Joe Biden rallied an estimated 3,500 supporters from Ocala and surrounding communities on Tuesday.
My brother and I attended the rally, and had a great time.
Follow me below the fold for the whole story and pictures!
My brother and I left our house in Ocala just after 8 a.m. Tuesday bound for Dancing Horses Farm out on State Road 40 west of Ocala, where Joe Biden was scheduled to speak at 11.
We arrived at the farm about 8:30 and were directed to our parking space. From there, we were coralled into a narrow area between two fence lines, where we filled out our names, addresses, phone numbers and e-mail addresses on green ticket slips. We were then given our ticket stubs and allowed to proceed toward the gate.
The gates weren't opened until 9, and there were about 50 people in line ahead of us. Everyone was in a great mood despite the chilly weather(the temperature at that time was in the mid-40s, which is freakin' cold for Central Florida this time of year).
Finally, just before 9, the gates were opened and we were directed through the security scanners. Once inside, we headed for the "standing room only" section, and wound up four rows back from the podium where Biden was to speak, almost directly in front of it. Now came the wait.
As we waited, a young lady with the campaign came through the crowd, selecting people to sit in the bleachers behind Biden. We weren't picked for that group. However, a few minutes later, we were told that bleacher seats to the right of the stage were available on a first-come, first-served basis. Our feet were already getting numb from standing in one spot for nearly an hour, and there was more than another hour to go before the speech. We decided to give up our pretty good spot for a place to sit.
While the bleachers didn't offer quite as good a view of the podium as our earlier spot had - and being in the shade made it a colder place to be - we had a better view of the entire scene, and we could sit or stand as we chose, making the wait much more comfortable.
About 15 minutes before Biden was set to speak, the head of the local Democratic Party, Rev. Bruce Seaman, took to the stage to offer the invocation. Bruce is a Presbyterian minister here in Ocala (so much for the idea that Democrats are all "Godless commies").
Seaman was followed by Sen. Bill Nelson, who kicked things off by pointing out this was the largest political rally he'd ever seen in Marion County. Sen. Nelson talked about his friendship with Joe Biden, stressing Biden's ability to work across the aisle. He related how, when the Democrats were the minority party in the Senate, he worked with Sen. Jesse Helms to get things done on the Foreign Relations Committee. Then, when Jim Jeffords switched parties and the Democrats became the majority party in the Senate, Biden continued to reach out to Helms to continue making progress on important policy issues.
Sen. Nelson's wife, Grace, also spoke briefly, exhorting us all to vote. Then the music came back up while we waited for Joe Biden's motorcade to arrive.
During the lull, Grace Nelson came over to our bleachers, telling us we looked kind of lonely where we were. She stayed for about 10 minutes ... a very classy lady.
Finally, at about 10 minutes after 11, Joe arrived and took to the stage to huge cheers from the enthusiastic crowd.
Biden started off his speech by stressing the importance of early voting:
Folks... don't wait... do not wait. In this state, you don't need to be told that every single, solitary vote counts. So... if you've got the time to listen to me, you've got the time to go vote early.
Next, he got to the bottom line question about this campaign:
The question of this election is not 'are you better off than you were four years ago?' because everyone knows, all kidding aside... Republicans, Democrats, everybody knows... the answer to that question. The real question is, and I mean this sincerely... 'who will make us better off four years from now?' That's what we should focus on.
The answer, as we all of course know: Barack Obama!
Next he talked about why John McCain really is just like George W. Bush:
You may have seen that in the last debate, John McCain felt obliged to tell you all he was not George Bush. And just recently, John McCain actually went so far as to compare Barack Obama to George Bush. And the end of last week, John McCain started attacking George Bush's budget and fiscal policies. Now look folks - I know Halloween is coming. But John McCain dressed up as an agent of change - that costume just doesn't fit!... Now on Sunday morning, this past Sunday, John appeared on 'Meet the Press.' And when pressed, John said that he and President Bush, quote, 'share a common philosophy.' As my 10-year-old granddaughter Finnegan Biden would say, 'Whoa! You're kidding! John, you didn't have to tell us, we know that!' Look folks, I know we're not running against George W. Bush. But we are, in fact, running against the very Bush economic policies that John McCain wants to continue, and is promising to continue.
He then contrasted that with Barack Obama's policies:
If you give Barack Obama and me the honor of serving as your next president and vice president, here's what we're gonna do. It's straightforward and simple. We're gonna devote every waking hour, day and night, to two objectives. One, first, restore the middle class - give 'em a fighting chance! And two and equally important, reclaim America's respect in the world so we can lead the world again! And ladies and gentleman that first step in reclaiming America's respect is to end this war in Iraq!
Biden then touched on the real meaning of "spreading the wealth":
When it comes to restoring the middle class, Barack Obama and I recognize that when the American middle class does well, the rich do just fine, and the poor do better. Everyone is better off! So we want to rebuild the middle class!
The most touching moment of the speech came when he talked about families undergoing today's hardships - losing jobs and facing foreclosure on their homes.
In a sense, it's even more than jobs. It's about dignity. It's about respect. It's about understanding what our fellow Americans are going through. You know when a job is lost, or a house is foreclosed upon, it's more than an economic occurence. It's emotionally devastating. You know it's about having to make that longest walk of all up that short flight of stairs to your daughter or son's bedroom to say 'honey I'm sorry... I'm really sorry... but you can't go back to the school next week or next month, we're gonna have to move. I'm sorry... I'm sorry honey, but I lost my job. We're not gonna be able to live in this house anymore. Ladies and gentlemen. That conversation is taking place... that walk is taking place... in 400,000 Floridian homes so far this year.
At that point, someone in the audience yelled, "It happened to me." That gave us all pause, a moment to think about what's at stake in this election, and a new sense of purpose in seeing this through.
Biden wrapped up his speech by calling for national unity in the face of the other side's appeal to the divisiveness which has marked this and other recent campaigns:
At the end of the day, if we want to strengthen the middle class, if we want to regain our position in the world, we have to do one more thing, and I mean this sincerely. We have to unite this country. We cannot... we cannot remain red and blue. Ladies and gentlemen, this notion of reaching out to the very people who are attacking us now is important for you to understand. Barack and I, God willing if we win, we're gonna reach out to everyone, even those who have been strongly opposed to us. We've got to reconcile the differences in this country if we're going to make any progress. You know, new leaders and new ideas are often met with new attacks, negative attacks built on lies - lies that are the last resort of those who have nothing new to offer. Those tactics are now being used against Barack Obama, right now... Well ladies and gentlemen, I know Barack Obama. He has steel in his spine... He can take one more week of these personal attacks. But our country cannot take four more years of these politics and policies... Folks, our problems are too big, and our politics have been too small for too long... Barack Obama will appeal to the better angels of America to unite this nation. Ladies and gentlemen... we've got to remind everybody, Democrats as well as Republicans and Independents - we are one nation - under God - indivisible.
He closed with his father's exhortations to he and his siblings when they were children to "just get up" when knocked down:
I've never seen a time in my career when so many Americans have been knocked down with so little help to get up. It's time to get up! Together to get up! To bring the change we need to a country we love... This is our time. It's America's time. So let's get up!
After the speech, I and others moved down to the fence in front of the bleachers. On the other side of the fence was a narrow corridor, and on the other side of that was the standing room only area. Joe Biden was making his way through that narrow corridor, with the Secret Service keeping a watchful eye on the crowd pressing to get to see him.
I decided to let others up to the fence to try to "press the flesh" with the candidate... I just had something I wanted him to hear, so I stayed behind the first row of folks against the fence.
When Biden got close, I shouted, "We're going to turn Marion County blue, Joe!" He smiled, reached over the first row of people, and shook my hand. Needless to say, I was happy to get the handshake, even happier that he heard my promise, and determined to "get 'er done."
I'll be working the phones again this weekend at Obama HQ in Ocala, and will be driving people to the polls all day on election day (I voted last Friday, and my mom and my brother voted today).
Can we turn Marion County blue? Yes we can!
Here are a few of our pictures from the Ocala event:
Grace Nelson, wife of Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla) greets supporters in the bleachers at the Biden rally in Ocala.
Supporters selected to be in the bleachers behind Joe Biden boogie to the "Celebrate" while waiting for the event to begin.
Joe Biden addresses a crowd estimated at 3,500 near Ocala, Fla. on Tuesday