Obama @ Waterfront Park

PacificNW · #1 Posted **May 18, 2008, 7:04 PM**

Anyone, who is attending, going to take pictures? This event is suppose to draw a huge crowd.

pdxman · #2 Posted **May 18, 2008, 8:01 PM**

^^^The line is so long its amazing. I walked down there this morning and walked around the area to see how bad it was gonna be and I couldn't even find the end of the line. The line must've been wrapped around 10-15 blocks of DT. It should be packed!

I'll just watch it online.

PacificNW · #3 Posted **May 18, 2008, 10:41 PM**

CNN reported over 50,000 people gathered to see and hear B. Obama. It also stated that this was the largest "outdoor" rally of the campaign season.

sopdx · #4 Posted **May 18, 2008, 11:23 PM**

Awesome! We always have huge rallies. I think it says a lot about our community.

pdxman · #5 Posted **May 18, 2008, 11:41 PM**

Now they are saying the official estimates to be around 60,000 inside the gates with an additional 15,000 who were not able to get in. Thats big!

nobody · #6 Posted **May 18, 2008, 11:46 PM**

I rode down there apparently right when it was getting out and the streets were just completely mobbed with people leaving. It was bananas and also really awesome to see, I was impressed.

pdxman · #7 Posted **May 18, 2008, 11:48 PM**

Here's a pic from Obama's website:

www.barackobama.com

From the O about the line for the rally:

Obama Rally: The Line
Posted by Dave Hogan May 18, 2008 16:41PM

How bad did people want to see Sen. Barack Obama on Sunday? Here's where one line was at 2:30 p.m. when his speech was scheduled to begin in Portland's Waterfront Park. Thousands of people were still waiting - often in the hot sun - to get in - or at least get close, but first they had to snake along this route:

Up Columbia Street to Fourth Avenue, north one block to Jefferson, east to Third Avenue, north another block to Madison, east to Second Avenue, in front of the Justice Center and north to Salmon Street (heavy breathing here while we get our second wind). OK. West for six blocks along Salmon to the Hilton Hotel, across the front of the Hilton, across Broadway to Columbia Sportswear, with the end of the line in front of where the Taste of Bali Restaurant was.

That was at 2:30, usually with the sidewalks filled with people four to five across. Forty minutes later, Steven Kassing of Portland was finally approaching Waterfront Park on Columbia Street. The line had been even longer at noon when he, his wife, their one-year-old and his mother-in-law got in it, starting by Pioneer Place. By the time they finally neared the Willamette River, Obama had already been speaking for 10 minutes. But here's the amazing thing: They had zero complaints.

"Now it looks like we're going to show up just when he's done," Kassing said. "But it's worth it."
The Kassings were smiling and saying how excited they were to see so many people fired up about Obama and to be participating in something historic. "I got excited three blocks down when I could just hear him talk," Kassing said.

At 3:10 p.m., Kassing figured they had walked 22 blocks. But they weren't grousing. "I love to see so many people support him," his wife, Mayte Kassing, added.

-- Dave Hogan; davehogan@news.oregonian.com

PacificNW · #8 Posted **May 19, 2008, 12:24 AM**

Incredible! He must have an incredibly positive impression of Oregon and Portland in particular....

pdxman · #9 Posted **May 19, 2008, 12:54 AM**

Another incredible picture, this time from the New York Times:

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2.../index.html?hp

PacificNW · #10 Posted **May 19, 2008, 1:17 AM**

Here is a video link of his speech:

http://www.nwcn.com/video/index.html?nvid=246479

Sekkle · #11 Posted **May 19, 2008, 1:34 AM**

That NYT photo is amazing. I heard the Decemberists were going to be playing down there before the rally. True?

bvpcvm · #12 Posted **May 19, 2008, 1:46 AM**

this is so awesome. i think it's pretty clear he's going to clobber hillary here.

dante2308 · #13 Posted **May 19, 2008, 1:50 AM**

I need to move to Portland...

pdxskyline · #14 Posted **May 19, 2008, 2:06 AM**

I managed to get downtown and saw the Obama rally today, however the closest we could get to see it was climbing up onto the Hawthorne Bridge. I did get a glimpse of him, but from the back. Those who had been there a while said that he had to turn around so he could acknowledge the onlookers on the bridge. It was surreal that when you went away from the Waterfront, you could hear his speech echo off the buildings a couple blocks away and you could hear his voice bounce off the bridge. There were tons of people there!

It was, for the most part, between Mcall's and the Hawthorne Bridge. The south side of the bridge was closed off. However the north side was so jammed with onlookers that it was hard to walk across and it stretched all the way across to the eastside! I noticed that they had to close Front Avenue to handle the overflow and it also stretched as far back as RiverPlace. There were also tons of boats in the river around the rally with onlookers.

Just yesterday, Bill Clinton had a Hillary event at Scapoose High School, which I heard about just that morning. Two friends of mine and I went, but it was a much smaller rally. The neat thing was that here was a former president, so close that we could wave at him. But contrasting that event to the Obama rally shows that among Democrats, Obama clearly has taken the Willamette Valley, and likely Oregon, by a big margin.

What a weekend to witness history is my take on all of this.

tworivers · #15 Posted **May 19, 2008, 2:18 AM**

That was pretty incredible. Portland...

I'll post some pics tomorrow if no one else does. We were right in the middle of the bowl.

And yes, the Decemberists played for quite a long time.

Oh yeah, and as we were biking around downtown beforehand, were drawn over to Mother's Bistro by a sizable Secret Service contingent, thinking it might be Obama. But no, it was Bill and Chelsea Clinton having brunch!

PacificNW · #16 Posted **May 19, 2008, 2:21 AM**

From the AP and KATU:

pdxman · #17 Posted **May 19, 2008, 2:54 AM**

Hey tworivers, how early did you get in line?

MOPIdaho · #18 Posted **May 19, 2008, 4:24 AM**

Not the best pic due to the moving car.

CUclimber · #19 Posted **May 19, 2008, 5:35 AM**

That was a fun way to spend the afternoon.

My brother, my girlfriend, and I rode our bikes down and found a great place to listen to the Decemberists for a while, before taking off to ride a lap around the river and through downtown. We got back at a little before 3 and positioned ourselves right in front of the hotel that's at the left edge of that last picture.

Obama was a pretty small speck in the distance across all those people, but his voice was loud and clear. I had a feeling a lot of people would come out for this, but I was still surprised at the support he received.

pdxtraveler · #20 Posted **May 19, 2008, 1:51 PM**

CRAZY! I almost went out of morbid curiosity! It does look like it was a great event and I guess I will have to get on board for November.. Until then go Hillary!