Also posted at Daily Kos
(Where the photos are not truncated)EAU CLAIRE, WISCONSIN, February 16, 2008—Barack Obama made a campaign stop in Sawdust City this morning. He filled the arena of my alma mater, UW-Eau Claire, with over 3 thousand people. Several thousand more stood outside and listened to him speak over the PA.
His visit came just as the news of Hillary Clinton's canceled February 18th town hall meeting at Eau Claire's Memorial High percolated through the crowd. "I wanted to go, just to see what kind of crowd
she would attract," commented one woman.
I went with my husband and 5-year-old son, and we stood in line along with thousands of others, in 15°F temperatures, with winds whipping down over the Chippewa River. The line stretched for over ¾ of a mile up the Garfield Avenue hill. We all wanted to see Obama that bad. And he did not disappoint. Make the hop and look at the photos.
The incredible queueThe line did not seem all that bad as we approached Zorn Arena.
Then again, a woman on her way back told us, "You might as well go home—the line is stretching up the hill already."
We pressed on, though. Although we saw some grizzled heads, I think maybe 70% of the people standing in line had not yet been born when I matriculated at UW-Eau Claire! I felt like such a hag.
Looking back toward Zorn Arena, we found the end of the line about a third of a mile back, at the 1,200 head count point.
A fellow in blaze orange camou pants passed by, doing a rough head count, so we knew we were assured a seat inside.
People passed by steadily, plodding up Garfield. We began to hear that the line stretched all the way up the hill, past Towers dorm, which was at least another third of a mile. I took this shot from the footbridge over the Chippewa, and you can see the line disappear up the hill. Still, people seemed undeterred. Towers is the two tallest building at the top of the hill.
A few local politicians came to the event. Here is my own State Senator,
Bob Jauch, who recently endorsed Obama. He is also an avid photographer and was taking shots of the crowd.
In the arenaOnce inside and through security, we eschewed the standing room on the floor for the bleachers, but the floor was just packed with people, sort of like the Globe Theater. Here's a shot of La Rhubarb with Obama. Okay—he's the speck somewhere down there on the stage. Do you see him? (As for me, I was not smoking anything--the bloodshot eyes come from my thyroid, thankyouverymuch)
In several years of going to UW-EC, I only went to Zorn one other time to hear someone speak, and it was the idol of my teen years, Carl Sagan, may he rest in peace. Obama was an even better speaker, and electrified the crowd, especially when he started talking about energy policy. Even my five-year-old stood on the bleachers, clapped and hooted at that.
Here you can see Obama a bit better, although not how shiny his shoes were. (I was wondering if one could see up his pants legs with them--they were spiffy!)
And below, you get a better idea of the size of the indoor crowd—about 3,200 for an arena the size of a basic gymnasium. You can't see the two tiers of bleachers where we were. My husband was irritated by Beavis, Butthead and their friend Cornholio standing at the railing, there, because they caused absolutely everybody in our bleachers to have to stand up for the whole speech to see around them.
The speechI recorded the entire Obama speech between my digital camera and MP3 player, and the crowd response was stunning. My husband said it was Obama's standard stump speech, which I had not heard in full, and found refreshing throughout its 45 minutes. He actually told us to "turn off our televisions and video games" and get to work, which caused everyone to cheer (and then go back to monkeying with their cell phones, of course).
His biggest applause line, which probably weakened a few girders overhead, was his bromide about not having George W. Bush on the ticket in November, which reinforces Barbara Ehrenreich's supposition that Obama's candidacy is a powerful "
emotional escape hatch from the Bush era." I'll buy that.
Eau Claire reverbObama's peroration was about hope, of course, and we sent him out on a huge wave of cheering. I love John Edwards and John Kerry, and volunteered in 2004 for their campaign events in this area, and I never saw even half the response for them that Obama got today. Nor did I see the young people--and Edwards' event had been at the same college campus as today's event. Kerry's 7-2-04 audience was mostly silver-haired.
Eating a late lunch after the gathering, we heard chatter everywhere about Obama, and talked with a retired paper mill worker who had some unsubtle, racist things to say about the "white flight" and African-American rioting that happened in Milwaukee when we both lived there. Yet he had nothing but admiration for Barack Obama and said that he hoped he could cast his vote for him in November, more so than for Hillary.
HillaryShe was scheduled to have a town-hall meeting in Eau Claire this Monday but canceled. After seeing the turnout and demographics for Obama today, I can see why she might think Eau Claire a wasted effort. Several people groused about being ignored (Northern Wisconsinites feel as though Milwaukee and Madison suck all the oxygen out of the state, and pols ignore us at their peril) Hillary is going to do Wausau soon, however.
I keep getting dispatches from her local campaign office and they are, um, not very professional. Breathless, ill-worded, begging. I'm afraid she's lost the older feminists in my family who , as my mother put it, would have walked over broken glass to vote for a woman if things had only been different, but they have no confidence in Hillary's temperament. "I almost feel sorry for her," my mother said.
Yes, and my mother finished up by comparing Obama to Kennedy, describing how she hauled my older sister to a Kennedy motorcade in downtown Milwaukee one day in Wisconsin's famous 1960 primary, where Kennedy walloped Hubert Humphrey. "I never in my life felt so excited about a candidate as I did about JFK," she said, "and I feel excited in the same way about Obama."
She said that as she put an Obama sign in her window, in hopes of prompting seniors in her complex to cast their votes on Tuesday.
GOTVI'm busy with nursing clinicals and tests and now a funeral in the family, but I am determined to have a street-corner visibility event in Rice Lake on Tuesday drive time. Look it up on
www.BarackObama.com if you're in the area. Get to work, Wisconsinites!
Update:I wanted to show you this cute T-shirt. Thanks go out to my unknown model.
Update II:This has made the
(Daily Kos) rec
(ommended diaries) list. Haven't had one do this for a few years--thanks, my friends. Gobama!
Update III:Thanks to Aj4rnner for this link from the Eau Claire Leader-Telegram:
Thousands Attend Obama Rally at UW-Eau ClaireFrom AJ4runner again,
WEAU video.
Update IV:Naranjadia stayed home with her twins,
but had a fine diary up yesterday, with some good discussion.
I scraped together this group and we waved signs during rush hour on Wisconsin primary day. It appeared above the fold in the Chronotype the day after the election.
