A few weeks later, Senator Clinton made her way to Eugene to speak to Oregonians in a high school gymnasium. I wrote another diary about my experience at the event, including my response to Hillary's answer to my question at the event. The whole ordeal was caught on tape, and now lives on in YouTube infamy.
A few weeks after that, President Clinton made his sweep through rural Oregon, stopping just ten miles outside of Oregon. I made the way out there to watch his rally, but didn't write a report because, well, frankly, it bored me.
And as I'm writing this diary, I'm watching students line up in Erb Memorial Union on the U of O campus, waiting to see President Clinton's return to Oregon in a "Bring Your Ballot Event". I'll be hopping over there in a little bit to watch the event, camera in hand, question in mind (no, not to mess with him, I really do want to hear his thoughts on something), DailyKos diary percolating all the while.
But this diary isn't about any of those events. This photo-filled diary is about Senator Obama's return to the U of O campus, where he spoke to 8000 people packed on the lawn of Memorial Quad and thousands more on historic Hayward Field. He brought with him a message: The Democrats will be united, and we will be victorious.
First of all, I have good news for everyone who read my last photoblog of the Obama rally: My good friend Suzi came with me to the Obama rally and let me use her LEGIT digital camera. So instead of color-bleached pictures of Oregon in the winter:
You get 5-megapixel, full-color springtime Oregon bliss:
As such, all tips for this blog will be donated to Suzi, who doesn't spend much time on dKos, but is well aware of what tips are because of how much time I spend on dKos. She'll be thrilled, I'm sure.
(Ooof. After previewing this diary, it looks like those 5-megapixel pictures are taking up a bit of room. Hopefully they'll be re-sized in publication...if not, I apologize advertisers and those who hate when things that bleed over margins as much as I do.)
As you can see, last Friday was a beautiful springtime day in Oregon. It was also one of the busiest days in memory for the University of Oregon. When I logged on to the main U of O site, I was greeted with a warning about an "Unusually Busy Weekend". In addition to having a Presidential candidate speaking on the Quad, there was also a Twilight track meet at Hayward Field (hallowed ground for track and field enthusiasts, home track of Steve Prefontaine), a Native-American powwow in Mac Court (which is why Obama's campaign went outside), a softball game, a street fair down the main drag of campus...and, oh yeah, midterms. Senator Obama would have some competition if he wanted to attract a crowd.
The smaller audience for the speech was evident from the very beginning. At his first Eugene rally, 2000-3000 people were turned away from the 10,000-seat venue and had to listen to the Senator speak on the soccer fields (which he made a point to personally visit before entering Mac Court). People had waited for hours in line, only to be turned away. At this rally, however, the gates were open at 5:45pm, and Suzi and I showed up at 5:55pm - and we got in easily.
The walk toward the gates of the rally was filled with the kind of fun political activism that you get to see at a big rally in Oregon. The people behind us in line had decorated their dog:
Supporters of Steve Novick, the Obama-like Senate candidate, came out with a big sign that resembled an American flag (which, I noted, looked enough like a real American flag to probably offend some people that walked by - a questionable choice of canvas, at least):
The Hillary supporters...well, supporter, was asking people to sign her petition calling for two debates in Oregon (to be coordinated in less than two weeks, apparently). My finger even made an appearance in this one, as you can see:
Some college kids were sporting their Obama regalia:
And behind them, some Obama supporters were rolling in style:
Even local campus celebrity "Jesus Guy" made an appearance (as he did at Hillary's rally:
And Suzi and I "mean-mugged" all the while. Compliments to Mustache May for my very Adam Morrison-esque look in this picture. And don't worry if you can't see anything on my upper lip - three blonde hairs are hard to pick up, even in five megapixels:
In about fifteen minutes, we reached Memorial Quad, right out in front of Lillis Hall:
The Secret Service had set up a line of tents with metal detectors beneath, which had the added effect of looking pretty cool:
Once inside, we saw that there were only a few thousand people packed into the area, with two hours until the speech began:
The stage was slightly off-center in the quad, which I speculated was probably to keep his speaking area out of any clear sight lines available from outside of the event. There are lots of buildings surrounding that area, so it wouldn't surprise me if the Secret Service planned this as an added security measure:
The quad was flanked on the left by the Art Museum, where Obama would emerge (shown in the first photo of this blog) and on the right by Prince Lucien Campbell Hall, otherwise known as PLC
As you can see, some people had used PLC (which houses a lot of offices for the faculty) for a political statement. That's about all they used it for, though - no one was seen at any of the windows, but you can see the head of one of the two snipers/sentries that was stationed on top of the building for the entirety of the rally. I heard that professors were told to be out 45 minutes before the rally, or expect a very stern meeting from some very stern men from the very stern Secret Service telling them to stay away from the windows:
The first challenge of the rally was finding a good vantage point. In Mac Court, that meant finding a good seat. On the quad, that meant some pushing and shoving:
There was also a big tree smack dab in the middle of the quad, which at least three people (including us) tried to climb in a throwback to Eugene's 1970's hippie roots. The Secret Service wasn't thrilled about the idea, though, so it was back to terra firma. There was, as you can see, however, a small hill next to the art museum that people used to get a slightly elevated view. That's where Suzi and I headed.
And waited.
And waited.
We took some more pictures of the crowd, which was still filling in:
And of ourselves:
And of others:
Then came the typical round of boredom-busting activities. Someone tossed out some beach balls:
People talked and joked. The guy in front of me dared me to yell out "THERE HE IS!" at the top of my lungs, and I did - he acted as an accomplice, pointing toward the door where Obama would come out. Cameras popped out from everywhere, the crowd murmured a little bit and most people had a good laugh (others gave me glances that indicated their lack of amusement).
A female volunteer from the U of O's Students for Barack Obama chapter came out and talked to everyone about what the SFBO had been up to around campus. She was clearly nervous, and had a voice that wasn't very conducive to wide amplification, but she was excited and most people were at least happy for that.
Waiting. Waiting. Another 30 minutes or so passed by. The visibility bleachers filled up with union members and other activists that had been given tickets to sit there (apparently there is some selection involved in this process, which is different from the last time he visited, and likely a result of the infamous speech where four Abercrombie-wearing college kids were distractingly found right behind Obama's head).
We really started getting excited when we heard that Obama was nearby, and that he had made a pit stop at Hayward Field to interact with the crowd. Apparently he took the time to toss out some t-shirts to the audience, and even hopped a hurdle at some point (though "hopped" turned into "walked and then stepped over" in the official version). Cell phones started getting messages from people at the meet, passing along pictures. The lady in front of me happened to get one. The brown blob was apparently the Senator - we were amped:
I went to go see if I could find some tissues for my allergies in a bathroom in Lillis, but was surprised to find out that the doors were locked, and that people were standing guard on the fourth floor. In fact, the Secret Service had shut down the entire business complex, and every one of the four buildings around the Quad, including the library, except PLC. These guys take NO risks, and it made me realize just how professional the Secret Service is. My fear and the fear of many others is of another JFK incident - these guys make every effort to make sure that doesn't happen.
At one point, they started handing out blue "Change We Can Believe In" signs in the audience. I fought for two of them, then handed one to Suzi. An older woman in front of me asked if she could have one, and since I had gotten a sign at the first Obama rally, I told her she could. I turned to Suzi, who, for some reason, was now without sign.
"Where'd your sign go?"
"That lady behind me took it from me".
Apparently the lady had thought she was still passing the sign back, so she had taken it out of Suzi's hand. I got her back the one from the older lady, since she was nice enough to offer it back to me.
"If anyone steals that one, let me know and we'll rumble", I joked with her:
After that, Ernie Kent, coach of the Oregon Ducks basketball team, came out and talked a bit about Obama. He said that he thought about challenging the Senator to a one-on-one basketball game, but had studied his film and saw that he had a very quick "change-of-pace", which he said was indicative of his style in more ways than one. He introduced Congressmen Wu and DeFazio (an announced super as of last week, and my representative), who came out and gave very passionate speeches in praise of Senator Obama. Both talked about the importance of this election and the notion that the Democratic Party WILL be unified in November, which got the crowd fired up.
(I don't have pictures of any of this because a digital camera with 3X optical zoom isn't great for shots 50 feet away)
Finally, Rep. Defazio said the magic words "Next President of the United States" and the doors opened and the crowd went wild. I have video of this, but it's 59 MB's, so if anyone would like to take it, snip it a little bit and put it on YouTube, I'd be happy to pass along the video and embed the link. For now, just imagine 8000 screaming, happy people (the crowd filled up quite a bit in the time we waited) and one very fired up Senator from Illinois jogging out to meet them. He shook a few hands (not mine, not this time, unfortunately) and took the stage in the twilight of a beautiful night of Oregon:
As per last time, here are my thoughts of the speech itself:
- There was a palpable difference in the crowd's mood at this event. There wasn't nearly as much hype surrounding Obama's appearance on campus, owing largely to the fact that he had been here before. I remember thinking when we were walking in how quickly Oregon had progressed from feeling like a perennial nobody to being unphased by the appearance of a figure who stands to be such a powerful force in American politics for years to come, win or lose. It was a little less exciting to be there than last time, but it also didn't escape me that that newfound feeling of inclusion and importance in the political process is what's going to continue to energize the Democratic base around the country for years to come, and what will propel Oregon into safe Obama territory come November.
If you need any more proof of that, McCain is making his only visit to the state thus far tonight. He'll be hosting a private, closed-door fundraiser in Portland, then flying out. Price of attendance with a picture of John McCain: $33,000. The value of the message it's sending to Oregon voters as the Democratic candidates work their asses off to appeal to the masses: Priceless.
- I was surprised to find that Obama gave essentially the same stump speech as he did before, since it had only been two months since he was on the same campus in front of a similar sized audience. It made me wonder if Hillary gave the same speech at every venue, even in Oregon, but I don't actually know. I imagine she does something similar to what he does - the same basic speech, with some tweaks thrown in for good measure.
The tweaks to Obama's speech were that he no longer mentioned Senator Clinton in the context of an opponent, and instead focused on John McCain. That omission said volumes - Obama is no longer running a primary, he's our candidate. The superdelegate endorsements seem to be backing that up.
He also mentioned the gas tax holiday, which EVERYONE in the audience connected to and appreciated. It's such a winning issue for him - he gets to do straight talk, paint his opponents as out of touch, show his mastery of an issue, and connect with EVERY SINGLE MIDDLE CLASS VOTER that feels the pinch at the pump and wants REAL relief instead of bumper sticker relief. This was definitely a highlight of the speech.
Finally, he finished the speech by saying he wanted to introduce HIMSELF to us, instead of the Obama we might have seen on the news, not wearing a flag pin or with a controversial pastor. He told us about growing up with a white mother after his father left him at the age of two, and how he grew up to go to the best colleges. He emphasized that anyone that says he doesn't love this country is wrong - the story of America, the "American Dream", is HIS story, and it's unbelievable that anybody would paint it otherwise.
- I was underwhelmed by Obama's speech in Eugene last time (which you can read at the link at the top of this page, but I came away feeling very good about it this time. I would still LOVE for him to come talk shop with Oregonians at a town hall in Eugene so people can see his mastery of the issues (he gave an interview with the local newspaper after the speech that showed an astounding amount of understanding about issues particular to Oregon), but this was enough. He came across as strong, energized, and poised as always. He'll be coming back this weekend, and I'll be sure to be there.
I fought my way to the front of the gates to try to get some more pictures of Obama, and came away with a few bruises from elbows and a couple of mediocre pictures:
There were no handshakes or newsworthy questions to report this time, but two Obama supporters did leave the event happy campers:
If you liked this blog, hopefully you'll take the chance to go donate $5 to the Obama campaign as a sign of appreciation :-)
EDIT: PICTURES RESIZED! Thanks, Trix!
