Consider this the last post for awhile. I will be able to explain in a week or so once things are settled, but lets just say I am very excited for what is happening and really do not want to deal with anything on this blog until after November 4th.

Besides the fact that I didn’t know there were 75,000 people in Portland total, much less Democrats with a free Sunday to go see Barack Obama speak, there were 75,000 people at a Barack Obama rally in Portland Sunday.

Wow, just… wow. The Washington Post has more specific details

But I have to wonder what was going through the minds of the advance staff and secret service when they started seeing that crowd.

In other news, Electoral-Vote.com is back up, tracking polls state-by-state for the 08 election. I was addicted to that site in 2004, so this should be fun.

Barack Obama has clinched the Democratic nomination tonight
Congrats to him, his supporters and staff

And congratulations to Senator Clinton, her supporters and staff for a heated competition; you (well, 90% of you) made our party proud to know we had two candidates that could kick McCain’s ass any day of the week.

But I know that is not what you are feeling. I know what it is like being in that room that night that everyone knows its over. It was Madison, Wisconsin in 2004 and the candidate was Howard Dean. He didn’t say he would drop out of the race, but we knew he would. He was just waiting to get back to Vermont to do it.

I know what it is like to be in an office and listen to conference calls of frantic communication staff clinging to some hope, but knowing that it is over… I was in that Kerry office that last day, heard that conference call and everyone knew it was over. Kerry had already called it in.

I know what it feels like; it isn’t good.

But I also know what it is like to win. I know what it is like to hear that your governor was re-elected. I know what that feels like. So join us. And we’ll do, together, whatever we can to make sure our party has that feeling in November. With our new President of the United States of America, Barack Obama.

Update: Dammit, she won’t quit

It is official. I bought an Obama t-shirt. For $25 after shipping. Geez, pricey.

I went to Chicago yesterday (February 11, 2007) to see Barack Obama speak on his “I am running for president” announcement tour.

I am still not sure who I support, but I needed a reason to go to Chicago and see some friends from Loyola so I took the $5 bus and went.

Being back at Loyola was… interesting. I knew my way around easy enough, and it was something of a breath of fresh air being there, but something didn’t seem right. I felt… disconnected. Like I didn’t “belong” or something.

Maybe I should reconsider going back.

Bah. Or I could have just been too tired and cold. I woke up at 7AM to catch the 8:30 bus, having went to bed at 3AM.

So, Obama. The event wasn’t nearly as packed as I thought it would be. Being so useto being right in the front of just about every event, being in the back of the crowd was… interesting. The speech wasn’t exactly “powerful,” but then again, I did see him speak all of a week ago.

There were some anti-war protesters in the arena that snuck in a sign saying “Obama, Cut The Funding” and yelled during his speech. I don’t know what I think about that. As someone who would staff one of those events, it is a nightmare, but the candidate handled it very well. “We are talking about healthcare now, we’ll get to that in a bit.” Security took care of them after a bit, but he referenced them later on in his speech, saying “It is important those people come out, because it shows how important this war is to all of us” (slight paraphrase there.)

Similar protests were done last week during Hillary’s speech. Hillary was much worse at handling her protesters. Then again, that speech was to a much more impartial audience (the DNC) where many people agreed on how bad Hillary was handling the war issue. When she said she was a steadfast opponent to the war, someone in the back yelled “WHAT?” and the entire crowd found it amusing. Even the press snickered.

I was so tired I decided to get out of Chicago 45 minutes early by taking the $21 train. I got home and went to sleep right away. Woke up this morning to do homework and realized that I am in under my head so I decided to just do my post here.