Anti-Bush Anti-McCain Protest Mesa-Phx Arizona 5-27-08 Photos and Audio

Since the President and John McCain moved their fundraiser, details of our protest are still emerging. Here’s a general idea of what Tuesday will bring: President Bush will be speaking at Silverado Cable Company in Mesa. The protest will be at the southeast corner of Dobson and Main. We recommend that you arrive there no later than 2:20 p.m.! The downtown rally starts at 4:30 pm on Tuesday May 27th and will be held at the César Chávez Memorial Plaza (Washington St. at 2nd Ave. - in front of Phoenix City Hall) At 4:30 we will march from there to the former site of the Bush event at the Phoenix Convention Center (northwest corner on 2nd St. between Adams and Monroe). If you can’t make it to the early rally, you can still join us at the Convention Center. You can meet us at the event site (street parking is free after 5 pm), or meet us at the Arizona Democratic Party and we will have shuttles running to and from the rally. The ADP is located at 2910 N. Central Ave in Phoenix (The northwest corner of Central and Thomas. Click here for a map ). Meet us at the ADP anytime after 3:00pm. We’ll have a bunch of signs on hand, or you can download your own sign here Bush scales back McCain events President Bush is scaling back next week’s fundraising swings for Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) at the request of the campaign, which wants the events closed to the press, Politico has learned. The change - in both Arizona and Utah - is part of McCain’s delicate effort to find the balance between embracing an unpopular president and taking advantage of his huge continuing draw with well-heeled Republicans. The Arizona event, which was to be at the Phoenix Convention Center, was the first time Bush was to have appeared with McCain since their White House meeting in March. A McCain aide said: “The McCain campaign has a policy that fundraising events are closed press. In keeping with that policy, the campaign requested the event be moved to a private home.” On Tuesday, the president was to appear with McCain at the Phoenix Convention Center at a McCain for President and Republican National Committee Victory Reception. And on Wednesday, Bush was to appear at Salt Lake City’s Grand America Hotel with former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney at a McCain for President and Republican National Committee Victory Reception (followed by a more exclusive dinner at the Romneys’ Park City home). See Also Obama looks westward in electoral map play A guide to undisciplined messaging Senate votes show GOP power vacuum Now, both of the public events will be at private residences. As recently as Wednesday, Salt Lake media were saying the event would be at the Grand America. A White House official gave the same explanation as the McCain campaign: “As you know, we have a practice of having fundraisers in public venues as open to press and fundraisers in private residences closed to press to preserve the hosts' privacy. The [McCain campaign’s] practice has been to have all fundraisers be closed. And so a decision was made to move the location to comply with the practices.” The Phoenix Business Journal reports that other factors also played a part: “Sources familiar with the situation said the Bush-McCain event was not selling enough tickets to fill the Convention Center space, and that there were concerns about more anti-war protesters showing up outside the venue than attending the fundraiser inside.” A private reception at the Phoenix Convention Center event was going to cost $25,000, while a larger reception was $1,000, or $2,300 with a lapel pin. At the Salt Lake hotel, a host-committee luncheon was open to those who raised or contributed $10,000 per person, while the larger reception was $500 per person. The Park City dinner is open to those who raise or contribute $70,100 per couple, or $30,800 per person.