Kerry-Edwards draw 20,000 at KC rally - KC Star

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/9341338.htm?&1c

Missouri Democrats saved the best for last Friday night, giving John Kerry a huge Kansas City send-off on his post-convention trip.

A crowd the Secret Service estimated at 20,000 — aides called it the biggest Kerry has seen along the campaign trail in his quest for the presidency — filled the parking lots and the Liberty Memorial slope in front of Union Station where Kerry and his running mate, John Edwards, rallied the party faithful.

Kerry, flanked by the two candidates' wives and some of their children, began his talk at about 10:15 p.m. — more than two hours after some had arrived — calling out: “Hello, Kansas City, how are you? What I should say — ‘Hi, may I help you?'” using the well-known salutation at a well-known barbecue establishment.

Before digging into his political themes, Kerry waxed fondly about being in “the heartland, in the city of fountains and the home of the best ribs in America — Gates Bar-B-Q.”

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The event, on another surprisingly cool summer evening, ranks as one of the best attended political gatherings in the city since the Republican national convention in 1976.