wasn't much you haven't heard before, but it was so exciting to be there and hear the passion in his voice. He hit the usual talking points about people knowing him, but needing to see him in a different light. If you vote for him because you like his singing, great, but that's not why you should vote for someone, then listed reasons. Talked about education, veterans, campaign funding, how the foundation started and him realizing he had a voice to use for good, and his opponent and how she doesn't listen to her people, how she still wanted her paycheck after shutting down the govt., etc. He said hearing a sports analogy from him sounded weird, but most of the people in this country are 20 yards on either side of the 50 yard line. The politicians are in the end zones, and his opponent is beyond the end zone in the stands! :roflbig: He thanked the hosts and everyone for coming and that was about it. He speaks so well, not an um, er, uh to be found.

I made my way back to the covered area only to discover the phone had not recorded, then I saw Clay making his way through like he would be leaving. I quickly plugged my earphones into my phone and reversed the screen so you can see what you are shooting. Clay kept moving through talking to people, then got stopped by a couple of guys and talked about something. I positioned myself to catch him when he turned to move again and asked for a quick photo. People had been doing that all day, so nothing out of the ordinary. He said sure and took my phone and leaned in. I clicked the + sign on the earphone, and the camera clicked off five pics in a second! I had no idea it would do that! But it was nice because it focused better as it went along. I'm a little cautious about posting my pic in public, especially with a name tag on! But I thought it turned out really nice.

I wanted to catch Clay to talk to him about the veteran's unemployment rate issue, but someone was always holding him up and I didn't want to be pushy. But then Nick materialized beside me again and started chatting. I told him about the articles that say Clay is wrong about that and the vet rate is actually lower than the general population. I thought in reality it was "newly minted" vets just coming out of service who had such a high rate, and that perhaps Clay needed to qualify that statement. He said that is something they would have to research, and asked if I read it in an article. I said yes and he said please send him anything like that because they want to keep tightening up the message, then gave me his email.

Then Clay was gone and the whole atmosphere changed! I think while he was there we were all afraid of acting fan girly or anything. But when he was gone, we started comparing pics, talking about how he looked and so on. :biggrin:

Overall it was a great time. I figure somewhere between 50 and 75 people there, and really only knew about 10 or so I thought were fans.

They had a live band that was really good, but a bit loud so we had to shout sometimes to be heard. They did a lot of old standards with a really good female vocalist. I spoke to them at the end and told them I thought they were great and gave them a thumbs up.

The hosts were wonderful sweet men with a beautiful home and setting. It couldn't have been any nicer. I hope you all get a chance to catch Clay on the campaign trail, although I realize that is probably not possible. I still wish it for you.