Obama Rally
These are photos from an Obama rally on October 9, 2008. There were lots of people there. The program started with the mayor making a short speech, and then introducing a variety of people running for office. An invocation was given, and the person giving it was very careful to include Christians, Muslims, Jews, Confuciounists, Buddhists, and any god anyone personally believed in. It was an excellent invocation.
There was a break of about a half hour, and then Obama arrived and gave one of his excellent speeches.
Did I mention there was a heck of a lot of people there? It was quite an experience!
Before the Speech
A long line of people arriving for the rally. I walked to the park and as soon as I got near to it I ran into a long line of people. We were given tickets to get in, and told to keep our electronic equipment on, and to take any buttons off until we had gone through security. There were police on horseback, police on foot, and lots and lots of Obama helpers passing out tickets, pens, etc.
There was also a big group of people hawking T-shirts, hats and buttons.
This is one of the buttons that I got. I absolutely love the design since it is really old-fashioned.
People having just gotten through security. We had to take things out of our pocket, and we were gone over with a metal detector. It was done in a very efficient manner, and it took only moments.
People also had different tickets. Regular public got white tickets, and people who had been working for the campaign as volunteers got different tickets, went through a different line, and got closer to the candidate.
People walking around on the lawn in the park. I saw Whites, Blacks and Orientals; old people clear on down to babies and lots of people with cameras.
A large Ohio for Obama sign. A bunch of people watched the speech from up where the sign was. There was a bleachers section for some people to sit down. Unfortunately, the day was hot, and there was very, very little shade anywhere for anyone. They also had a rather small number of port-a-lets (considering the size of the crowd), and only two vendors selling food and drinks. One of the vendors, at least, totally ran out of drinks even before the speech began.
Two views of the crowd on the lawn, taken from behind the Ohio for Obama sign. The one on the left was taken a little before the one on the right.
The Speech
Obama then came on to give his speech, talking about a wide arrange of topics, especially the economy, health care, education, and Iraq (tying it into the economy.) The people were very receptive to his message, and there was a lot of cheering, applauding and yelling.
As for the pictures I got of Obama, they're not the greatest, as I was not very close. There were also a number of spotlights set up, and one of them was to his left and made it hard to get photos, along with the number of people between Obama and me who were also taking photos.
Obama's podium was basically perpendicular to where I was standing. Directly across from him was a bleachers with the press and camera people. To his left and slightly behind him were bleachers with, I assume, some of the volunteers. There were also two tents, and I'm not sure who was in those, but probably more volunteer workers.
So, again, sorry for the photos not being that great.
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