Inside the Arena

The doors opened right at 6 and we were seated within just a few minutes. A lot of people opted to head to the floor rather than the stands. Our seats were about 40 feet from the podium. They played a lot of music before hand - Springsteen's "The Rising" and Stevie Wonder's "Signed, Sealed, Delivered" "Only in America" by Brooks & Dunn and a few others. It felt just like what you see on tv and people were excited.

There are conflicting reports of how many people were there. When we saw John Edwards (back when people used to like him) they said about 5000 were in the arena. There were a lot more people this time. Every seat was filled and a lot more people were on the floor. All ages were represented - lots of young people, lots of older people, and everyone in between. Many people were wearing Obama shirts and pins. There were a lot of people from the various unions up here wearing shirts representing both their union and their candidate. Paul would love to have a "Firefighters for Obama" shirt.

The rally started at 7. Local reps Tom Rukavina, Dave Tomassoni, and Tony Sertich spoke first. You see Tony Sertich on tv quite often, but you don't really notice just how handsome he is until you see him in person. He is really good looking. His talk came across as very polished. You get the feeling he has higher aspirations. Tony is the one who gets into battles with the Governor. He was the rep that prompted Pawlenty to say, "Cheap shots might be cheap, but they're not free." That got a bit of press last spring. Jim Oberstar also spoke. People here love him.

Al Franken was there, but he did not speak. He was introduced and welcomed with lots of cheers and applause. Senator Amy Klobuchar spoke right before Hillary. This was my first time seeing Amy in person. I always think she comes across well on tv and she's just as sharp in person. Her grandpa is from the Iron Range and people up here like that about her.

Then Hillary came out. There was lots of cheering and applause. People up here really do like her and I actually felt a little bit weepy seeing her. That surprised me. Hillary looks exactly like she does on tv except that she is smaller than what you expect. She spoke for about 25 minutes. It was a great speech. About five minutes of her speech dealt with the Iron Range's role in the United States. It didn't feel like a canned speech she had given 30 times. It was a really good speech. I think my favorite part was at the end when she was into the "We must elect Barack Obama!" section of the speech. There was an older couple sitting right in front of us. They were in their late 70s at the youngest - well dressed, very proper. At this part of the speech this tiny little woman was standing up, tilting forward, doing a double fist pump. I loved it.

Quite a few of my coworkers went to the rally and we all compared notes the next day. One of them said she was surprised at how excited she was during the whole thing and that afterward her hands hurt from clapping. I don't care what your political affiliation is, I think you should try to attend a rally during a presidential election season at some point in your life. I can't even imagine how much more exciting it must be when the actual candidate for president is there.