Wow, that was unexpected! I got an email on Monday saying Obama was going to be in Española, New Mexico. Why he’s going there, I have no idea (although Hillary stumped there during the primaries). I clicked the link, RSVPed, and took a day of vacation tomorrow. Española is a town of 10,000 in northern New Mexico. There is a large Hispanic population and culture, and a lot of residents work at Los Alamos National Labs. It will be interesting to see if he talks about his energy policy at all, and his plans and thoughts about the future of the Lab.
I’ve never gone to see a politician speak, and I’m really looking forward to this! I’ll let you guys know how it goes when I get to a computer. I haven’t been this excited since I went to my first opera a few months ago!
Awesome 
Can you grab me a bumper-sticker? I’ve managed to forget all three times I’ve contributed…:smack:
That was pure awesome, but I’ll talk about the parts I didn’t like first (just like Obama did).
Gates opened at 10:30, which is when I got there, and the line was literally 1.5 miles long! I couldn’t believe it. Luckily the crowd was very diverse, and I had quite a few political and nonpolitical conversations while we waited. It was hotter than heck, and I really disliked waiting so long after the first speaker before we got to see Obama. The crowd was a bit more lackadaisical than I expected, due in large part to the northern New Mexican sun. When he finally started his speech, he spent the first 1/4 of it ragging on McCain. I was hoping for more of a positive message, but I had to admit some lines were pretty funny: “McCain says the fundamentals of our economy are strong; well, he’s fundamentally wrong.” and “McCain keeps stealing all my lines (change, et. al.), but I wish he would start stealing some of my ideas.”
The good news is there was plenty of free bottled water passed around and I got to see Governor Richardson for the first time in person. I felt the spirit and goodness that Obama emanates, it was odd, it kind of pulsed through my body from the back of my neck down through my arms and legs. His positive messages were spot on. When he started talking about things he wanted to change, I thought he was dead on. It was very inspirational, and made me proud that Española hosted a rally of 10,000 people; equaling it’s population.
Sorry, Cookies, no bumper stickers were procured at the rally. 
I’ll be donating soon, though, so if they send me one I’d be happy to forward it to ya.
Yeah, those rallies are big fun. They can be a big pain in the ass to put on, too.
Glad you had a good time. Now go volunteer in your local office.