Kerry ROCKS Las Vegas! Vegas Rocks Back! Report From Tonight's Rally

[stopbush]

Man, what a rally! The energy and electricity was great.

The doors opened at 3PM. We stood in line in the Cox Pavilion for 1.5 hrs before actually entering the Thomas & Mack Center at UNLV. They had only 3-4 metal detectors for a crowd of 15,000+. That's right, 15,000 plus! As this was the hottest day of the year (111º at the airport) it was good they let us in.

Mayor Oscar Goodman made his first appearance at about 5:15. He invited the crowd down to stand right in front of the podium. I made my way down with my 2 kids (11 & 7 yrs old) and we got GREAT spots. I had my daughter up on my shoulders about 15-20 feet in front of the podium while my son snaked his way up to the rope. He was 6 feet away from Kerry.

The introductory speeches were short, but numerous. The crowd in the seats did a "wave" that went around the place at least 10 times.

Finally, Kerry and his family came on looking none the worse for wear. Vanessa (babe-licious!) spoke briefly as she fended of the cries of "will you marry me?" coming from the college kids in the mosh pit. Then, John Kerry spoke - a brief but impassioned version of his stump/convention speech. Lots of wild applause. New to his speech: no Yucca Mt on my watch!

At the end, we elbowed our way down to the rope where both my daughter (still on my shoulders) and I shook Kerry's hand at the same time! It was great - three hands clasped together with arms raised high. Kerry looked right at my beautiful daughter...and simply melted, letting out a heartfelt "a-w-w-w." I looked him in the eye as I shook his hand and said, "you're gonna win, man!" "Thanks," he said...then he looked back at my daughter. Man, what a moment.

As we pushed our way out of the mosh pit we were stopped by a reporter from the local paper (LV Review Journal) who wanted to know my daughter's name, age, and if she lived in Vegas. He took it all down and bid us thanks. I'm hoping they got a shot of us shaking hands with the next president. I'll be checking the paper tomorrow (for those of you at the rally, my daughter was on my shoulders in a pink shirt and pink Capri pants with her blond hair glowing in the lights).

My kids' first political rally. They loved it!

Just had to share.

[enigmatic]

1. Thanks for the report! n/m

[beyurslf]

2. I love hearing all these stories.

25,000+ in KCMO. 4000 in Lawrence KS! Awesome!

[pacalo]

3. Fantastic! I can feel your enthusiasm. :)

Please post a picture if the newspaper runs one. Good for you!

[DU9598]

4. Thanks for sharing

Great story. Your daughter will never forget tonight.

[JI7]

5. Kerry is great with the kids

he just loves kids and wants to make ths a better world for them. remember the kidsforkerry girl that spoke at the convention ? the kids love him also.

and thanks for reporting. so nice to hear good news anytime, especially with some of the posts on here today being so negative and about how kerry will lose if he doesn't do this or that right now.

[kestrel91316]

6. You lucky man......................

he won't bother coming to Los Angeles, I suppose. And even if he did I wouldn't brave the crowds to go see him. But I am so happy that so many like you have had the chance to shake his hand!

[stopbush]

26. He's supposed to be in LA tomorrow or Thursday...I think.

Check with the local Dem office.

[redstateblues]

7. Your post gave me chills. Lucky You!

[Lakerstan]

8. I was there too! Here are some pictures...

[stopbush]

10. Wasn't it inspiring? The crowd was really into it.

I had some great conversations on the way in with people of all ages. Not many had heard of DU, but they were well aware of all the things we talk about on a daily basis. One older guy was from Montana. Another man - an 82 yo Vegas resident and lifelong Dem - had seen F911 five times! I spoke with a lady who just moved her from Montana to take a teaching job. And what a civil, polite crowd it was!

I really enjoyed myself...but my shoulders are killing me! I'm about to hit the hot tub to see if I can recover.

[Lakerstan]

13. Very nice

Everyone there was really friendly. Free bottled water because of the heat. I didn't see any pro-Bush folks, did you? I think everyone there was of like mind.

[maynard]

17. 3 protesters on the drive out of the Parking lot

They were standing on Swenson and we gave them the thumbs down.

[stopbush]

19. Just think, had they wished, they could have gotten in to see Kerry,

whereas they'll be excluded from Thursday's photo-op with "their" candidate.

What's that tell them?

[stopbush]

20. No bush folk and no disruptors. I sure felt at home

with that crowd (and I hate crowds).

[oasis]

9. Great report. Thanks.

[Lancer]

11. Is this your daughter?

[stopbush]

12. That's Her! Thanks!!

[JI7]

15. she is so cute and looks to enjoy it even if she is very young

[stopbush]

18. "I'm a Democrat" she announced in the hot tub tonight!

She's only 7, so the hot tub can't be that hot. But, yes, she loved the rally.

[maynard]

22. t-shirt

Did your daughter get a t-shirt? I tried to toss them back but people kept jumping up so they didn't get that far.

[stopbush]

23. We didn't move down until after the tee-shirt toss. At first I

didn't realize they were going to let us stay down there. I didn't want to give up our relatively good seats and then have to find new ones in not-so-good positions. But as more people descended, I figured they were going to stay, so we moved down to join them.

It was tiring standing all that time with my girl on my shoulders, but it was worth it.

[maynard]

24. floor standing

Those spots were supposed to be for blue ticket holders, but then we realized that as the day wore on, things changed. I was standing by the bleacher pack near the handicapped section because they said Kerry would be coming in through the main tunnel. Had we known, we could have been in the crowd receiving t-shirts instead of throwing them out. I really wanted to shake his hand.....or even pat him back....or something. I just was never in the right position. Your family is very lucky to have shook his hand.

[maynard]

25. t-shirt

If your little girl wants my t-shirt, I would be happy to mail it to you. She sounds like a super daughter.

[Democat]

14. Thank you and your children!

Great report!

[senseandsensibility]

16. Nice report!

Thanks for all the details. I felt like I was there. I saw Kerry in June and it was the same. The energy was incredibly high among the crowd, and Kerry himself was relaxed and funny. How anyone could say * is charming is beyond me; Kerry really is charming.

[maynard]

21. volunteered from 2:00 on...........

We were running all afternoon.....I was one of the ones tossing out
t-shirts. I was also helping out with handicapped seating. It was so exciting to be there and see Kerry & family. I have never seen a "president" before. It was such a great event. I was talking with a guy working for a major network and he asked me to explain Yucca Mountain. I was able to convert him. He said due to the nature of his job, he had to be a closet Democrat and Kerry fan. I was also able to enlighten him on Democratic Underground and he said he would check it out.

Thanks for all of the education that I have gotten here because I was able to share a lot of info I have learned here with him.

Any Kerry event is worth attending.

[fujiyama]

27. Thanks for this thread

and those pictures from the other link were amazing...There are just so many people. It's especially nice to see them after all these threads bitching about Kerry. I really liked Olberman's comment about the size of the rallies and how there is simply no comparison between the rallies Bush has had and those of Kerry.

God, I've gotta go to one of these rallies! Luckilly I live in a semi swing state (though I would of course prefer it not to be)...

[stopbush]

28. My daughter's pix appeared in the LVRJ today

Here it is:

[Dudley_DUright]

29. What a cutie!

This campaign is all about the future of kids like your daughter all across America. I hope we don't let them down and reselect the worst president in history.

[MsUSA]

30. You're giving me goose bumps.....

I'm not kidding.....I'm bumping here. Love this report. Thanks!!