ORLANDO – The scene felt a little familiar. Tucked into an office building on Colonial Drive, upstairs in a world of beige cubicles and the walls that they hang upon, another Democratic presidential frontrunner was given the full grassroots treatment – knocking on doors, talking to your friends, hugs and buttons – that her predecessor Barack Obama received on the very same block, in the very same building.
On Aug. 4, local Democrats crowded the new offices to make it known that they were “with her,” and they were ready to fight. Clinton recently visited Orlando and returned for visits to Kissimmee and Tampa Bay in subsequent weeks.
Orlando District 5 city commissioner Regina Hill proved to be the highlight of the evening, speaking at the top of anybody’s vocal range to a community that has suffered such injustice, a community still staggered by the June 12 Pulse massacre.
“This time we are going to have to come together to defeat hate,” Hill shouted. “It’s about the sacrifice for tomorrow.”
Hill went on to deliver the zinger of the night when she spoke of the Republican National Convention in Cleveland last month.
“The biggest Klan rally I ever saw,” she said. “You know what it was called? The Republican National Convention.”
Orange County Tax Collector Scott Randolph was also present, toddler daughter Hillary in tow.
“You’re in the I-4 corridor, the biggest prize,” he said. “We can have rational, reasonable conversations,” he added. “America was not made great by fear … It was made great by reasonable, adult conversations.”
