lupitam's blog

After President Obama finished with his oath of office, we cried.  I
mean we because the black lady next to me was sobing, and so was I.  We
ended up hugging. My father in-law and I walked and walked to Union Station to
get back home.  Everybody was so excited, cold, and hungry. 
Restaurants were packed, and I could have eaten a horse. We hurried home, got
ready for the West Region Inaugural Ball.  I drank tons of diet coke to
stay awake.

The Ball was at the Convention Center.  They had rooms to store
coats!  I remember what my friend Mary Sue emailed me, there were a couple
of mini-riots after Clinton's and Reagan's balls because people walked away
with other people's furs... 

Getting inside the Convention Center was an adventure in itself.  We
had to walk and walk and walk to find the security gate.  It was still
cold, but after not sleeping and freezing all morning, it was impossible to
feel any pain. 

There was not one woman there with an ugly dress.   Believe me, I
checked out every single one. Inside the Ball room, there were tables where
they were selling Obama pins, shirts, tote bags, Inaugural glasses, coffee
mugs, etc.  The Obama team always experts
at fund raising!

They had food and bars.  A great band was playing, and some brave souls
were dancing. 

I bumped into Congressman Wu (see picture), and Senator Wyden. 

Never in my entire life have I slept so little without caring.

I got 2 hours of sleep the night before the Inauguration, the result of excitement and jet lag.

I got up at 5am, got all bundled up, and went to the Metro station.  The line to get in was huge.

The temperature was in the teens.  Everybody was so excited.  Nobody pushed anybody or complained.  Nothing but joy all around me.

Shaddy Grove is the end of the red line, so I was able to get a seat.  As we went down the train line, it started getting really crowded.  Nobody complained.  Everybody was so excited and friendly.  There was a point where there wasn't any more room, and hundreds of people were at the stations waiting for our train.  The conductor said:"Welcome to the Inauguration train.  Please squeeze into the center of the train.  We are all friends here, so it is ok to rub a little".  Everybody laughed. 

Once out of the Metro Station, there were some folks giving out boxes of alka-seltzer.  The box says "Wake-up call"  Pain Reliever / Alertness Aid for after a night out.  For temporary relief of headache with fatigue associated with HANGOVER.  (What can I say?).

 I walked about 10 blocks to my seat and probably waited  an hour and a half, just to get through security.  I didn't feel the lack of sleep.

I don't think I have ever been so cold in my life.  It was worth it.  

As I was standing in the line, I could not help thinking about Nancy Thompson, Karen Packer, Jennifer Warren and my husband Steve.  Right behind me, Bradley Whitford was standing with his kids and wife.  He played Josh Lyman in the West Wing.  Being my usual shy person,  we ended up talking, and he might be interested in coming to our Neuberger Banquet.  (I would not get too excited Jennifer).

Last night at the airport, I saw Jefferson Smith.  Our plane was packed with people who were coming to the inauguration.  Most of them did not have tickets, or did not know tickets existed.  They are just coming to celebrate.

I landed in Atlanta at 3:00 am our time.  Everybody was wearing Obama t-shirts.  One lady had an Obama shirt under her long, gorgeous fur coat.  I don't feel guilty about owning my little mink jacket anymore. That's the one that  Steve got me at the NARAL auction, 

I sat down next to a law student from San Francisco who bought a top hat at a party store and is going to be wearing it all week.  

DC is cold and dark. It is cloudy.  The Potomac river has a lot of ice on it.

More later...

(photos here)

I wish you could see the shiny silver seal and holograms, but this is the best I can do

I scanned the tickets for you to see

I will try to start blogging my experiences in Washingto DC.  I will be attending the Inauguration and the DNC Western Region Inaugural Ball.  The day after, I will be attending my first DNC meeting.

I am excited to represent our State, and in a way, I am bringing you, my friends, with me.  I would have never made it there without your support.

Chair Mad-Libs

I’m not sure when you’re reading this. Perhaps it’s before the election. Perhaps after.
So I don’t know how things have turned out. So instead, I’ve written a Mad-Lib. Fill it
in appropriately:

It was a [Great | Disappointing ] election!

We all know Barack Obama won. But here’s the big news: because of your [ willingness | unwillingness ] to canvass and phone bank, we were [ able | not able ] to elect Democrats
up and down the ticket. Particularly, the [ election | close heartbreaking defeat ] of Jeff
Merkley for U.S. Senate means that President Obama’s badly needed reforms [ will get the
country back on the right track | be filibustered to death by Senator Smith ]. Once again,
Washington county determined how the election went, and your [ outstanding effort | disappointing
complacency ] resulted in this [ outstanding | saddening ] result.

I remember, when writing this, that I came back from a canvass, in which I was the only one
who actually showed up. How [ wonderful | unfortunate ] was it to learn that this was a
[ rare aberration | ominous omen ]. Thank you all, and I mean this [ from the bottom of my
heart | sarcastically ], for the [ tremendous | lack of ] effort, when it mattered the most!

Yours, sincerely,
Lupita Maurer - Chair

Today, Biden was indignant, calling McCain's recent charges against Obama "odious" and "beyond disappointing." Pointing out that McCain's TV ads have taken a sharp tack towards the negative, he said, "When you vote with President Bush 90% of the time, I guess your best hope is to attack your opponent 100% of the time."

"You can't call yourself a maverick when all you've ever been is a sidekick," Biden added.

To keep from overwhelming the front page, I will be posting the rest of my experiences in Denver as comments to this post. Also, be sure to look at our Vice Chair Steve Packer's blog. It's down to the right under the 08 DNCC logo.

Hello! My name is Lupita Maurer, and I have the honor of Chairing the Washington County Democrats.

I also have the honor of having all of you as good friends. And as you've done for so many of our representatives in Washington County, you helped win a hard election – for me to be an Obama delegate.

So now I'm off to Denver.

I intend to be the best delegate I can be. So many of you wanted to go, I hope that I can give you a flavor of the experience behind the scenes, whatever it turns out to be. So I will be blogging here on our www.washcodems.org website. And I intend to read your comments to see if you want anything done.

I can't promise that I will be "live-blogging". I don't know if I can write that fast. But I will try to at least make one entry a day. Maybe more than that.

Write if you want anything from me. Thank you.