Obama rally in Columbus Largest political rally in city history! (and oh, yeah McCain was there Fri)

[book_worm]

An estimated 60,000 heard Sen. Barack Obama kick off the final 48 hours of his presidential campaign in Columbus this afternoon.

Obama's first rally of the day was held in Columbus on the west lawn of the Ohio Statehouse. Local police estimated the crowd's size, and Columbus Mayor Michael Coleman announced it was the largest gathering ever for a local political event.

Gov. Ted Strickland then took the stage and predicted that by the time all the votes are counted, "Ohio will be in the Obama-Biden column."

Obama is scheduled to speak at 3:45 p.m. in Cleveland. By 1:30 p.m., parking was almost non-existent downtown as a line of cars ran from south on East Ninth Street from Superior Avenue past Carnegie Avenue.

Onlookers saw crowds walking across the Lorain-Carnegie Bridge to attend the rally, which is in Malls A, B and C downtown. And as of 2:30 p.m., attendees in line for a security screening near the entrance of the Convention Center stretched down E. 9th Street well past Euclid Avenue.
http://blog.cleveland.com/openers/2008/11/60000_attend_outdoor_obama_ral.html

Meanwhile, McCain was in Columbus on Friday with "The Terminator":

Yet the site of the Ohio rally only underscored the difficulties: Their appearance at Nationwide Arena drew what was a large crowd for McCain, but about half the arena was empty. Four years ago when Schwarzenegger campaigned in the same venue for Bush, the arena was packed to capacity with about 20,000 people.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/washingtondc/la-na-campaign1-2008nov01,0,3758780.story

[Imperialism Inc.]

1. I was there. It was awsome!

It definitely was packed. Obama was running a little late so we were there for a long long while. I didn't realize what a fiery speaker Gov. Ted Strickland is.

Obama talked about Cheney's recent endorsement of McCain and how hard McCain worked to get it, voting with Bush 90% of the time.

[quiet.american]

11. That is so awesome! I feel like I'm the only person in this country who hasn't seen Obama in person!

[luvs2sing]

14. You and me both.

We're about 20 minutes north of the Statehouse and had planned to go today, but my husband wasn't feeling well, and I'm not comfortable enough in large crowds to go on my own. :cry: :cry: :cry:

[quiet.american]

15. Oh, I'm sorry you didn't get to see him. Hope your husband will feel better soon.

I'm in Manhattan, so the only way we usually get to see candidates is during the primaries, or at expensive fundraisers.... I missed out on both this election season, and found myself without the money/time to travel to another state to a rally.

That's okay, though -- the most important thing is that I will get to vote for Barack on Tuesday!

[luvs2sing]

17. Thanks...it's a chronic thing...

non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. He has "good energy days" and "bad energy days", and we just roll with them and make/change plans accordingly. Luckily, the "bad energy days" aren't very often, but today was a doozy. He woke up just in time to watch the speech on C-Span at 1pm. Ironically, he's feeling great right now and pitching a funny fit because Obama came to town too early in the day for him! :D

[quiet.american]

19. My first thought is how fortunate your husband is to have such a loving, supportive spouse.

All my best to you both, and I'm so glad he started feeling better today!

[luvs2sing]

22. Thank you so much.

We're both very fortunate to have each other. :hug:

[flpoljunkie]

16. This AP photo gives some idea of the crowd today in Columbus

Democratic presidential candidate, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., speaks at a rally in Columbus, Ohio, Sunday, Nov. 2, 2008. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

[gr8flgrl2002]

18. Columbus Rally

Go Columbus, yes indeed you look good in Blue!!

[Lerrad]

2. Just got back from the Columbus Rally.

I was surprised at the number of people. I thought there might be 20,000 but police estimated the crowd to be about 60,000.

We had to wait about 1-1/2 hours in line. The lines snaked through the downtown city streets, for miles.

We were not that close, but could see just fine. We meet lots of friendly people. We parked at Veterans Memorial, which is the location for early voting. When we left the line vor voting circled the building!

Go Obama!

[Fired Up Democrat]

3. i was there. i think there were more than that..

people lined the streets up for hundreds of feet that couldn't fit on the lawn. great event. amazing thing to witness.

[TheDonkey]

4. Awesome!

[Kukesa]

5. You've made this Buckeye very happy! n/t

[Divine Discontent]

6. good to hear! but... the MSM says 20K showing up for McCain and 60K for Obama

doesn't mean that we have any greater advantage in the states..... righhhhhhhhht. what BS. you know, when people come out 3 to 1 in any other type of life situation, that means that the, say a movie, that has 3 times as many supporters, is the #1 movie. So tired of the bs... this election better not be stolen - all polling shows Obama with a lead that is in truth, insurmountable in one week when NOTHING major has happened to change people's views in the millions.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

7. I can't imagine 20k for McCain more like 2k?

[book_worm]

9. Actually according to the article McCain only got about 10,000 with Arnie in Columbus

it was with Bush in 2004 that he got 20,000.

[Hope And Change]

8. Holy cow.K & R!

[Lerrad]

10. Some nice pics at this URL:

On edit copy and past into your browser.

http://news.search.yahoo.com/search/news;_ylt=A0WTTkuBHg5JllkBShjRtDMD;_ylu=X3oDMTA4czNudjU5BHNlYwN2aWV3?p=columbus%2C+ohio+obama+rally&ei=UTF-8&pstart=1&b=11&c=images&view=list&fr=

[Drunken Irishman]

12. Screw the Obama bit, read the last part about Bush in '04!

People talk about Kerry's crowds in 2004, well Bush rivaled many of them. There was more enthusiasm on their side than on ours four years ago and it helped in states like Ohio!

Whether we want to admit it or not, Bush was still LOVED by 40% of the country in 2004. McCain right now is probably only loved by 20% of the country. Obama? Maybe 45-50%!

[luvs2sing]

13. I am so proud of my city right now.

60,000 for Barack...YESSSSSSSS!!!!! :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce: :bounce:


BTW, McCain and Ahhhhnold only had 4-5,000 at Nationwide Arena according to local media.

[Thrill]

20. There were 80,000 people in Cleveland tonigt. wow

[RayOfHope]

21. OMG, that is CRAZY! How wonderful! n/t

[semillama]

23. A note on how clueless the McCain schedule is:

He had a rally in Columbus on Halloween, when nearly every parent was participating in trick or treating.