As I approached the gate for the rally entrance, I realized there was a line stretching several blocks. So I walked...and I walked...and I walked. I walked about 8 blocks before someone told me the line stretched 4 more blocks before making a right hand turn and heading down the next street over. So I cut over a block and walked back. Finally, I found the end of the line. The whole line stretched about 20 blocks. The line moved pretty quickly and I was surrounded by a nice diverse group of people. I enjoyed talking politics with them and hearing the perspectives of people of all ages, races and across the state of NC. Besides the common thread of loving Obama, we quickly realized that Sarah Palin was probably the most unpopular person among the group. I don't know what it is about her, but she really gets under the skin of liberal women.
At about 1:30 pm we got news that Obama had started speaking and we were still 4 or 5 blocks from the entrance. I continued on, hoping I would be able to catch the last few minutes. As I arrived at the entrance gate around 2:00 pm, the campaign music started playing. He was done and I had missed it. I was disappointed, but excited that so many people had turned out. The local newspaper reports an estimated 20,000 got in the gates and another 10,000 were still in line when he finished speaking. That's pretty impressive for a conservative city like Charlotte! I hope this is a good sign for November as the Republican rallies don't get turn out like that.
I had wanted to take Joseph but he didn't sleep well last night or nap well in the morning and I knew he would just be fussy in a stroller for that long and with that many people around...so he stayed home with Grandma, aka Silla (who better not have filled his head with conservative propaganda while I was gone - haha). But before I left, Joseph sent me with a message. I took the following picture below as he was giving me these instructions for the rally.
1 comment:
sad you didn't get to see him!
you'll have to persuade me to vote for obama. i had been planning on it, liked his book (though i only read "dreams from my father," haven't gotten around to "audacity of hope"), but i have been having second thoughts lately and might vote for mccain (though that vote should NOT be construed as an endorsement of palin!!! i am just counting on mccain's health.) so, you should post for your fence-sitters about why we should vote for obama! although during the primaries i was all about obama and not into clinton, i think now if she had gotten the nomination i'd have been more likely to vote democrat than i am right now.
Post a Comment