Thursday, Oct. 23, 2008 in the Belton Star-Herald

Baker's big secret

Possibility of Monday’s Belton rally was first explored two weeks ago

Brian Baker doesn’t want credit for bringing John McCain to town this week. But he at least deserves kudos for his secret-keeping ability.

The former state representative who is running unopposed for the county commission’s north district seat is well known by area Republican officials and was the natural contact when the McCain campaign began planning its final blitz on a key area in one of the key states in the nation.

“About two weeks ago, the regional director of the McCain campaign called and asked me if the campaign were to come through the area, where do you think they ought to come?

“Of course I said Cass County,” Baker said.

And his sales skills kicked into gear.

“It’s a great snapshot of Missouri, it doesn’t lean heavily to one party or the other and it’s picked the president for the last 20 to 25 years. It’s small-town, small-business, working-class families. There are growing, great schools. Everything we want Missouri to be, I believe exists in Cass County.”

That was practically all it took and a two-week odyssey was under way.

Baker’s father, David, pastor of the First Baptist Church of Belton, was in Louisville at the time of the conversation and was one of the few to hear what might come to pass, especially since the church’s facilities at Cedar and Cambridge were among the three area locations under consideration for a possible event.

The first thing the campaign needed from Baker was a written proposal of some type and that was the topic of the conversation with his father. Immediately, he began work on the project, with only those closest to him having any idea what the possibilities were.

“I wrote up a proposal that highlighted Adesa (auto auction) coming to town, that our employment base is growing, even in this economy. I talked about how our small businesses are thriving and our local community banks that make wise, conservative decisions are weathering some of this banking crisis well.

“I mentioned how the governor came to our community to sign one of the largest education bills in our state’s history. He came to Raymore to sign a mortgage fraud bill and the Quality Jobs Act was signed into law right here in our town. I talked about our road improvements and how if you wanted a snapshot of Missouri before the Nov. 4 election, you want Cass County as your picture — and they bought it,” he said.

All the while, Baker said, he wasn’t thinking of politics, despite his Republican roots.

“This goes far beyond the political slant. This was a benefit to our community,” he said.

Belton Mayor Jimmy Odom concurred.

“I was driving down 58 after the rally and every restaurant was packed. When I turned on CNN at home later, they were talking about Belton. It was huge for our town and there’s no other way to get that kind of positive attention,” Odom said Tuesday.

But at the time Baker’s proposal received its first reading and initial approval from party officials, Odom was as clueless as the rest of Belton. He was clued in quickly.

“About a week before it hit, when it looked like it really could happen, we met with the mayor and with Kenny Southwick (Belton superintendent of schools),” he said.

“I told them my feeling was this was like a concert and it’s going to bring thousands of people to our community. It’s a major media event and a chance for us to shine.”

It was at that initial meeting that the three began looking at potential sites for the rally.

The first option was Joe Maurer Field at Belton High School, since the campaign’s original thought was that the rally would be conducted in the evening.

“But they moved the time up and our feeling is that you can’t cancel school for something like this — we’re not going to interrupt the education of students. With the parking and traffic challenges, it just couldn’t happen at the time of day we needed it to happen. But Kenny was great to work with and he was especially impressed with the historic aspect of hosting this kind of event,” Baker said.

The Adesa facility was a second consideration, he said, but with thousands of vehicles already parked on the company’s lots in anticipation of the January opening, that wouldn’t work either.

“So really, Heartland High School was our third choice, but we were honored to do it. We certainly didn’t want to put any political strains on the city by asking for city property, and besides, how could we have gotten the proper boards together with notice that short?”

By Wednesday of last week, the circle of knowledge had to be expanded and that was when Baker’s nerves began to get tight.

“They sent an advance guy out from the McCain campaign on Wednesday and he told me it was a 95 percent chance it was going to happen. They wanted me to start getting a volunteer team together, but I still was supposed to be keeping it quiet. I’m asking myself, ‘how can I ask volunteers to start committing to something when I can’t even tell them what they’re committing to?’”

But he found a way. By gathering a group of about 50 church members and asking them to trust him; that he couldn’t tell them any specifics, but he needed their commitment.

“Of course, here it came: ‘We’re getting McCain-Palin, aren’t we?’ I had to say, ‘I can’t answer that question,’” but they knew, Baker said.

In addition, the Secret Service was in discussions with Belton Police Chief Jim Person by midweek, Baker said. By Thursday, the official word finally came.

“Wow, that was a relief,” he said. But the work had only just begun and the process of putting on an event for more than 6,000 people in a matter of just 72 hours was an experience he’ll never forget.

“It honestly did turn into a little more than I anticipated,” he said. “But I learned a lot about security and a lot about putting an event like this together. More importantly, we learned our city can handle this. Our city can be welcoming and respectful, even the protesters weren’t rude. You have to look at our community and say we were a welcoming hometown.”

His father, who had the opportunity to speak with McCain shortly before he went on stage Monday, concurred.

“The campaign people told us that this town’s volunteers were by far the nicest and most welcoming of any they had dealt with across the country — by far,” David Baker said.

“I think the way they referred to us was very simple. We were ‘Americana,’” he said.

His son got the same impression from the McCain folks.

“It turned out to be kind of amazing — it was a great setting. He went to a real neighborhood, where there are homes and working-class people. We’re still a small town; we’re growing, but we’ve maintained that small-town feel and he got to see that,” Brian Baker said.

The event couldn’t have possibly come off without the intense coordination that took place in a very short amount of time, he said.

“Capt. (Doug) Kohler (of the Belton Police Department) jumped in immediately and worked with us diligently. He met with all the volunteers on issues like crowd control and security. He taught our folks to smile and wave, they’re not police officers. If a situation gets out of hand, he told them to back away from it and call for help, don’t try to deal with it themselves.”

In addition, Baker said, the sheriff’s office assisted Belton police with the major project of traffic control and shuttle routing, all issues that required intense planning for an area not exactly set up to host a crowd that turned out to be twice the size of the crowd that met McCain in St. Charles earlier in the day.

The ticket distribution plan worked to perfection, he said, and it appeared to him that everyone that wanted to see the candidate had the opportunity.

And he may have been most pleased with the opportunity to actually introduce McCain to his father, who graduated from the University of Arizona, giving the two immediately a topic of conversation.

“We did talk about that for a little and he seemed to enjoy it,” David Baker said.

“But how cool was that?” Brian Baker asked. “To get to introduce your father to Sen. McCain?”

aedmonds@thestar-herald.com