Senator Barack Obama at Mellon Arena, Pittsburgh, PA, October 27, 2008

Wow. Just wow. I did laundry today and look what you did. Wow.

Yeah, it was pretty cool. This was just announced Friday, I think, and I happened to have the day off today. I had to go.

How exciting! Thanks for "taking me with you" through pictures. I can feel the excitement.

Thanks for the links, too, Janna. I just read the transcript and was, once again, so positively impressed by the difference between the two candidates. Obama is all about "we" and every word from his opponent is either unrelated and about himself, or a dishonest smear about his opponent.

You're not really taking this Obama guy seriously, are you? I mean he's just a flash-in-the-pan. He doesn't have that je ne sais quoi...gravitas I think you call it... that someone like that Palin person exudes from every pore. He talks a good game but, really, does he know how to fight, fight, fight, and got the scars to prove it? We need a man like Herbert Hoover again...or John McCain, since Hoover went and died, donating his name to a notable line of sucking machines.

I liked the pictures and now really wish I had tried to make it to one of these. I did watch the speech on tv this afternoon though. I thought it was one of his best.

Totally cool.

"Because despite what our opponents may claim, there are no real or fake parts of this country."

That's a great way to call out the exclusionist rhetoric of the other side.

That Paul is a laugh a minute, huh? Gotta be a comedian in every group.

It looks like a great day. I really wish I had gone when Obama was here in Springfield.

I love seeing that crowd.

Very cool & visually uplifting article, Janna.

I miss the animation of grassroots, I miss Pittsburgh. I've never seen it so alive in America since the 1960's.

Here in Denmark, people often feel so anchored by the Emperor's new clothes, and the few who dare to shout out, "Mom, why's he naked!" are quickly told to hush. Even the press...

Wow! Looks like a great turnout! I went to an event in my area, it was neat. Great pictures!

Fabulous turnout. Wish I could have been there! This is the most historic election in our lifetime. Wish we could vote early in PA -- early voter turnout in other states, including battleground states, has surpassed all records.

Thanks for the link to his speech.

4,000 turned out for John McCain in Denver Oct. 24. Two days later, 100,000+ came to see Sen. Obama in Denver.

Janna, You can just feel the yearning for a better America from every single person in that arena.

Now we need every single person who has come out for every single Obama event, and vote, and keep a watchful eye on the entire voting process. We still have a Supreme Court and a Justice Department (I laugh every time I write that word as there has been NO JUSTICE in our Justice Dept) in the hands of the bushies. They are not gonna go down easy...

Wow. Thanks for sharing, Janna. That's awesome. As one headline read: McCain / Palin Crowds Enthusiastic; Obama Crowds Huge!

If you haven't done so already, vote for Obama!

Janna - I am green with envy. Thanks so much for sharing this moment with the rest of us. It is going to be tough for Obama in the coming years, but I am confident that he will be able to handle it with our help. I think the aspect of this man that I find most inspiring is his call to action to the American public to remember that it is NOT our government that makes our country what it is...it is all of us working together.

Janna, what a thrill to be a part of this. Thanks for going and reporting back to us.

In May 1968, the Governor of Michigan George Romney, Mitt Romney's father, was campaigning to be the Republican nominee for president. Our family went to visit my family in Southwestern Michigan and attended its annual Blossom Parade. Governor Romney walked in the parade, shaking hands, while someone associated with him threw candy to the crowds. I encouraged my two children, 4 1/2 and 2 1/2 at the time, to run and shake hands with him--just in case he became president. The candy was enough of an incentive to pull them forward to shake his hand.

I also heard John Kerry speak before he was an official candidate. Unlike the way he was portrayed by others, he was enthusiastic and dynamic as he spoke to a group of environmental managers. We gave him a standing ovation.

I also wish I could go to one of his appearances. I saw 3 Presidents (2 were soon to be and one was already) before I was 25. Only I cant stand in long lines, I no longer have the physical capacity to do that.

Those signs were awful and just full of lies and hate (the one with the rendering of the lady with the backwards B who said she was mugged at an ATM and the footage showed nothing of the sort and the B was backwards as if done in a mirror....and the picture of what looked like a dead fetus saying he supports it. He does NOT support it, he just doesn't feel it is the government's place to tell women what they can and cant do with their bodies.

At this point in the game most speeches will be very similar, like a concert when the band goes on tour they tend to stick with the same songs and theme they stayed with. Can you believe that McCain had the nerve to criticize Obama for kissing up to both teams in the World Series. He said he supported the Phillies (since the White Sox arent in it) but that he was showing love to the Rays) so this isn't the same as what McCain says but yet Palin has had the same tired line for the Philles, Red Sox, and Rays?????

I wish I could have been there! This may well be something you can look back upon for many years. I do remember having seen Bill Clinton early in his first campaign. At the time I don't think many people thought he stood much of a chance at winning the primary. The one time I've seen any president in person, though at the time he wasn't. :-)

Same with us Texans for Obama. We've been encouraged to go to Ohio.

I'm so glad I was able to travel to this event through your eyes. I remember the buzz at these things when true leaders and true believers get together.

Wonderful.

I've been hoping that Obama would make another appearance in AZ, since AZ is not quite the red state it was four years ago-- I'd love to have an opportunity to take the kids to see Obama.

Alas and alack.

And how was leaving the parking lot, afterwards?

"And how was leaving the parking lot, afterwards?"

Piece of cake. I took the bus. (Although I had to wait for a bus that had room to squeeze more passengers on, and the one I eventually got on was packed.)

Jackie, I hope you get a chance to take the kids to see him. I took my grandchildren and, after standing hours in line and being packed in like sardines, they were still excited. The looks on their faces when he finally came out was worth every second of the wait.

I was yearning to go to the rally here a couple of days ago, but like Deborah, I'm not physically able to either stand in line for any length of time or sit comfortably for more than a few minutes. The only president I saw up close and personal was JFK (gawd, he was gorgeous), although I worked for the Houston ad agency that handled Daddy Bush's first campaign...he was running for senator from Texas and was beaten by John Hightower. I was secretly delighted.

Thanks for the photos!

You're welcome. Someone else who was there found this article last night and was able to pick himself out of one of the photos. He joined Gather so he could message me to ask for a copy. I thought that was pretty cool.

That is cool, Janna! I noticed you had a lot of views on this. Maybe there will be others.

"I noticed you had a lot of views on this."

Yeah. It was most viewed for most of the day, until that nutty cut & paste Jerome Corsi article overtook it. It's probably the power of keywords and totally thoughtful tagging. And the fact that it was a newsworthy event and I posted it right after it happened, instead of my customary weeks or months later.