Camejo was on stage when i entered. He was animated, compelling, funny, and extremely entertaining. I had never seen him speak in person before and was really impressed. It's hard for me to imagine how he could not completely steal the show if he were allowed to participate in a presidential debate. He managed to work in a chart that showed how wealthier people paid consistently lower tax rates.
Nader was much more calm and steady. He spoke a lot about developing a civic personality and a culture of resistance to corporate power. He got a little dull at some points, and there was a steady trickle of people leaving during his talk, but on the whole i found him pretty convincing.
I got in line as quickly as i could when they opened up for questions. I wanted to ask Nader if he knew that IRV worked poorly for third parties and personally present him with one of my flyers. I was third in line when the questions began. After the first question, however, the usher with the microphone noticed that the line consisted entirely of men, and encouraged more women to come up to ask questions. I waved a couple of women up past me so they could alternate with the men. Then another woman showed up and insisted that she had been first, so she put herself in front of the frontmost woman. While the others were asking questions and Nader was giving his answers, i anxiously ran the words i was going to say over and over in my head, trying to rephrase them. But after the fifth question (something vague about the bad corporate "energies" and how to redirect one's "energies" for good purposes) was asked by the woman standing directly in front of me, and i just made it to the front of the line, the usher declared that questions were over.
The place started clearing out, so i got in line with the other people who had bought Nader's book and wanted to get it signed. It took a while, but i finally made it to the front, handed Nader my flyer, and asked him to read it. He said he would, but i wasn't sure if he really meant it.
