A BBQ in Croydon (near Bristol)

This evening I went to a bbq sponsored by the Patrick Murphy campaign. Former Georgia Sen. Max Cleland was in attendance. He seems to be spending more time in Pennsylvania these days than Rick Santorum. There was a press conference just before the event and a number of reporters were still around when I arrived, including Gwen Ifill, now on the McNeil Lehrer News Hour and host of Washington Week in Review (the only political commentary show I watch, Fridays at 9:00 p.m.). Gwen and her producer were very personable, walking through the crowd, talking with people. Gwen signed autographs and posed for photos. I was really impressed at her ease with people. (Even the press at Murphy events are nice).

Several other candidates were there, Paul Lang (6th state senate), Chris Serpico (10th state senate), Jeff Albert (12th state senate), and the always pleasant and discerning Joe Hoeffel, former congressman for PA-13. There may have been others there that I didn’t recognize. Oh, and Patrick was there, too. To be honest, I was having such a good time talking with other guests that I didn’t get around to greeting all the candidates. If there were speeches I missed them.

I continue to be pleasantly surprised by Murphy events. Not only are other candidates welcome, and come to talk with the audience (something you don’t always see at political events), but those who attend are generally very nice people. This is such a welcome change from a lot of these things. It’s one of the main reasons I keep showing up. Murphy just seems to bring out a good crowd, not only in numbers (I stopped counting at 62 because it was time to eat) but in personality as well.