After a couple of hours of standing in line and another hour and a half waiting in the gym, I finally got to see and hear our Dem candidate for President of the United States...wow...just wow. He was absolutely amazing.
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My daughter and I stood in line in temps in the neighborhood of 85 degrees...it was hot! But the day was beautiful and not a cloud in the sky. The campaign volunteers came around every so often and offered everyone water...even filling the cups and handing them out in the lines. The rally ran like a well oiled machine from the water to getting everyone seated in an orderly fashion. The campaign just has it together...it's evident.
First of all while standing in line I struck up a conversation with an elderly couple behind me that had originally been Clinton supporter but were now firmly behind Obama. The older man was a darling. While we were talking he made a comment about me being born in the 70s and I probably wouldn't remember much about something...can't remember now what he was talking about but I was so flattered he thought I was in my 30s and I told how nice that was to compliment me that way since I'm 50 years old. He said well to be honest, I have macular degeneration and you just look fuzzy to me. So much for that compliment. :D
The crowd was so energized once we were all inside and seated. We did several cheers and chants. There was a big union there...not sure which one I couldn't read their shirts from where I was sitting but there were fired up and led us in several little cheers.
Congressman Rick Boucher and former Gov. Mark Warner come out to introduce Obama. The crowd loved them both and cheered loudly. The Obama takes the stage and the crowd goes wild.
Obama gives his stump and talks about kicking the lobbyist to the curb in the DNC and the crowd loved that! He went over all the issues he normally does and many times bringing the crowd to their feet.
Two things happened today that were just special. One was an older black gentleman that was 95 years old was able to see a dream come true. During the question and answer session, the gentleman's daughter was called on and she said her father had waited 60 years to see this happen...a black man having a real chance to become president and he had a gift for Obama. A maple wood walking stick. Obama was thrilled with it and the old gentlemen you could just tell it made his day. He got a standing O. Another thing was this little kid asked Obama what he was intending to do about these high gas prices and Obama told him the truth...that there was only so much our government could do but then he explained about moving away from our oil dependence. The crowd loved the little kid and Obama treated him very nice...not faky nice but really nice.
Here is a pic of the walking stick the old gentleman made for BO. I am just going to link to photobucket...for some reason I am having trouble posting the pics.
http://s166.photobucket.com/...
Anyway it was a good day. A very good day to be be a Democrat. I was surrounded by wonderful people with a common goal.