Another Visit to a Swing State

I spent the day in Milwaukee today. Close readers of Power Line may recall that when I was there a week or two ago, President Bush stayed at my hotel. Today, I got out of town just in time, before the streets were closed. This is what happens when you’re a swing state. People in Milwaukee will be tripping over the Presidential candidates between now and November.
I spent most of the day in a conference room in a building across the river from the park where Kerry spoke tonight. There was a little evidence of Secret Service presence–some helicopters in the air–but, frankly, not much. No snipers on rooftops, for example. From where I watched from a 14th-story window, I had a perfect view of the park, of the podium where Kerry was to speak, perhaps 200 yards away, and of the crowd as it gathered hours before the event began. The building I was in had no security whatsoever.
The words that kept going through my mind were: Texas Book Depository.
The Secret Service does a great job, I have no doubt. But the reality is that there is no security. There is only the hope that our enemies will not make a competent attempt to disrupt our election or to murder one of our candidates. Probably not John Kerry.

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