This is what democracy looks like

UPDATE: I just got the video done. It's from last night, and includes Obama's entrance, some chants of "Obama, Obama!" and "Fired Up? Ready to Go", and then Obama's close. It's actually pretty cool, now that I look at it again. The quality of the video is nothing to write home about, but just watch and tell me you don't feel something.



Rob and I drove out to Manassas, Virginia last night to see Obama's final rally. It's a 30 to 40 minute drive that took 2.5 hours. There were so many people. The way home was even worse - rally ended at 1030 (maybe 11), got home at 230 (the Manassas police chose to sit this one out and, literally, lean against their cars and watch the traffic grind to a halt for an hour at various intersections). Anyway.... we're glad we went. Saw a number of other bloggy folk, including Tracy Russo (who was John Edwards blogger outreach person), Ezra Klein, and David Corn. Here are a few of my photos - video coming later. Oh, and for many of the photos, if you click the image it will open a larger version.



A little freeway blogging on the highway out to suburban Virginia.



No need to play Where's Waldo with diversity in this crowd. Finally a political rally that looks like America. Oh yeah, and nobody shouting anything about assassinations or terrorists either. It's amazing what a little civilization does for a crowd.



The press area, which we were in, was really wonderfully located. We were a good, maybe 50 or 60 feet from Obama (I'm bad at distances). As Obama was speaking, I kept hearing this voice in the back of my head (seriously), saying "My friends...." The contrast could not have been starker between McCain's whine and Obama's eloquence. Obama is presidential. McCain is simply angry.



I got several nice panorama shots (click the photo to see a larger version). Hopefully Blogger won't water the photo down too much. I especially like the tshirt on the kid in front to the right.

Okay, folks wanted more photos, here are a few more.





This one isn't a panorama, but you really get a sense of the crowd. Rob tells me the crowd looped around to the left, way beyond the press risers.



Sea of Change.