The Cupcakes were Great

The cupcake party for Jennifer Brunner this afternoon at Lana Moresky’s house in Shaker Heights was a smashing success. You should have been there if you weren’t, but it sure seemed like a lot of you were. Lana said she didn’t think she’d ever had so many people in her house. The actual crowd count was nearly 150.

The cupcakes were great, and so was the company and the conversation. I had a chocolate cupcake with some kind of custard filling and a dried cherry on top. There were about a half dozen other gourmet varieties as well.

Even better was the energy and enthusiasm in the room, which is gratifying to see. So often these days, I go to Democratic events and people are discouraged and/or demoralized. It seems like we expect too much too soon and give up too quickly. But Jennifer has a way of lighting a fire under people because she seems to actually be listening to their concerns and not to the lure of big money and big checks.

She spoke briefly about three issues: jobs, bank regulation and finding a sensible path out of Afghanistan before the cost gets too high. She accurately pointed out that people have become angry and frustrated because the people we send to Washington are beholden more to people with money than to the majority of their constituents. She pointed out that one of her strengths — the positive side of her fundraising deficit against Lee Fisher — is that when she gets to Washington, she won’t owe anybody any favors.

She took some questions from the crowd about health care (predictably) and reforming the abuse of the filibuster in the Senate. After she spoke, people were invited to join groups that were discussing volunteering, fundraising and online outreach, or to just hang out and chat with people. They were also offered boxes to take the extra cupcakes home with them, to share with family or friends and maybe talk to them about Jennifer as they did so.