October 25, 2008
ALBUQUERQUE - "I understand Senator McCain was at the State Fair and he had maybe 1,000 people," Governor Bill Richardson swaggered before Barack Obama arrived at the University of New Mexico tonight. "I think we have more people here, right?"
One week ago, the gap between Barack Obama's rally crowd of 100,000 in St. Louis and John McCain's of 3,000 in suburban St. Charles two days later didn't offer such a perfect comparison. Obama's event took on a sunny Saturday afternoon on the banks of the Mississippi River, while McCain held forth on a weekday morning away far from downtown: in a planned new-urbanist development far less welcoming to the public than Obama’s chosen symbol of Manifest Destiny.
It would have been hard for a social scientist to design a better experiment in crowd size than the one that emerged organically today in Albuquerque. McCain hosted a late-morning rally at the New Mexico State Fairgrounds. Under twelve hours later, Obama visited a college sports field less than three miles down Route 66.
The consensus among media covering the McCain event was that his crowd numbered approximately 1,000. A crowd count released during Obama's rally by the University of New Mexico fire marshal tallied 35,000 who entered the gates at the event’s perimeter, and the campaign estimated that another 10,000 to 15,000 stood outside it. (McCain's campaign does not release crowd estimates.)
"This is the biggest and most enthusiastic and best-looking crowd in America." Richardson said.
read:
http://www.boston.com/news/politics/politicalintelligence/2008/10/get_your_empiri.html
Thousands of people poured into The University of New Mexico's Johnson Field Saturday night, transforming the area into a night-time dance party and rock event with Barack Obama as the guest of honor.
The line to see Obama snaked for blocks, and some had waited since noon to enter the gates at 7 p.m.
Obama took the stage shortly after 9 p.m. and went right at Republican John McCain, who had been in Albuquerque earlier Saturday. "John McCain has been really angry about George Bush's economic policies. He adopted all of them. John McCain is so opposed to George Bush's policies, he voted for them 90 percent of the time. That's right, John McCain decided to stick it to George Bush 10 percent of the time," he said.
Obama also spoke about his own agenda, saying he would create 5 million jobs in the field of green technology in next decade and millions more in infrastructure and road construction.
"We won't build the fuel efficient cars of the future in South Korea or Japan; we will build them right here," he said.
read:
http://www.santafenewmexican.com/Local%20News/Obama--Democrat-tells-crowd-of-45-000-he-ll-create-millions-of-
It was a mind-boggling and electric rally, with every inch of the field packed with people -- from the podium on the West to the dorms near Girard on the East, and widening out North and South to the limits. There were reportedly 35,000 people inside the fences and another 10,000 or so pressed up against the outer barricades and extending out to the streets. Literally, a sea of people in the high desert, to see Obama, and be with on another.
Happy faces were everywhere, and they were of many hues, shapes, ages, orientations and ethnicities. All united for the cause of change and the leader who is promising to work for it, and for us. People were jazzed. People were "cautiously optimistic." People were exhilarated with the whisper, the hint of many victories in the air.
There were painted faces, stickers on the backs of bald heads, button-filled shirts and all kinds of signs everywhere. There was chanting and cheering and clapping. I have to say it -- there was hope in the air and on the faces and in the eyes of the old ones and the young ones and the ones in between.
And then it was time for Barack Obama -- all lanky and confident and hooked into the crowd and urging us to bring it on home, together. Bring it on home, together. O-BA-MA! Yes We Can! Si, Se Puede! Now, now, now is our time, at last. It's coming. It's near. It's only 10 days away. Vote early. Knock on doors. Make phone calls. Drag friends and family to the polling place. Use every ounce of energy to make it happen, to make sure it's big, to topple the old and bring in the new, to make a start fresh and full of positivity. To win.
Afterwards, the massive crowd spilled out onto Central, high and proud and zinging. Car horns beeping all up and down the street. People whooshing Obama signs all up and down the street. Cheering and smiling and waving and laughing and a zooming kind of energy like we'd just won the World Series, or the Super Bowl or it was midnight on New Year's Eve.
And we were together in our revelry and ready to celebrate our way to the new time, the better time, the challenging but satisfying time to come. I mean it. It was over the top in the very best way, and there was joy and freedom careening down Central on a very special Saturday night at a very critical time in America. And we got to be a part of it. And we loved it.
read and view pics:
http://www.democracyfornewmexico.com/.a/6a00d834519ed469e2010535bff69e970c-400wi
"John McCain's mad at George Bush, so opposed to George Bush's policies, that he voted with him 90 percent of the time for the past eight years," Senator Obama said in a mass rally here.
"That's right, he decided to really stick it to George Bush 10 percent of the time."
"John McCain attacking George Bush for his out-of-hand economic policy is like (Vice President) Dick Cheney attacking George Bush for his go-it-alone foreign policy," he said, noting that Bush cast an advance ballot for the Republican nominee on Friday. "It's like Robin getting mad at Batman."
read:
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5gjSC9N-byjfv-NfCHeYn1RGANiuQ
"You hold this election in your hands. Latino community -- you hold this election in your hands," Obama said at a rally of more than 35,000 on campus here. "You can be the swing vote all across the country."
Obama spoke a few words of Spanish to the crowd, and had comedy star George Lopez as his warm-up act here. Obama promised to do more for education, an important issue in the Latino community and across the state, which has a high high-school dropout rate.
"I'm tired of seeing overflowing classes and underfunded schools where Hispanic students are dropping out faster than anyone else," Obama said. "I'm tired of seeing the young people who've got the skills to go to college but just don't have the money. We can do better here in New Mexico. We can do better all across the country."
"Senator McCain used to buck his party by fighting for immigration reform, and I admired him for it. But when he was running for his party's nomination, he changed his tune," said Obama. "When it was time to write his party's platform, comprehensive immigration reform never made it in.
"So you've gotta ask yourself, if Senator McCain won't stand up to the opponents of reform at his own convention, how's he gonna stand up for it when he's president of the United States?"
read:
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/10/26/obama_courts_trio_of_southwest.html
Several voters said they felt his speech was historic and many took photographs of their families with the candidate in the background.
"It's just like we're part of a movement," said 21-year-old Andrea Glaser of Albuquerque.
Obama said future generations will judge Americans by how they respond to these challenging times.
"They'll ask us is this a time when America lost its sense of purpose, when we lost our nerve, when we allowed the same divisions and fears to point us into a deeper recession or, will they say, is this one of those moments when America overcomes?" Obama said.
(AP Photos/Jae C. Hong)
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