Okay I posted a comment in Mojo Friday and sent an e-mail blast to many of you and I've been encouraged to post a diary. Geez, you all are a bunch of stern taskmasters!
I was at the Obama Rally today in Dunedin at Knology Baseball Field,
Of course it was awesome.
I was standing in an area where he came out and he came to our side and I got to shake/squeeze his hand. I was right up against the barricade so I was very close. I was standing with a woman who brought her autistic toddler daughter. When Obama approached, she asked him of he supported autism research. He replied "I support that". She was in tears and I was damn close. I kept holding this woman's place against the barricade while she was tending her daughter who was having a difficult time. She was telling her little girl "This is the man who is going to help you". Man, that just hit home. So much is riding on his win.
Some random thoughts.
I arrived at around 10:30 (the time the gates were supposed to open), snagged a parking spot I paid 10 bucks for that was just about 2 blocks from the Ballpark. Cool. Until I walked up. The line snaked for at least a mile. So I walked to the end of the line. A hot, long walk that I thought would never end because you really couldn't see how far it went.
The line didn't start moving until around 11:30 for those of us a mile out. People were still coming looking for the end of the line. My guess is that the line was close to 2 miles long.
I finally walked into the ballpark grounds at 1:10 pm. There were several checkpoints where you had to ditch your bottled water, turn on your cell phones, electronics. The HUGE bottleneck was at security where you had to walk through the metal detectors and dump your pockets. I think there were only about 8 stations setup. Think airport, with thousands of people but you don't have to take your shoes off. At this point I was thinking WHO CARES, I'M HERE!!!!
I got in and went to the outfield and Txted Floja Roja and told her I was IN.
Obama came out around 1:45. I gotta' say those Secret Service guys that surround him are AWESOME. It's like they had eyes in the back of their head. Honestly, it makes me feel a bit better. These guys are GOOD.
The parts of Obama's speech that got the most attention and ovations were his health care stance and the fact that if you're a senior citizen and make less than 50K a year, you will pay NO taxes.
Overall, it was encouraging seeing parents bringing their kids to this event. Saw quite a few moms that brought their school-age children.
Saw one guy wearing tin-foil hat!
But the defining moment for me was the mom of an autistic little girl. And her tears. Of hope.