A Texan* For Obama - Sí Se Puede!
On Thursday Night, I along with around 1500 or so Texas Democrats were packed shoulder-to-shoulder in The Grand Ballroom of the Hyatt Regency in downtown Austin.Together, we watched the Presidential Debate between Senators Clinton and Obama on CNN. Afterwards, we heard the music of country singer Kelly Willis followed by short speeches from various State Reps and State Senators. The night concluded with an appearance by Senator Clinton + Chelsea and after a rather lengthy wait, we heard from the rockstar himself, Senator Barack Obama.
Tickets were $50 a pop - my ticket was a Feb. 14 gift. But the cheese was free. And the wine was $7 per glass. Fortunately for my wallet, my years growing up in south Georgia has left me too redneck to be a Wine & Cheese kinda guy.
I'd say that all would agree that it was $50 well spent. It's not often that one gets to stand 15 feet from two high profile Presidential candidates - one of which will undoubtedly be the 44th President of these United States.
A guy behind me filmed the speeches of Senators Clinton and Obama. They are below. My left hand emerges to take a picture at about the 4 minute mark during Obama's speech! To see the handful of half-decent one-handed pictures I was able to take, click here.
Labels: Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton
posted by Big Daddy Weave at 1:00 AM
6 Comments:
On a lighter note, there's a wonderful new Obama meme at http://obamawill.com Very funny!
5:20 AM
It's ironic, isn't it, that Texas is probably the state that will determine who the Democratic nominee for President will be. Hillary can't afford to lose it, and yet, looking at this thing strictly from appearances, Obama's crowds have been decidedly larger and more enthusiastic. Here in Houston, he spoke to 20,000 inside the Toyota center, and they could have given out 40,000 tickets. By contrast, the next night, President Bill could only draw about 2,000 to the Hofheinz Pavilion at the U of H. Obama's crowds in San Antonio, Austin, Dallas-Ft. Worth, and other places have been significantly larger than hers, and in the polls he's gone from 10 down a week ago to dead heat today, with actually a slight lead. I think he'll pull out both Texas and Ohio, though not by the double digits he's had elsewhere, and on March 5 the focus will shift to Obama and McCain.
I'll be voting for Huckabee on March 4th.
9:26 AM
Big Daddy,
Congratulations on getting into the debate. I'd love to see one of those someday.
I'm a McCain guy, but, in the words of Kinky Friedman, "if our electoral process gives us a choice between McCain and Obama, it will have done it's job."
I heard Obama at Reunion Arena in Dallas, and I've never seen a speaker electrify a crowd that way. He'll steamroll The Clintons.
I don't think he'll be able to do that with McCain.
5:44 AM
BDW, Good to see you for Obama.
We need you in Texas. Here in California we fumbled the ball badly.
Can you please persuade your fellow Texan blogger, Texas in Africa, to vote for Obama?
Don't quite understand her reluctance, but she does have a singular point of view.
Carlos
7:26 PM
The perception out there seems to be that Hillary is the easier Democrat to beat in the general election. That's been spread around enough to send some Republicans in Texas to the Democratic early voting to try to help her pull it off. Of course, the Democrats split their votes in proportion to the votes, so she needs more than a close win in both Texas and Ohio to be in position to do anything about Obama's growing lead, and that won't happen. The "crossover votes" won't be enough for her to win in Texas.
It really doesn't matter which Democrat wins the nomination, the GOP will get stomped in November, in both houses and in the race for the White House. I don't believe McCain would come close to Hillary in popular vote, but in the configuration of states needed to win the electoral college, she will "steamroll" him, as will Obama, if nominated. McCain's largest primary wins came in the Northeast, where there will not be any red states in November. The Red States he needs to win, like Florida, Virginia, Missouri, Nevada and Ohio, will all go blue this November, and no blue states will turn around under McCain. He'll probably lose the close ones like New Mexico, Iowa and Arkansas, too, and unless Huckabee's on the ticket, the Dems could pick up close Southern states like Tennessee and North Carolina.
McCain supporters here in Texas have resorted to stealing Huckabee yard signs, especially as Mike's numbers in the polls close in.
I think the only real question left unresolved in November is how big will Obama's coat tails be in Congress. I've heard conservative estimates that the Democrats stand to gain at least 30 seats, and 7 in the Senate. Those are based on conservative poll estimates.
7:25 PM
Hello mate nnice post
7:30 AM
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