I apologize for the short diary, but I am leaving for the Obama Rally for Ohio Democratic candidatates at the Ohio State University Oval.
I will not be around to respond to comments, but any and all are invited.
If you are in the Columbus area, President Obama will begin speaking at the Main Oval, at 6:15 PM. I have included the specific directions from OFA in the body of the diary below. I look forward to seeing thousands of enthusastic Democrats who want to save America from the Republicans there. Mary Jo Kilroy is in another tough race against a well-funded banking lobbyist. The votes from Ohio State decided the race for her in 2008, and we need your help again. Please be there.
From DFA:
Thank you for RSVPing to join President Obama in Columbus, Ohio.
Here are the details:
What: Moving America Forward Rally with
President Barack Obama
First Lady Michelle Obama
Governor Ted Strickland
Lt. Governor Lee Fisher
Congresswoman Mary Jo Kilroy
Mayor Michael Coleman
Senator John Glenn
Yvette McGee Brown and
Musical guest John Legend
Where: The Ohio State University
Main Oval
Columbus, OH
When: Sunday, October 17th
Doors open: 5:00 p.m.
Program begins: 6:15 p.m.
The event is free and open to the public. Tickets are not required, but an RSVP is encouraged. Space is available on a first-come, first-served basis.
For security reasons, please avoid bringing bags to the rally if at all possible -- you should expect airport-like security. No signs, banners, or laptops are permitted.
Public Entrance: South side of William Oxley Thompson Library near Mirror Lake off of Neil Avenue
ADA Entrance: Intersection of Hagerty Drive and College Road
Recommended public parking:
Parking Lots adjacent to: Ohio Stadium, St John Arena, French Field House, and Jerome Schottenstein Center
Parking garages: Tuttle Parking Garage and Lane Avenue Parking Garage
ADA parking: Ohio Union North garage
You have 2-1/2 hours to get there! Let's go help defeat the corporatist agenda! Hope to see you there!
I will check comments after the event.
Even though the notice says space is limited, the Oval will hold 30 to 40,000 people.
Update: The security line went completely around the West side of Ohio Stadium, then wrapped completly around the East side of Ohio Stadium, this is over 1600 feet folks, then it went for three more blocks before the security stations, and it took about a half hour to maybe 45 minutes to clear security and gain entrance to the Oval. The line moved very fast, and the security operation was split into many lines, and was fast. When I got in at about 6:00 PM the Oval was about half full.
They started warm-up speakers at 6:30 started with a good speech by Columbus Mayor Mike Coleman. Other speakers were John Glenn, Mary Jo Kilroy, Yvette McGhee Brown (Lt. Gov candidate), Lee Fisher, Governor Ted Strickland and others. John Legend did a 3 song mini-concert, then Michell and Barack Obama were introduced. The crowd went wild, Michell did a very polished speech and had great delight in starting the OH- chant, with crowd responding IO. She did it again, and ad-libbed "I love this", then she did it again, very loudly on her O-H, and the crowd responded back very loudly I-O.
Barack took the lectern, and he did three rounds of OH- IO, and the crowd was rocking. Pretty much the same message of recent times, the Republicans drove the car in the ditch, we Dems got it out and the Repubs wanted the keys back and we of couse said hell no, you can't have the keys back.
Message from all speakers was that ordinary people can do extraordinary things when they pull together, and that we don't want to go back to the Republcian policies that drove the country into the ditch in the first place. Tomorrow I will put some pix I shot up on Photobucket, and put them in either comments or a new diary.
One thing on the Enthusiasm Gap. Shortly after Michelle and Barack were introduced, a group up front began streaming out of the Oval, each and every one with a grim expression on their faces. I was a bit puzzled why some folks would leave before seeing the main attraction, then I saw a young lady with a McCain/Palin T-Shirt, and I knew. These were a group of probably College Republicans who had been force fed by their superiors that the Democrats were demoralized and lacked enthusiasm, and it was fully debunked and trashed before their very eyes. They has to witness a scene where over half of the student body at OSU, and thousands from around the city and state had taken hours out of their day, to see all of their Democratic candidates, the president and FLOTUS, and see them all jacked up and ready to both vote and GOTV for the Democratic party. From the expressions on their faces, the enthusiasm gap is on their side. We have taken the enthusiasm gap back from the Republicans, if there ever was a gap. Let's press our attack on this meme.
Perhaps the best political line of the night came from President Obama when he pointed out that our journey started in 2008, but it is not done yet, and that we, like other generations of Americans who faced difficult times and decisions, did not turn back when the going was tough, but clearly in the right direction. They keep pushing on, and so will we.