Last night’s Obama rally held at Riverfront Sports Complex in Scranton, PA, has been neglected largely by the mainstream media as of noon today. Learn more at http://blog.washingtonpost.com/... (registration required) and http://www.time-blog.com/...
We estimate almost 5,000 people in attendance if you count media, mostly standing room only for the diverse crowd. The music was great, greeting us with Mellencamp’s "This is Our Country" as we streamed in http://downwithtyranny.blogspot.com/... Jammed in close for hours prior to kickoff, we schmoozed with folks around us: a friendly 50-something couple from Milford; a 42 year-old first time voter from East Stroudsburg, her 9-year-old son and Obama volunteer boyfriend, he a former Republican. Her son reminded us that anything is possible by sporting a large Obama ’08 sticker on the front of his NY Giants 2008 Superbowl Champions t-shirt.
As a local girl flawlessly sang the national anthem, the crowd turned toward a huge American flag hanging at the back of the space. Barack was late, coming from the much-covered rally in Reading, but finally Senator Bob Casey and Caroline Kennedy were revving up the crowd with their strong endorsements, and Barack came bounding up the steps to the podium to thunderous cheering and waving signs. His speech was familiar given the coverage he’s been getting on this "whistle-stop tour" days before the April 22 Pennsylvania primary, but one thing I hadn't heard before was when he mentioned John McCain and began to say why he would not be the right person to lead the country next and someone screamed out "He’s too old!" Barack responded--and I can only paraphrase--"No, no...because he would mean a third Bush term!" The crowd roared approval.
Our 50+ legs were rubbery when the rally broke up at about 8:30 pm and we streamed back out into the parking lot in search of the Prius and made our way home to Monroe County. Tomorrow we’ll cast our votes for Barack Obama, hopefully the Democratic nominee and next President of the United States.