I live in Lees Summit, Missouri, a mostly republican suburb of KC. Early Saturday morning (Aug 8) there is a meeting at a local coffee shop,with Emanuel Cleaver, our rep, with the focus on health insurance reform. I just found out and plan on attending but when I google the information, I'm only finding entries written by the tea baggers who are planning on making signs and wearing red, yada, yada, yada. So far I haven't found anybody specifically advocating obstructionism and shouting people down but I don't want to take any chances. I need to find out how to make last minute contacts to find people to join me so we're not out-numbered.
I apologize for this being so last-minute but I just found out about the meeting, (thanks to the event calendar at Fire Dog Lake), and I don't know where else to turn for immediate feedback. I should have plenty of time over the next two days to organize. Like countless others, my hours have been cut back and I've been spending waaay too much time surfing the net and reading about these town halls turning into lynch mobs so whatever I can do to prevent that here in LS on Saturday, I will do.
I've read Lolblolly's recommended diary about how they were able to successfully thwart a mob mentality at their meeting and giving credit to the County Chair and Precinct Chairs. How do I find these people for my area and contact them?
I do plan on driving past the coffee shop today so I can scope out parking. I have no idea how big it is, but can't imagine it being able to hold that many people. I've called the shop about pre-registration, which I keep reading on the tea-baggers' blog entries, but the coffee shop denied it and suggested I call Cleaver's office to make sure, which I plan do but will wait to get some feedback from you guys. What questions I should ask Cleaver's office when I call? What other offices do I need to google for contact information?
I'd posted a (very rare) diary a few days ago about our personal health care situation and got some great ideas in the feedback so I'm counting on you guys to help me out again. I confess I hadn't been very active politically prior to last summer, and other than canvassing for Obama and attending a couple of meetings for his election, I am a total novice at this. Any advice you can give me will be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.