Packed house at Kerry rally in Warren, MI - Pictures

[Lefty48197]

If you didn't get a chance to be there, then you missed a great event folks. The gymnasium at Macomb Co. Community College's gymnasium was packed to the rafters with over 10,000 enthusiastic Kerry fans who cheered wildly for the equally enthusiastic candidate.
The partisan crowd screamed their approval as Kerry excoriated Team Bush for it's many many failures.

Mind you, Warren isn't just any old city in the state of Michigan. It's our third largest city by population, but more importantly, it sits on the northern border of Detroit. The legal northern boundary of Detroit may be 8 Mile Rd., but the philosophical boarder begins around 10 Mile Rd. as Warren's industrial southern side gives way to the suburbs and "Reagan Democrats" of northern Macomb County.

This location was not chosen by accident.

If you've read about John Kerry's military history, then you've probably heard of a swiftboat maneuver he invented, whereby the boat's Captain would turn his boat towards the riverbank and charge the enemy's firing position. Today's rally in the heart of "Reagan Democrat" country was a similar move as Kerry took the fight directly to the so-called "Reagan Democrats" of Macomb County. The crowd responded with thunderous approval.

The rally was scheduled to start at 6:45 P.M., with the doors opening at 4. I got there about 3:45, expecting to be in the front of the line. Much to my surprise, there was a HUGE line out front already. Within a half hour of my arrival, there was an equally huge line behind me. The line moved very slowly through the security checks. Finally at about 6:30, I got into the building!
There was a quick warm up concert by Jon Bon Jovi, followed by an even shorter warm up speech, by America's greatest Governor, Jennifer Granholm of Michigan.
By the time Kerry took the stage, we were all more than ready to hear him speak. We did however, find time to chant "Ker-ry", "No more Bush" and "Eight more Days".

Here's the line in front of me shortly after my arrival. If you look way way in the distance, you can see more of it. The front of the line was well out of the picture:



Here's the line behind me, about a half hour later:



This photo shows about 1/2 the crowd:



I just kinda liked this photo.

Here's Kerry with Jennifer Granholm, and the Levin brothers: Senator Carl, and Rep. Sander Levin:


Here's a slightly elevated view:



A couple more rousing cheers, and then it's off to victory!

[CO Liberal]

1. Very Nice Photos

I saw Kerry on Saturday in Pueblo, CO. He was with Ken Salazar (who's gonna be our next Senator), and Kerry's daughter Vanessa.

We had between 10,000 and 12,000 people at the rally, according to the radio.

[Lefty48197]

9. We're all rooting for Salazar too!

There's a lot of Senate seats looking good, that didn't look so good awhile back.

[Bluebear]

2. Dude! Great photos, post them in the general board!!

[intheflow]

3. what's the population of Warren, MI?

Are you near any big cities or towns? Where are you on the mitten?

[Lefty48197]

5. Warren is adjacent to Detroit's northern border.

The population is about 175,000. That's right about the center of the fat fleshy part at the base of your right thumb.

[murielm99]

4. Thanks for posting those great pics!

:yourock:

[Kukesa]

6. Nice photos,

and I'll bet no one had to sign an oath of allegiance to get in.

Thanks.

[morcatknits]

7. Wondering...

Those are fantastic pictures!

I notice that when the TV reports on a Kerry rally, the cameras roam freely around the crowds, and they seem to be huge. I've seen several Bush rallies reported lately, and they focus the cameras solely on Bush, with crowd shots. I did see one Bush "event" in a stadium that was more than half empty, or at least, that was what was reported. Does anyone have a handle on the size of the Bush crowds compared to Kerry's crowds, which are incontrovertably big?
I've just been wondering about that.
morcatknits

[Lefty48197]

8. I don't know about the crowds at the Bush rallies

But I did tape an episode of the Rush Limbought TV show many many years ago. They used to use very creative camera angles that made it look like there was a large crowd present.
When I reviewed the tape, I found that his audience was only about 3 rows deep, and about 10-12 people wide! He must have filmed that show in the smallest TV studio ever made!

[JNelson6563]

10. Fabulous!

I'm up in Traverse City but I am an East Side girl, grew up in St. Clair Shores and Grosse Pointe. Wish I could've made it.

Thank you for all the great pics! I am a proud Michigander.

:toast:

Julie

[bif]

11. You forgot to get a shot of me!

What a great rally. I'm totally pumped. We were working for Moveon going door-to-door and kind of ran out of steam. But after last night, we decided to walk our butts off starting tonight for the big push to next Tuesday.

Thanks for posting the pics.

[Lefty48197]

12. Are you sure you're not in the 2nd to last picture?

Because I have photos of the bleachers behind me too!

[bif]

13. Nah. I was about 50 feet in front of the bleachers

almost dead center. Oh well. Nice pics anyway!