Obama's Capitol Rally: The Liveblog
10:01pm: And as KVUE hits the air, we're over and out! Tune into the Nightbeat!
10:00pm: Obama finishes with the "this is our moment" line... he went a full hour.
9:46pm: Fire marshal estimates crowd at 20,000 plus. The crowd stretched W to E from Congress to Brazos, then N to S from 11th street all the way down to 7th street.
9:45pm: "Don't tell me about speeches and solutions," he says. "Because those two things go hand in hand."
9:42pm: All right, for those of you who have heard this stump speech a gazillion times, he's almost done, he's on the "needs some seasoning" part.
9:37pm: Obama is a tall guy, but looks pretty small when he's surrounded by a sea of humanity.
9:28pm: How cold is it out here? I can't feel my fingers. The traveling photographers on the riser (who have been in subzero temps in Wisconsin recently) were making fun of me.
9:25pm: Stock stump speech stuff at this point, so it's smooth sailing. Re: Texas-tailored talk -- He started with thanks to locals - the Texas Congressmen who have endorsed him, and a shout out to Ian Davis, and then called for a moment of silence for the officer killed in Clinton's motorcade this morning.
9:19pm: Obama has made that joke about how Dick Cheney is his cousin in every stump speech. But every time he makes that joke he seems to crack himself up.
9:16pm: "I am here to report my bet has paid off.. because you have told me you want something new, that you are ready for change, that you want to move in a new direction," Obama said. "THat's what you told me."
9:01pm: Right on time! Barack Obama takes the stage to some swinging bluegrass music!
8:57pm: It's Larry Burchette, the man who is supposed to introduce Barack Obama tonight. I guess that means he's on time for his 9ish arrival to the stage.
8:56pm: Crowd has stretched a total of five city blocks, from Congress to Brazos, and from 11th to 8th street and in every nook and cranny in between.
8:40pm: The beach ball's up in the air... the program is getting underway... kind of. The heads of Texans for Obama, the grass roots group started here in Austin, just got up to make a pitch for more volunteers and precinct captains.
8:31pm: This might be my favorite picture I've taken during this presidential cycle. It's a sticker on the back of the NBC crew's camera. This is the back of the camera that shoots NBC's Lee Cowan, who's been traveling with the Obama campaign. Look at that cartoon Obama... hilarious!
8:15pm: The traveling press corps (which flies on the same 737 as Senator Obama,) just arrived. That means he can't be too far away.
8:07pm: It feels like a crazy concert, which is what you hear about every Obama rally. But it does. Luckily the weather cooperated, it's chilly but these thousands aren't getting rained on. The crowd stretches east from the capitol down 11th St all the way to Brazos, and then south down Congress to about 9th. Here's a look at the stage from the press risers, which are to the left of the stage if you're looking at it from the crowd.
7:53pm: Senator Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, just stopped by the media tables to come say hi. He and other VIPs are sharing the media entrance with us and get pretty close to the stage.
7:48pm: Forgot to mention -- Quizno's is about to run out of food.
7:42pm: The volume has come down a bit, and the crowd has grown past 10th St.
7:25pm: Ran into Catie from News 8 Austin at the Quizno's at 11th and Congress. She said the music was so loud that she's "getting brain hemorrage".
7:00pm: Below is a look at the big monitor set up at 10th and Congress for the folks who might line up all the way down Congress, so they can see the guy.
6:57pm: I had to go around the perimeter (which is a few city blocks) to pick up some credentials. I've come back to the office but the rest of my posts will be from outside.
6:10pm: We begin with a look outside our Capitol office's fourth floor window. The sea of humanity is swimming into the perimeter, three, maybe four hours before Obama appears. There's a tent below us selling roasted corn, so at least the masses won't be hungry.
Comments
Hi Elise,
Nice blog! The texasforobama.com site estimated that there were more than 30,000 attendees for tonight's rally. Please check as there is a HUGE difference between 20K and 30K.
Thanks for the hard work!
Posted by: sam | February 23, 2008 12:58 AM
Sam -- thanks. I could only go with what the fire marshal estimated, though Texans for Obama was a reliable head counter for the last rally. I don't think we'll ever get a clear number.
Posted by: Elise | February 23, 2008 9:54 AM