Saint Obama of the Lacrosse Field

It's kind of hard to tell by the teeny camera phone shots, but the man in the front of the crowd is Ba-Rock Star Obama. I got to wait in line for three hours on Wednesday to see him speak at an event I like to call "Obamarama." He came to the campus where I work stumping for the state caucus on Tuesday, February 5. To his right (left from our view) is Caroline Kennedy. Wowsers. Anywho, the Obama campaign "pre-registered" 20,000 people for a 12,000 seat arena (9000) and overflow arena (3000). About 30,000 people showed up. The official count was around 18K, but those of us at the event could tell that there were far, far, far more than that. They had to open the lacrosse field for him to come out and address the crowd before his official speech. The line on the south side of building stretched around the block and down the street, around some houses and along a main road for about a half mile. It was only when we got to the front of the building did we realize that there was a similar line on the north side of the building.

Funny thing, Bill C came later at 9 p.m. and because of the snow storm, only 4300 people were in the 9ooo capacity arena.

I plan to caucus on Tuesday because it's the first time that I've lived in Colorado (15 years) that voting in a caucus or primary has meant anything. Usually it's been decided by this point. Colorado used to have a primary, in May. It was useless.

Of special note, 12,000 people voted in the last caucus. More people showed up for Obama than all the people to vote in the last caucus. That's a pretty powerful statement. You can watch the podcast of his speech here. It's in three parts so go here for the other parts.

If you live in a state where there are caucuses are held on Tuesday, no matter your political persuasion, go participate. It matters.