Our watch party last night was PHENOMENAL!!

proud2BlibKansan

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Fri Aug-29-08 05:58 PM
Original message

Our watch party last night was PHENOMENAL!!

We sent out email invites and got 90 RSVPs. General rule of thumb is to expect about half your RSVPs to actually show up.

We had 200 people come.

Five minutes after it started, there were no more seats left. It was a restaurant and they were completely overwhelmed by the crowd. There was an hour wait for food. I felt sorry for the wait staff but they were also pumped up and excited about watching the speech.

By the time Gore spoke, there wasn't even standing room left in the restaurant.

When Gore was done, we passed out Obama campaign volunteer forms. I spoke to the group and said we can't make this election happen unless we all work and do at least one thing. Register voters, work a phone bank, help canvass. Pick something and volunteer to do it.

Then we turned the TV back on and I thought this would be a good time to go outside and smoke a quick cigarette before Obama spoke. I didn't make it. I hadn't even made it to the door before 5 people had run up to me to hand in their volunteer form. It was like that for the rest of the evening until Obama took the stage. People couldn't wait to fill out those forms and get them turned in.

I have been working on campaigns for a long time. I have done something on nearly every presidential campaign since 1960. And the #1 problem for any campaign is getting people to volunteer to help. So this was just phenomenal last night, watching those people pass out pens and fill out those forms.

Right before Obama spoke, a man and his son came over and asked to take a seat at our table. It was the only one left in the place and I had no idea where the guy who had been sitting there was so I said sure. So they sat down and shared that chair. We started to talk. The man was African American and he had tears in his eyes. His son was 10 and he said he never thought he would see a black man nominated for president in his lifetime and he really wanted his son to see Obama speak and to be there with a crowd like we had in that restaurant. The man said they had gone to the Chiefs game but left early so they could hear Obama. And his son was so pumped! He was adorable. I looked over at him a few times while Obama was speaking and I wish I had taken a picture of the look on his face. Every once in awhile, I saw his dad lean over and whisper something to him and I also saw lots of tears in their eyes. I am still teary eyed just remembering it.

Yes the speech was awesome and the crowd went wild many many times. And there was a loud and long standing ovation when the speech was over. And oh so many hugs. Hugs from friends and hugs from people I didn't know and hugs from the most excited group of people I have seen gathered in one place in my life. One lady was going around kissing everyone she hugged.

I didn't get an exact count of how many volunteer forms we collected but I am guessing at least 75% of the people there filled out a form.

So it wasn't Denver and it wasn't a stadium and there were no fireworks but it was phenomenal. And as I sat there, I hoped that this scene was being repeated in cities all across the country last night.

With this kind of enthusiasm, it's going to happen, folks. I feel more hopeful than I have in months.

:bounce: :patriot: :bounce: :patriot: :bounce: