Sen: VIDEO - Rousing Post-Debate Rally for Brown (D)

On Friday I attended a post-debate rally for Rep. Sherrod Brown (D-Avon) at Laborer's Hall in Cleveland, Ohio. What I didn't realize before I went is that the event was a stop for a bus tour organized by the Congressional Black Caucus, with Star Jones and Rep. Donald Payne (D-NJ) along for the ride. Jones is a former co-host of the popular ABC show "The View," and Payne is the first (and currently the only) African American U.S. Representative from New Jersey.

The first speaker at the rally was Ohio Senate candidate Rep. Shirley Smith (D-Cleveland), seated at left in the above photograph. She is running to replace State Sen. C.J. Prentiss (D-Cleveland Heights), who is term-limited. Auditor candidate State Rep. Barbara Sykes (D-Akron) is seated in the center, and Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones (D-Cleveland) is at the podium. There were hundreds of people in the hall and it was a boisterous crowd. Rep. Tubbs Jones acknowledged officials and candidates in the room, including State Rep. Michael DeBose (D-Cleveland), Court of Common Pleas candidate Suzanne Bretz Blum (D-Shaker Heights) and Cleveland Heights-University Heights Board of Education President Wendy Leatherberry (D-Cleveland Heights).

This shot shows Star Jones on the left and Rep. Donald Payne on the right. Right after this was taken Sherrod Brown and Connie Schultz arrived from the Renaissance Hotel, site of the debate, to uproarious applause. Rep. Tubbs Jones then started the program by introducing Barbara Sykes, who fired up the crowd with her trademark 50,000-volt energy and then introduced Rep. Payne:

[NOTE: I have removed the embedded link, but the video is available here.]

After Rep. Payne spoke, Rep. Tubbs Jones introduced Star Jones, whom she first met while Jones was an Assistant District Attorney in the Homicide Bureau in Brooklyn, New York. (I was an Assistant U.S. Attorney in Brooklyn 1984-87, at the other end of Cadman Plaza. We probably bought lunch at the same spots on Montague Street but so far as I know we never met!)

[NOTE: I have removed the embedded link, but the video is availablehere.]

After Star Jones, Rep. Tubbs Jones returned to the podium and introduced Sherrod Brown, who acknowledged a number of people in the room, including a very unexpected acknowledgement (honest, I had no idea).

[NOTE: I have removed the embedded link, but the video is availablehere.]

The video ends at that point because I half-stood and waved while people cheered. Then Sherrod Brown introduced his mother, who received a big round of applause, and then I sat down again and resumed filming:

[NOTE: I have removed the embedded link, but the video is available here.]