Obama: Hot ticket (Pics)

[JimGinPA]

The link to this 'Lancaster Online' article isn't working. Their website has been down all day. (Google - Obama Lancaster and you'll see where it is. They have a nice photo of the end of the line three blocks away whenever it does come online). I copied the article verbatim from the 'Lancaster Sunday News'

I was one of the volunteers at the Lancaster Headquarters yesterday. I was on the door, letting people in and keeping the line moving and orderly. I saw an OP here today claiming they didn't know anyone supporting Obama, but I met over a thousand very enthusiastic supporters yesterday in one of the "reddest" counties in PA.


Thousands line up for chance to see candidate



A line of people three blocks long waited Saturday morning in eager anticipation for a chance to see Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama speaks at Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology Monday.

"I didnt know there were this many Democrats in Lancaster!" someone in line shouted.

More than a thousand people braved a chilly morning outside the Obama for america headquarters, 240 Harrisburg Ave., to get tickets for Obama's town hall meeting which will be held at the John Barley multi-purpose activity center at Thaddeus Stevens at 10 a.m. Monday.

According to campaign volunteers, about 1000 tickets were avaliable to the public Saturday, all of which had been distributed by early afternoon.

Ticket-seekers heard renditions of the national anthem echo through the chilly air all morning from nearby Clipper Magazine Stadium, where tryouts for singers were held for the upcoming baseball season. Temperatures hovered in the mid-30s.

Cold tempertures and chilly winds didn't deter anyone.

For Jack Spiese, 78, of Columbia, Obama's candidancy has become a cause to champion.

"I came because I thought I would never have anything I could ever believe in again", Spiese said, "but I believe in Obama."

I haven't felt this way since JFK."

According to campaign volunteers, the audience will be alowed to ask the candidate questions during the meeting monday.

Spiese hopes to ask Obama what his most formative expierence was as a young man.

Around noon, campaign volunteers informed people still waiting in line that the campaign was out of tickets and that they would put names on a waiting list.

Lancaster Mayor Rick Gray, a pledged Obama delgate and member of the candidate's state advisory team, said he offered the campaign use of Clipper Magazine Stadium, which seats up to 6,000.

"We could have filled it easy,"Gray said, "I think we could have put 10,000 people in the stadium, no problem."


Mayor Rick Gray


But campaign volunteers said Obama wanted a smaller venue where he could interact with the audience.

The line for tickets snaked from the campaign headquarters down Harrisburg Pike toward Mulberry Street and ended near James Street and Water Street intersection at its apex around 9 a.m.

People camped out in front of the headquarters as early as 3 a.m. Saturday morning said Traci Guynup, of Lancaster, who got in line at 9 a.m. and waited three hours for a ticket.





Obama campaign volunteers didn't get into the office until 4 a.m., said Carol Hunt, a campaign worker who is also running as a state convention delegate for Obama.

[babylonsister]

1. Thank you-this is inspiring! I wonder if Clinton gets this kind of welcome,

any of 'em?

This is good to see, especially in a red county! :thumbsup:

[livetohike]

2. It's amazing!

Thanks for posting this. I'm hoping he does an I-80 tour through one of the reddest areas of the state (northwest). I'd love to have a chance to see him in person.

[usregimechange]

3. Amazing report! Thank you

[easy_b94]

4. WOW...!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Lucky 13]

5. I don't want to jinx it.... BUT....

I have a really oddly optimistic feeling about PA.

[MadBadger]

8. Dont worry, I've already jinxed it. It's on Me. LOL

[Tatiana]

6. Amazing.

For Jack Spiese, 78, of Columbia, Obama's candidancy has become a cause to champion.

"I came because I thought I would never have anything I could ever believe in again", Spiese said, "but I believe in Obama."

"I haven't felt this way since JFK."

:cry: Here's one of the older generation that gets it!

[ericgtr]

7. Interesting that he was offered a bigger venue but refused it

Obama is working a well laid out plan to build things up during the week. If he wanted to fill up stadiums throughout his stint there he could do it without a problem.

[JimGinPA]

12. I Think He Will, Closer To The Primary...

These smaller town halls are easier to organize on short notice, and with 2 to 3 thousand people there is still plenty of energy & excitement.

[monmouth]

9. I am in such admiration of these Obama people, they give me goosebumps..n/t

[easy_b94]

10. Yeah I got a tingling feeing in my right leg

:sarcasm:

[kid a]

11. k