Important for one day

Pennsylvania Welcome Sign, originally uploaded by WestendRaider.

Today I had this email exchange with a friend who lives in San Francisco:

San Fran Friend: So how does it feel to be the center of the country’s attention?

MBM: I love it. I’m going to be so bummed Thursday when everyone starts ignoring us again.

I really expected at least one of the candidates to come to Butler. They did visit towns in Butler County, and I got invitations to attend some events, but no one came to the city of Butler. Hillary didn’t even send Bill to talk to us.

I saw Hillary Clinton in the lobby of the Omni William Penn one morning though. Walked within a few feet of her. Expected to be blocked by security but they seemed unconcerned. I don’t think I look like I pose much of a threat.

How does PA look from the outside today? Bitter? Full of itself?

SFF: regardless what I might think, I would never say anything bad about PA…you never know when a bitter gun-crazy god-fanatic might take it the wrong way.

seriously though, it’s kind of cool that PA is getting all the attention given that they didn’t play the "move up the primary" game.

what does hillary seem like in person? who in your family has been designated to meet Chelsea? you seem to be hitting the entire family.

MBM: Apparently Barack Obama has been a Steelers fan all along. Who knew?

You make an interesting point about PA mattering a lot now precisely because the primary date wasn’t changed. Take that, Michigan and Florida!

For the few seconds when I saw Hillary, she looked a bit too alert and very eager to seem interested. It was 9am on a Saturday, and she was on her way to walk with the mayor and gang in the St. Patrick’s Day parade. I assume she had been stopped by a random passerby and was talking with her, and that’s why she was smiling so much. She looked exhausted, frankly, but unwilling to let tiredness stop her. I think ability to go without sleep will turn out to be the most important asset of presidential candidates from here out.

I had assumed that Chelsea would call me up to go for a drink by now. She probably couldn’t get through on my phone because all the state and local campaign candidates were tying up the line.

As much attention as everyone inside and outside of Pennsylvania is paying to the Democratic primary voting, other campaigns will probably have a greater effect on our day-to-day lives. Today I voted for candidates for State Senate, Congress, State Treasurer, and a couple other posts.

Sadly, I was not given the chance to vote on who should head the PLCB. If that were an elected post, you can bet I would run for it.

Also today, I found this interesting map graphic showing how much news is reported around the U.S. (thanks to the ever-interesting Coudal Blended Feed). It makes very clear how much less attention news media pay to the flyover states; it’s not that we have so much less going on, but that they don’t bother to cover it. Brad King at The Modern Journalist has already written a nice, to-the-point rant on the topic, so I’ll settle for a simple "pffffffft" to all y’all who think news only happens in NYC, D.C. and Los Angeles.

And now I’ll go work on making my hyperlocal news/community content site a force to reckon with.