On Friday, January 11th, I had the wonderful opportunity of seeing Hillary Clinton at the home of Norma Hernandez in Bonita, Ca.

One of the ways Hillary's campaign is making significant strides in winning the election is calling registered democrats and independent voters to find out how they leaning with regards to who they will vote for. These calls are important because they help target who her supporters are and how people are planning to vote.

On Friday, a BYOP (bring your own phone) house party was held at the home of Norma Hernandez in Bonita, a suburb of San Diego. I was fortunate to receive an invitation, I carpooled with a north country Hillary supporter, Sylvia, that I had met at a previous Hillary house party event. We got there early, so we helped put up posters and made some calls. There was a lot of Press there wandering around the kitchen, some of them interviewed me.

One woman from KPBS did an interview with me (don't know if it will be on). One of her questions was "how do you explain to those voters that are concerned about bringing back a Clinton in the white house? The idea that going backwards won't progress the change issue." I told her I thought that was a good question and that on the surface I understood that argument or thought. I gave her my opinion which is that Hillary is not Bill, she has a different set of ideas for example she wants to eliminate "Don't ask don't tell" and NAFTA - two Bill Clinton initiatives. Furthermore, it is unrealistic to think that ex-Clinton administration people will not be in the next democratic administration. Barack Obama even said that he has a treasure trove of Clinton advisor's - so how is that change? Besides the Democratic party only has so many resources to pull from, many of whom were part of the last Clinton administration, which last time I checked was the most successful democratic administration since FDR, considering he is the only Democrat since FDR to be reelected.

I talked about the fact that having a woman President is change, and that since I was in the travel industry and liked to visit foreign countries, it would be nice to actually go somewhere like Europe or New Zealand where they once again liked and respected us. That both Bill and Hilary Clinton are well-known and well-respected throughout the world, at least that's what I have found when traveling abroad. I mentioned that the biggest concern for most voters is the economy and that is where I trust Hillary Clinton the most. I told the reporter that I thought she had an excellent plan for the economy and my concern if I was supporting Barack is that he has not shown any leadership or experience in this area. Whereas the last Clinton administration turned the economy around, brought in lots of new jobs and left us with a surplus. Hillary will do the same, in my opinion.

She also asked if I was concerned about her electability in a general election. I replied "No, in New Hampshire she already beat John McCain by 21% among Independent voters proving she is electable and can beat the most formidable Republican opponent."

The house continued to grow with crowds of people showing up. Initially we were told there would be about 30-50 people, by the end of the event, there were at least 300 people and they crowded into Ms. Hernandez' yard and down the block waving and chanting "Hilary".

By the time Hillary showed up (around 4/4:30) we were in our positions, I had a great spot right across from her and she walked into the house to a rousing, screaming group of people shouting "Hillary" and applause. She entered the room with a big smile on her face, her arms waving to all of us and immediately shaking hands with everyone. Ms. Hernandez introduced Hillary and she spoke for about 45 minutes. She had no notes with her except to thank and acknowledge many of the local democrats that were there (Toni Atkins, Francine Busby, Lynn Schenk, Sheila Jackson - to name a few). From there she talked about a variety of issues, then opened it up to questions.

Take a look at my two YouTube videos (part 1 and 2) which show both photos and video clips: (Part 2 is a little better):

                    Hillary in San Diego, Part 1

                    Hillary in San Diego, Part 2

What struck me first about Hillary Clinton is just how stunning she looked. She was dressed in an all teal business suit which accentuated the color of her extremely blue eyes. She seemed to be about my height with heels (5'6") and she is smaller than I expected (both in height and size). As she spoke, the room seemed riveted hanging on her every word. She is articulate and has a command of not only a wide variety of issues, but also specifics regarding numbers. What she is able to do is get you to follow the path or logic of the road she is taking you down. For example, she spoke about illegal immigration and mentioned that there is a mean-spiritedness behind the issue which is in and of itself divisive for the country, especially since we are a nation of immigrants. On the one hand, you can't have 12 million illegal people roaming around the country because we don't know who they are, on the other hand if you threaten to round them all up you will never get the cooperation you need. She took us down the road of what some Republicans want to do and why it won't work. "Can you imagine what it would take to round up 12 million illegal people?". She talked about the hundreds of billions of dollars it would cost us in law enforcement and legal issues. Then, anyone with the last name Hernandez would be subject to a door-to-door search in an attempt to find those that are here illegally. Is that really what a nation of immigrants wants to do? She went on to outline her plan to deal with illegal immigration (basically bring them out of the shadows, make them pay a hefty fine for the crime they did commit and get them in line to a path of becoming legal - not ahead of those that are doing it legally, but in line).

She spoke nicely of Barack Obama stating that this campaign was so exciting, especially for democrats, because the two leading candidates are a inspiring African-American Senator and a Woman. "Can you believe that?".

There were many funny or lighter moments when the doorbell kept ringing "and then the heavens spoke" she said describing the inept Bush Education policies. She interacted so warmly with the crowd, answering questions off the top of her head.

At the end, she would have stayed and talked, but her team said she needed to leave plus there were so many people outside (we could hear them chanting "Hillary"), she wanted to go out and meet them.

Outside there was a group of Ron Paul supporters/protesters standing off to one side and she went over to greet them and speak with them briefly.

Before she left I managed to get her autograph and gave her a hug as I told her "I Love You" and "Thank you for all you do". She said to me "aw - I need you for my campaign" and I said "No problem, you've got me!".

And so ended my most amazing afternoon with Senator - soon to be President - Hillary Clinton!!