I arrived shortly after 11:00 and saw a line about three blocks away from the Key Center -- with people all facing the wrong direction. I asked someone at the end of the line what line it was for and she said "Obama," but I saw people headed in the direction of the arena so I just followed them in. When I got in, the place was already packed. I ended up sitting in an aisle. Mayor Nickels said the capacity was 18,000 and that they were at capacity, but they were WAY OVER capacity. He also said 3000 people were turned away.
It was a LONG wait (I'm always amazed at the disorganization at these types of events), but once Nickels took the stage (to a few mingled boos, I thought), things moved fairly quickly. Adam Smith (Rep) was introduced and then he introduced Gregoire who made her endorsement official to wild applause.
Once Barack took the stage, the crowd went wild. After thanking everybody, he said this was the largest crowd he'd ever had at an event, but that might have been local flattery.
The speech was the usual, but seeing is believing. THIS IS THE MAN WHO CAN CHANGE THIS COUNTRY. I left early and there were at least 1000 people outside listening to the speech.
Caucuses tomorrow. Join us as we change the world. YES WE CAN!!!