I was a volunteer at yesterday's insane rally in Minneapolis. Unlike the staff and some hardcore volunteers who arrived at 6:30am, I rolled in at about 10:30 am. There were already a hundred or so people in line.... for an event whose doors opened at about 2:00 pm. In 20 degree weather. Yikes. Can you say enthusiasm?
I spent most of the day outside, working the line. This consisted of directing people to the right line (green tickets and a shorter line for precinct captains, who got to stand on the floor; orange tickets or printed out e-mails for everyone else, a waiting area for the thousands without tickets) and getting people to fill out the stubs so the campaign could harvest the info of the 20,000 people in attendance.
Unlike the hardy souls in line, I occasionally took breaks in the relative warmth of the lobby.... wimp! A crazy video and more below the fold.
I spent most of my time working the line in front of the main entrance to the Target Center. But I did take an epic walk down along the line, about an hour from the time they started letting people in. Please pardon my lame jokes to the people in the line and other odd miscellaneous comments....This video is fairly long, but I think it gives you a real sense of how epic the line was, and what kind of devotion it took for people to wait in it. All to see a political candidate speak!
We have to win this race. I spent several hours knocking on doors today, and came away once again with renewed determination, inspiration, and hope.
From the middle-aged African-American man who said that Tuesday will be the first time he's ever participated in a party caucus or primary.
From the East African immigrants I met who were thrilled at the prospect of voting for a man whose roots extend to the mother continent of us all.
From the elderly white lady who said she's been working and waiting for decades for this moment.
From the African-American woman who is a public school teacher and is still undecided, because she doesn't want to vote for Obama "just because he's black." (I think I talked her into voting for him for all the other reasons!)
From the middle-age white man who thanked me for helping and assured me he is fired up, ready to go and caucus on Tuesday night.
From the incredible community of people at that rally: young and old, male and female, Black and White, Latino and Asian, gay and straight, Democratic-Farm-Labor and independent and Republican.
My wife and I are hoping to have a child at some point in the next year or two. I realized the other day that Barack Obama could be the very first President my son or daughter will know. That thought brought tears to my eyes. We've got one or two days left in this race. We need to pull out all the stops. It's that important, and then some.
I believe. I hope. Yes. We. Can.