Tuesday, November 04, 2008

Live from Chicago's Election Rally B in Millennium Park

I walked from work over to the Millennium Park election rally. I'm
kicking myself now knowing that I could have had tickets to the 78,000-
attended "A-list" rally through Brandi, but it's time to make lemonade
from lemons.

A number of enormous, 150" televisions around the park make it feel
like an enormous sports bar, minus the liquor and crappy food. On the
way in, I watched a couple students take a pull from a hip flask, and
my heart opened to envy. After running the Chicago marathon last year
and the year before, it's nice to spend time in this place feeling
something other than exhaustion. Or at least, exhaustion of a
different kind.

Entrepreneurs make their way through the crowd selling Obama t-shirts,
buttons, photographs. A silver-painted man is posing for photographs
with some out-of-towners. Also on the way in, a number of fringe
groups earnestly handed out pro-whatever literature: Communism,
Socialism, Darwinianism (I think). Greedy.

The lines aren't too bad at the port-a-potties, which are themselves
showing above-average decorum. Around construction sites, you see them
with funny names like "Lepre-CAN" and "Honey Bucket." Here, we see a
simple sticker reading "National." Way to go, toilets!

Every time CNN calls a state for Obama, the crowd raises a cheer, and
a boo for McCain. A lot of the talking points echo meaninglessly from
competing monster stereos near the televisions, unless you're huddled
closely enough. Obama is over 200. It's time to move out.

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