November 2008 – Page 4 – Gavinsblog.com

Election day in Chicago

The sun is rising over Lake Michigan as I write this. It’s 7am Central and at 8.30 we head out to some polling stations around Chicago to watch the election kick off. NPR were reporting last night that up to 1 million people could descend on Chicago today, with tickets only available for 75,000. This is going to be an interesting day, to say the least.

It is worth noting that the weather here is unseasonably warm. Yesterday it was extremely hot for November, which meant walking around downtown in a t-shirt, and it stayed warm and humid throughout the night. Today the forecast is no clouds with temperatures as high as 23 degrees.

Myself and Conor will likely be running on adrenaline all day, our late night boozing did not help, and the weather, combined with all that election stuff going on, should make it a day to remember.

Internet will likely be intermittent, so I will try updating via text to my Twitter.

Bruce Springsteen booed in Cleveland?

When Barack Obama came on the stage last night and thanked The Boss for attending and singing, the crowd either shouted “boo” or “Bruce”. I’m not sure which, though being there in person it did sound more like boo. I’m not sure. You decide:

Update: A viewer says it definitely was “Bruce” they were shouting.

To Chicago

It’s on to Chicago for the final day of the campaign. I expect the atmosphere there to be… interesting.

Bruce Springsteen sings for Obama in Cleveland (video)

A video of The Boss in action:

At the Cleveland rally, right now

*** Will be updating this post during the evening ***

LOL. Number 6 on Google for “Obama Cleveland rally”

I’m at the Obama event in Cleveland, and wifi is available, unlike at the Virginia Beach rally. There is a huge crowd here. I tried to take photos of the queues to give some sense of the length… but at ground level you just cannot capture it. One went on for at least 10 blocks, another one went on for another 10. Miles of people waiting to get in.

I see some other journalists from Ireland, one from the Irish Times, and another from Newstalk.

I took these photos a few minutes ago.

Update:

The crowd waits for Obama:

The press wait:

The interval music from the press area:

Obama in his stride despite the rain:

Obama Cleveland rally

I am in the Heroes Bar and Grill here in Cleveland, the Obama event is due to start in a couple of hours. It’s been a fantastic drive from Washington, the weather has been warm all the way, and traffic was non-existent. It’s also a beautiful day here on the shores of Lake Eerie, and it looks as if the crowds gatherng to see Obama and The Boss will be far larger than the rally in Virgina Beach last week.

I will update on Twitter, and upload some photos almost as soon as the event is over… hopefully.

Update: You can look at my photos and videos of the event over here.

Washington pics

I went for some very long walks around Washington, and took lots of pics. A sample here, with the rest over in this Flickr set. Remember if you want to see the full size pic you can click on ‘all sizes’ in Flickr. It was a stunning day, with summer-like temperatures for November 1.

On the road again

Tomorrow we hit the road again, on an ambitious schedule. We leave DC for Cleveland, Ohio, where Barack Obama is rallying the troops with his wife Michelle, and where Bruce Springsteen makes a guest appearance.

If we time it right we might make it to Indianapolis for a McCain rally, before making directly for Chicago. Chicago is where the Obama camp is hosting an “historic watching party” for the results. It should be an interesting night.

Obama in Virginia Beach – videos

I did a couple of quick videos at the rally, from the press gallery. Here is a sense of the crowd before Obama arrived on stage:

In this one you can see the start of Obama’s speech, with the press looking on. The BBC was doing a live broadcast while I recorded.

After the event we came across this Pentecostal Christian who was demonstrating against the policies of Obama and preaching his beliefs. The crowd did not receive him well, including two young people play acting around him.