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McCain gets star treatment
"I just hope people come away saying that Thomasville is a real nice small town," said Mayor Sheldon Day before starting his day with the presidential hopeful in Selma. "We're trying to fight the stigma of rural Alabama. Hopefully, he will hold up some of the things we're doing as a model." And while the national press stories tended to focus on McCain's reaching out to African American voters, Day got his wish, as McCain did mention Thomasville, Alabama Southern Community College and the city school system more than once during his trip. McCain said he was going on this and similar trips to the "forgotten places" of the country, where for too long poverty and disadvantage have been allowed to fester.
"I want to learn," McCain said. "I want to take the ongoing challenges and successes here and bring them back. I think the model is here; 10 years ago, there wasn't a partnership between the college and schools in Thomasville." Day, Gov. Bob Riley and John Clyde Riggs, the executive director of the Black Belt Action Commission spent at least an hour with McCain in the back of his "Straight Talk Express" campaign bus discussing the challenges and triumphs of rural Alabama. While McCain praised the efforts currently underway, "I don't want to paint too rosy a picture, we just went through a town with half the store windows shuttered," he said. "There's no Google here in Gee's Bend, there's no cell phone service here." In Gee's Bend, McCain was greeted by a number of the women in the Gee's Bend Quilting Collective. They serenaded the Senator singing spirituals. He purchased three of the quilts from the ladies and from there took the Gee's Bend ferry across the Alabama River. The women continued to sing, their song ringing out across the water. "I think I saw a tear in his eye after that," Day said. "They have next to no material goods, but that didn't matter to them, and they showed what was in their hearts. It was a very emotional thing." Once across the river, lunch was served by the Southwest Alabama Chamber of Commerce. City officials also made the trip to Selma Sunday night to meet with the press corps that would follow McCain Monday. Determined to make an impression, the group brought bags loaded with local items from a number of Thomasville area businesses and they spent the better part of the evening talking to the press about Thomasville. Monday afternoon, McCain stopped at Carolyn's restaurant in Pine Hill where he shook hands with diners in the restaurant and bought a cup of ice cream. Once he arrived in Thomasville, McCain's first stop was to Thomasville Elementary School where the school children lined the drive. McCain got out and made a determined effort to shake hands and give hugs to a great many of the children who were chanting his name and waiving small American flags. He then received a rousing welcome at the gymnasium of Thomasville High School where he gave a speech about his captivity in Vietnam and spoke to the assembly that included more than 100 veterans along with the students about patriotism and citizenship. His last stop was at Alabama Southern Community College where again he praised the efforts of local officials for partnering to create new programs and overcome the challenges facing rural communities. During the early part of his speech, an electrical breaker tripped temporarily cutting off his microphone. "This mic is brought to you by the Democratic National.." he joked. "This institution illustrates why I think community colleges are indispensable to future success," he said. "I congratulate you," on the dual enrollment program between ASCC and Thomasville High School allowing THS students the opportunity to take collegelevel classes while still in high school. In responding to questions from the audience, McCain said he would not support farming subsidies, but would "open the markets of the world to the most efficient farm producers in the world, right here in America."
He also received a heavy round of applause when speaking of a tax holiday on gasoline and finding new sources of energy.
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