We arrive at Northwestern High School, a large, multi-building campus. The first sign that there's life left in the Obama movement is the parking lot. Too many cars, too little space. It looks like Super Wal-Mart on Christmas Eve. Folks are parking across the street. I almost smile. Almost.
We walk some distance. There are Obama volunteers everywhere. I wonder if there are more of them than there are of us. We open the door to the gym and I relax. There is a thrumming, a pulse of sound and energy, a large gymnasium filled with people. We have arrived fairly early and already the seats are full, the floor a mass of humanity. It's a racially diverse crowd; black, white, Hispanic, Asian. There are young and old, the well-dressed and the rural poor in clean but worn clothing. There are small children riding the shoulders of their dads.
My friends go off to find seats, if they can. I pull out my steno pad and begin working the crowd. I meet Democrats, Independents and a surprising number of Republicans. About half of the twenty or so attendees I speak to are committed to Barack Obama. Many are "leaning his way." They cite his stance on the war, healthcare and education as primary reasons. I hear "charisma", "judgment", "speaks to diversity", "the need to heal". I hear, more than I expect to hear it, deep concern about the way the rest of the world sees this country after six years of George W. Bush. Republicans tell me they like Obama. "There's something about this guy..." they say. They can be swayed. The sole concern for any of them is one word: Experience.
I meet a twenty-four year old fellow who smiles and tells me he is most definitely Republican. He's a Huckabee supporter, he says, for one reason: "I'm pro-life -- and it means the world to me." On every other issue, he goes on, he's solidly with Barack Obama, especially in the areas of foreign policy and the war. "What if Huckabee fails to win the nod?" I ask him. He smiles again. "Then I'll vote Obama."
The music ramps up, Sam & Dave singing "Hold On, I'm Coming." The crowd noise swells with it. Congressman John Spratt appears on the stage, an enormous American flag on the wall behind him. He looks almost boyish, his cheeks flushed as he begins introducing the Senator from Illinois. It's hard to hear him over the crowd. There are, he tells us, over 2000 people here. I learn later that event organizers had to turn people away. We are an overflow crowd.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/linda-hansen/barack-obama-rallies-rock_b_67480.html
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