Friday, September 05, 2008

McCain/Palin Rally

Dan and I did an adventurous thing today. We took both the kids to try to see John McCain and Sarah Palin at their first campaign stop after the RNC. It was slated to begin at 10, but got pushed back to 11 because of the crowds. One passerby said they only expect 8,000 people, but there was more like 20,000 there. I can't be sure of his statistics, but it sure was crowded.


We stood in line and the kids were very patient. Unfortunately, our late arrival was our downfall, and we didn't get near the stage and only heard bits and pieces of the speeches, mostly we just recognized Sarah and John's voices over the speakers. About 1/2 way through the rally, we walked around to try to get a better view and actually got some photos of them shaking hands and signing autographs! (At least Dan got the photos. There are advantages to being his height.)

These pictures are a bit deceptive. We weren't close to them at all, but using a 200 zoom lens made it look like we were!
All in all, I was glad we went. Next time we will leave the kids with someone and arrive much earlier to get a seat. Since Wisconsin is supposed to be a battleground state again this year, we should have at least a few more chances to hear the candidates speak.



5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great pics! How neat to be at the first campaign stop after the convention.

KR said...

Very cool!!!

shudson said...

Very cool. Brandon did the same thing in college at a GW Bush rally. His pics were the same deal where it was an advantage to be tall even though he was fairly close to the path the pres was walking :)

Sarah said...

That is so great! When I heard they were flying there after the convention, I was sad that we had moved. :-)
The only opportunity I would have had was to see Obama--blah!

Gretchen said...

OOH! Good times. Noticed Steph mentioning Brandon going to George W rallies. I think he went to one with Josh. We were engaged that year, and I went to another one with him. These people in front of us struck up a conversation with Josh and really liked him so they gave us their VIP passes! We were in the up-close section, but it was still far away. And everybody had cheap-o disposable cameras back then!