More Obama than you know what to do with.
Yeah, we got good seats :D
(videos & huge pictures linked for easier loading)
I woke up at 4:46am today, which sucks as much as it sounds like it would, especially considering I got to bed around 1am only to remember 15 minutes later that I had to feed the cats.
Mike & I drove over to the Memorial Coliseum last night to try and figure out if we'd be better off driving there in the morning or taking the light rail in - our goal was to get there by 6:30am, as the doors opened at 7:30 with the program starting at 9:30. We decided that even though the train trip was longer, it'd be worth it to not have to mess around in traffic trying to leave the rally.
Unfortunately this meant getting on a train at 5:30am this morning. We got to the platform & I wanted to get a picture of the clock (partly because the station we went to has a really pretty clock and partly for the "omg it's 5:21am, wtf am I doing awake?" factor), but we saw a train about a half mile down the track so we bolted for the ticket machine... which was out of order, of course (if you're a Portlander, you're well aware of how spectacularly bad the ticket machines are), so we ran down to the one at the far end of the station & got two tickets in time to get us on the very back of the train.
This ended up working out in our favor, because when we got to the Rose Quarter stop near the coliseum, the back of the train was closest to the coliseum so we were ahead of a train full of people getting there.
This is what the line looked like a little after we got there (I stepped back a bit to take a photo but we were actually right next to that pillar that looks like it's coming out of that guy's head on the left)
Sign on the pillar, which was also on our tickets & on the Barack Obama campaign website.
Assorted dumbasses who somehow thought they were above the "no bags" rule.
So we stood out there for over an hour (38 F! And windy!) before v-e-r-y slowly making it inside. Now the advantage of getting there so early became apparent - they sent us around to the far side of the arena, & asked if we preferred to have seats or stand on the floor. We weren't at the very front of the line so I guessed that a lot of people already had grabbed the closest floor spots, and since I'm 5'2 I was worried I wouldn't be able to see. So we opted for seats.
I have to say that the volunteer organization was really poor - we walk in for seats and get directed to the upper tier by one volunteer. We took two seats and another volunteer came over and said "You guys are fine where you are but please make sure no one takes the two seats in front of you - we need to reserve those for volunteer seating." Okay, no problem. Not 30 seconds later, *another* volunteer comes up and informs us that we absolutely cannot sit in that tier at all, so get out. So we shuffle down to the lower tier, which was rapidly filling as volunteers yelled "FILL EVERY SEAT. DO NOT SAVE ANY SEATS." Of course, people suck, as every time we saw empty seats to take, people near them were like "Oh I have friends coming later & I'm not going to let you sit here," acknowledging that sure, the volunteers said that saving seats wasn't allowed, but that rule didn't apply to them. They must've been related to the bag carriers outside...
So we keep making our way further down until one woman said she was saving seats but there would be 2 extras, so we sat down, with me in the aisle seat. Her friends show up a little later whining that *they* wanted the aisle, but too bad - if they wanted to get their choice of seats, they could've shown up at 6:10am too *snarl*
Anyway, our view was pretty great.
Behind us - they had said no signs, but someone brought in a banner anyway.
After about an hour and a half of Obama's party mix playing over the loudspeakers, we got the introductory remarks - from the man heading Obama's campaign in Portland, from the woman heading his campaign at Portland State, and from Representative Earl Blumenauer, who I've never heard speak before but he was really an amazing speaker (and he seems partial to bow ties, which is awesome). I didn't record any of it as I was trying to save my camera batteries but I'm hoping to find video somewhere.
Blumenauer
Then a pause, with more of Obama's party mix playing & everyone getting restless... Volunteers started passing out signs to people who would be in the background of official media shots, which meant us. Well it should've meant us, because we were told we had to have signs to wave, but then the next volunteer that came by gave all of her signs to people in the next section of seats and completely ignored our section (which was in direct line of the cameras). Rrrrrr... so I asked another volunteer & she said "Yeah, you guys definitely need signs where you're sitting" so she got us 2 from the next batch. Woohoo! We got signs - two of the red ones (I would've liked one red & one blue), but whatever. Nice to walk away with a souvenir, but again, their volunteer coordination could've used a lot of prep work.
So we're waving our signs for the press, and then finally out comes Obama with Richardson!
I got a bunch of bad pictures of the sides of their heads, and one where they were both looking the right way :D All of those guys you can see on their other side standing with cameras were official press/media photographers. I'm still trying to find official photos taken from their angle, because I really want to know if I'm in the background of anything.
Anyway, Richardson spoke first, giving the endorsement. I didn't record anything, again because I was saving the batteries, but it's already up on CSPAN.
Then Obama took the podium.
VIDEO: Cheers for Obama
VIDEO: Obama speaking about Richardson
Big picture best viewed full-size, so I'm linking instead of posting it here
Obama switches to a wireless mic, which was pretty cool because he moved around a lot and addressed all parts of the coliseum.
VIDEO: We cannot afford to wait
VIDEO: No matter what happens (the end of this *still* makes me laugh)
VIDEO: By the American people
VIDEO: More "by the American people" & some healthcare
VIDEO: Invest in America
Another big picture to give you an idea of the magnitude, best viewed at full size
Another big picture of Obama addressing the floor crowd
And another big picture
VIDEO: The environment (which was so targeted for a Portland audience!)
VIDEO: The Commander in Chief test
The crowd behind Obama
VIDEO: America as a leader
I tried taking some without flash since the stage lights set up were like supernovas, but most came out too blurry to be worth posting, so here are two of the clearer ones.
Wrapping up
VIDEO: Closing remarks, part 1 (apparently the camera is only good for 3 minutes at a time recording, so I got cut off)
VIDEO: Closing remarks, part 2
I forgot to crop and resize this one *oops*
Not a good picture, but I took it because as soon as he started shaking people's hands, it's like a media crowd descended with boom mics right on top of them out of nowhere, with an almost alarming speed. No idea where they came from.
And one of our signs, taken over lunch on the way back!
And that's about it. I think that's as close as you could get to actually being there, minus the dehydration, exhaustion, uncomfortably cold temperatures, and rude people, but I am very glad I went :) I also think it's kind of funny that I've done no kinds of promotions of the videos I took but there are already people showing up to write how much Obama sucks.. do they just search Youtube for videos to write that on? Oh well.