Day 38 of 365 Obama!

I went to Buchanan Park in Lancaster today to hear Barack Obama speak. Here's a repost of my synopsis from the Two Peas in a Bucket message board:

First of all, did you see me on CNN? I was the one right up front wearing the Obama t-shirt...

I got there at about 10:45 and was one of the first 20 or so in line. All I can say is it was HOT today. Drank lots of water and got sunburned.

We were let into the park at 3pm, and I was able to get right up to the fence. There was a roped off area inside the fence, in front of the podium. Later they brought the volunteers and some others into that area.

People inside that enclosure were able to (had to, actually) sit down and relax, while those of us on the other side were pretty much standing room only. It was so incredibly hot with all those bodies mashed together! The people on the inside kept trying to get cheers going, and at first we all did it but then all we could say was, "We're too tired! We're hot!" lol Volunteers were continuously passing water to as many people as they could.

Once Obama got there, EVERYONE was energized-- cheering, clapping, waving and so on. Bob Casey spoke first, and used the line about McCain being a sidekick, which got tons of laughs. Then Chris Wright, a lifelong Republican who's voting Democratic this time around introduced Obama.

He talked mainly about the economy, about personal responsibility and of course, John McCain. As usual, he complimented Sen. McCain respectfully before outlining where he thinks McCain has it wrong.

He did touch on last night's speeches, saying, "Some reporter asked me what do you think about being attacked so savagely?" he said. "And I said, 'Well, what else do you expect them to do? This is what they do every four years. And anyway, I've been called worse on the basketball court. It's not something I spend a lot of time worrying about."

Lots of cheers.

He did mention the mocking, but only mentioned Palin once and in passing, but he did zing Guiliani, saying, "Maybe that's not interesting work for Rudy Guiliani, but for the people on the ground, seeing the difference it makes, that's important stuff." More cheers.

Now, I didn't remember that verbatim or write it down or anything. I remembered the gist, but got the quotes here.

Now for the pictures! Bob Casey:

The crowd: It was so incredibly hot and I think you can see that in people's faces!

More Obama:
Finally, he didn't come around to where we were to shake hands, just around the enclosure. We were chanting, "Barack over here! Barack over here!" but to no avail. Maybe next time!

According to the Lancaster paper there were 15,000 people there today. The amazing thing about that is not just that he drew such a large crowd in a very conservative area, but that he got those numbers when this stop wasn't officially announced until this morning.

Back to the blog post: This was a great experience and I would do it again in a heartbeat.

I was exhausted when I got home, so I only went around the block. Now I'm going to bed and will probably sleep better than I have in weeks!

Miles today: less than 1 Total miles: 188