Rally madness hits Richmond

Last week was filled with former presidents and lipstick-wearing pit bulls. I attended Sen. Barack Obama’s rally with former President Bill Clinton at VCU Oct. 12 and Sen. John McCain’s rally with Gov. Sarah Palin at Richmond International Raceway Oct. 13-and lived to tell the tale.

I was surprised, because I did not think I would make it through Monday’s McCain-Palin rally – featuring everyone’s favorite hockey mom – for many reasons, and I am not talking about how hot it was outside and standing around with no shade.

I really enjoyed both rallies-even though I made an event out of being offended at everything during Monday’s Republican soiree. Going to the two rallies, especially one right after the other is a great opportunity to look at both sides of the issues.

However, I noticed some differences between the two rallies that did not just have to do with political views and location. At the Obama rally, the event started early, which inconvenienced some people, but the crowd was not kept waiting for a long time in-between speakers. There was little negativity towards the McCain-Palin camp and when Clinton spoke, he actually said something of substance.

Now don’t get me wrong, I can see why everyone called Clinton such names as “Charming Billy” for eight years, but when he spoke I did not feel patronized. Instead of just proclaiming that Virginia should help elect Obama in November, he actually gave a speech with background information, and a message other than promoting Obama by being a “Negative Nancy.”

Where I stood at the Obama rally, the crowd was not aggressive or hostile and everyone was friendly towards each other. However, the word aggressive would be too polite for the crowd at the McCain rally.

The crowd would not let people to the front, not even the Commonwealth Times reporters. When people near the front of the amphitheater at RIR were passed, they became aggravated and I even had a woman demand to see my press pass, because she did not believe we were press, and tell me to back up because she had been waiting “two-and-a-half hours to see Ms. Sarah Palin” and I was not going to get in her way.

Instead of kicking her, I just walked away astounded at how I and other CT staff members had gotten yelled at by her and other bystanders simply for trying to meander through the crowd. Granted, at events such as rallies, press is expected to check in very early, but the crowd had no right to be angry with us.

The crowd size was much smaller at VCU, and the Obama rally was at night so there was no hot sun burning down on people, but this also goes to show that the McCain rally could have been organized much better.

The rally was held in an amphitheater adjacent to the actual raceway and grandstands and according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch, there was a crowd between 20,000 and 25,000. Many people could not actually see the podium, which was a big reason for people’s frustration.

As I was walking around the rally, I kept looking at the grandstands and the few people passing out from heat exhaustion and couldn’t help but wonder why the rally could not have simply been held in the grandstands-aside from the fact that doing that would have made the crowd look miniscule.

From what I saw of Palin, she did not have horns or a tail, an element that also added surprise to the day. Although, she did not speak for very long and she got her supporters who were yelling for her to speak louder confused with protestors.

However, in the end, it was all worth it because I got to shake Clinton’s hand and I was able to see my best friend Sarah Palin make a short “speech” and distract the crowd with Hank Williams Jr.