So I went to get Fired Up tonight (because there were some crappy polls) and I was one of thousands who was in the convention center.
Now I am not as lucky as some of my friends who live a mere skywalk away from the convention center, but it was a beautiful night and I met my buddy Fred at the door of the convention center.
So I got there at around 6:20 and there were already around 500 people in line (doors opened at 7). The Obama Franken buttons were all out and there wasn’t any signs to be seen. There was a really nice lady behind Fred and I who had a Military Mom’s for Obama sign who went back to her car as she couldn’t take the sign in. While waiting some volunteers led us in chants and was signing people up to volunteer on election day (already working a double shift that day…). The doors opened at 7:10 and by friend Bob is still on the train to get to Downtown. so Fred and I go in and get to stand right on the rail that separates the VIP and the non-VIP. We talk with some awesome folks from Wisconsin there to see the big dog and some people come and hit us with some swag (I got a Obama+Franken=Change sign and the same button, he got a Franken button and an Obama/Biden sign).
Some volunteers come and try the text message deal that from various accounts happens at every democratic event, but we are in a basement bunker and no one can text.
So the first speaker is Taryl (spelling?) Clark from St. Cloud. She is the assistant Majority leader of the MN house and is the MC of the night. She is a great speaker.
The next 2 speakers were pretty good, RT Rybak was sounding very much like he was going to run for Gov in 2010, while Chris Coleman was a bit weaker but still really good. Mee Moua (first Hmong elected offical in America, state Senator) was a high-light, very passionate. Rebecca Otto (State Auditor) was a let down. She fell kind of flat. Then came Speaker Kelliher (spelling is definitely wrong). She was hoarse but did a decent job.
Rep Ellison was a phenom (and brief which was a good thing since it was starting to drag a little). I think it is too bad that Ellison probably won’t go statewide (ie run for Gov/Sen) as he would be awesome.
Then the first blunder in the rally happened. VP Mondale wasn’t near the stage and we had around 10-15 minutes of music. The crowd energy in the area I was seemed to die at this point. Mondale came on and gave an OK speech (I thought he was a little out of reality at times myself).
Next was my favorite MN politican, our Junior Senator. Amy gave a wonderful speech and showed why she consistantly gets approval ratings in the upper 60’s lower 70’s.
Then there was another blunder as they put up a video of Al Gore’s founders day speech. Don’t get me wrong it was a good speech and Bill was probably running late, but the crowd energy just plummeted. The volunteers tried nobly to get some chants going but they didn’t get anywhere. Everyone was waiting for the Big Dog and Al. I being on the rail by the media area got to see some secret service people walking around and some serious business staffers. Finally (trust me this seemed like forever) Al and Bill come to the stage.
Let me say that in the primary I was foolish and I at times hated on the Big Dog. He wasn’t a perfect president, but let me say that he can communicate. Al started off though and was amazing, someone enterprising probably has it on You-Tube already and Al just laid out the case why he was better.
But Bill was the highlight of my night. He was utterly amazing. He emoted, got angry at how the republicans put us into massive debt. He told jokes, he laid out a damn effective case for Obama. For those who think Bill is secretly wanting to help McCain, let me say that Bill was almost as good as Obama tonight in laying out the reasons Obama should win (and that is a matter of style points). He wants us MN people to out perform his margin of victory in 1996 (some 16 points). I could go on on night but I need to get to bed so I can work in the lab tomorrow.
Just let me say:
Obama+Franken=Change
SG
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