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(All times local and approximate)
1:50 PM Find the end of the line outside the walls of the University of Mary Washington. After threatening clouds in the morning, the sun has become unseasonably hot. Just the sun, mind you: when the clouds roll in, it's perfectly pleasant, but the sun is bearing down something fierce. The entrepreneurial men selling "rally towels" are looking better and better.
2:45 PM: Obama/event volunteers start passing out the free "tickets" for admission. In a few minutes, they'll reveal that they're only valid if you fill out the request for information on them. Very, very smart on their part (even if I've given my email about 6 times by now). Volunteers are also going up and down the line registering voters--also very, very smart.
3:30 PM: The line starts its halting procession inside the gates, then through the UMW campus to the event site. Inexplicably, nobody is selling water until we get well inside the campus. Predictably, that person is making money hand over fist.
4:15 PM: Jill and I settle into our spots, to the right of the stage looking out on the crowd, about 150 feet away. We've got an hour until the program is scheduled to start, but the soundtrack is keeping us going: Natasha Beddingfield, Mary J. Blige, some Motown, and one country song (hey, this is Virginia, after all).
5:15 PM: I kid you not, as soon as the "scheduled program" is supposed to start, the skies open up. Despite the deluge that we're stuck in (and, naturally, I left my rain jacket in the car...), nobody is leaving. Literally nobody. We wouldn't mind someone coming over the loudspeaker to let us know what's going on, but mostly I'm too busy wringing out my shirt.
6:15 PM: Right when we're getting antsy, 4 people walk on stage. No, not the Obamas and the Bidens (sadly). A preacher led us in a spirited prayer that included a call for the rain to stop, then a local state senator led us in the Pledge. Somehow, the rain let up, leading us to wonder what took the preacher so long to show up.
6:30 PM: An Obama staffer continued the full-court press on snagging information, having the crowd text 22262 (OBAMA) to sign up to volunteer. Incredibly savvy move--most people will never give up their cell phone # if they don't have to, but between this move at 10,000+ rallies across the country and the VP announcement ramp-up, they've managed to get a direct line to God knows how many potential volunteers.
7:05 PM: The soundtrack's been looping for a while... crowd is getting antsy again... clouds are gathering again... when a voice comes over the speakers: "LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, THE NEXT PRESIDENT AND VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, BARACK OBAMA AND JOE BIDEN!"
After coming on to the stage to Bruce Springsteen, Joe Biden led off, with Barack on a stool next to him. We were talking on Friday (I think) about how Joe Biden would be, in any other context, almost too phony to take--from the blazers to the tall tales to the slicked-backed hair, he looks, and sounds, like some sort of politician from Central Casting. But somehow, it works. It's authentic, too, somehow. And it works even better because, somehow, he has the endorsement and backing of the man that he called "clean" and "articulate," so he must be okay, right?
So when he's saying "ladies and gentlemen" for the 10th time in 5 minutes or "literally" for the 4th time in 2 paragraphs or when he's fumbling a line, it's endearing, not annoying. It's especially endearing in person, because, at this point, he's realized that he's made it, and he couldn't be happier. He thrives on the crowd, and the crowd looks past his support of the bankruptcy bill and his pandering and his vote on the Iraq war and cheers him on.
7:30 PM: Barack Obama did too, when he got up to the podium, but not before the crowd goes absolutely crazy for him. I mean nuts. Joe Biden cut oddly from a line on the middle class to introducing Obama, and while I can't imagine it was planned that way, it jolted the crowd into wild cheers.
Anyway, back to the Obama/Biden interplay. After thanking the crowd and the introductory speakers, he thanked Joe Biden, and people started cheering. Barack then joined in, mic'ed up, with a "Joe, Joe, Joe," chant and fist pump. It's almost as if Obama were enjoying the Biden effect in spite of himself, too. And that was only the first time--but the second one would come after the rain.
Here's the video from the Fredericksburg event on 9/27/08. About 10 minutes into Barack's speech, it started to come down, and a murmur rose up. Not again, we thought! Barack made a bit of a joke about it, saying it was just "trickling down" (zing), but in a few minutes, the heavens were opening a bit more solidly. Watch the video to see how he handles it--he managed to hold a crowd, already once-soaked, in an open field, and bring them through a gripping stump speech.
Humor helped. He took off his jacket and rolled up his sleeves, and Biden (now on the stool) offered him a hat. "I don't need a hat," he said, continuing on, but--and with great timing-- he goes "but you've got a great head of hair, Joe, you might want it." Biden, the consummate ham, puts on the hat, and Obama just sort of chuckles, "Somebody gave Joe Biden a hat." What with the rain, the huge crowd, and the lighting, the event was already surreal, but that understatement, plus Biden putting one foot on the stool, looking like some sort of sailboat captain, added a level of absurdity.
Again, watch the video to get a sense of the rally. I have obviously read his speeches before, but to be there was something else. I kept thinking of The West Wing, when Leo tells Bartlet, "You're going to open your mouth and lift houses off the ground. Whole houses, right off the game." Well, that's what Obama did on Saturday.
8:00 PM Winding our way through the UMW campus, we make it up near the road across from the parking lot where the car is, when we hear the sirens of the motorcade. We sprint up to the sidewalk and see the motorcycles, Suburbans, and press buses. Just when we think that all of the windows are going to be too tinted to see anyone, along comes one window rolled down... and it's Joe Biden, with the hat still on! Joe Biden waved at us!
Needless to say, I'll be cheering on Joe Biden extra loudly on Thursday. Then again, he might not need to say anything to win, but either way, the ol' back-slapper just won over two voters. Not that the ticket needed to swing us.
9 PM Finally out of the crawl to get out of Fredericksburg--26,000 people trying to leave a town of roughly 20,000. Quite a 24 hour period.
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