My wife and I in fact were at the rally. It was quite an experience. We parked nearby at about 4:30, and stood in line to get in. Surprisingly, the line was moving at a fairly  nice pace. We were seated just before 5:00, and already the bottom set of seats were about 2/3 to 3/4 full, and crowds coming in as fast as the security stations would allow. They must in fact have opened the doors before 5, as the paper locally said they would.

By six o'clock the place was about full (I think it holds about 12000). The main floor was not used for seating. Instead it was used for a large stage for all the media, cameras etc. Behind the speaker's platform a special crowd was mostly already sitting, and they were the only ones allowed to hold placards. And near the stage, on the main playing floor, it was standing room for those who obviously wanted to be the speaker and were not afraid to have to be standing for who knows how long.

While waiting in line for a hot dog, it was rumored that John Edwards was also in town for the rally and was going to endorse. By now you all have already seen that that is exactly what happened. The crowd went wild, and lots of the audience did in fact stand for most if not all the time for the speech of Edwards and of Obama.
Both Edwards and Obama said very nice things about Clinton as well, and we see in that the new phase of the campaign. I was impressed all over again, how moving a speaker Edwards is, and I couldn't help think how important his addition to the campaign will be for Obama. Obama himself said, after Edwards was finished, that he had forgotten how fine a speaker Edwards really was.

Each spoke for, I think, about 20 minutes. Unusual for me, at least as I remember having been at other political events, is that Obama was early, he in fact started speaking, i.e., introducing John Edwards, about 20 minutes before the scheduled 7 P.M. time.

I did in fact see a few other people who were probably of my age (mid 70's), but the crowd was definitely a relatively young bunch, including several young (elementary school) kids, and quite a bunch of pre-school kids who used up their energy waiting by playing around on the vacant main floor. The crowd got what it wanted, and showed its approval over and over again. Lots of times the crowd was roaring so loud I couldn't hear what Obama was saying. I will have to listen to TV to hear the rest.

So there you have it. It was a good night to be, I kind of expect, present at a turning point in the campaign.

But lots of work ahead.

xxxx xxxxx

P.S. Shortly before we went I mentioned to a neighbor that we were going to the rally. She firmly told me she was a Republican, and that she was a Christian, and she was against abortion, and that that pretty well settled things for her. When both of the speakers listed the litany of injustices this administration has been foisting on the US (and the world) I almost cried to think how narrowly some think of the political world. It is surprising that democracy even comes close to working.