When to arrive at political rally

President Obama is coming to speak to the Iowa town that I am currently working in on Wednesday. I’m interested in seeing him, since I’ve never seen a sitting president live before, and I am anxious to take the opportunity.

Anyway, the metaphorical doors to the event (it’s being held outside) will open at 9:15 in the morning, but who knows when Obama will actually show up. And so my question is: When would be the most reasonable time for me to get there? Do I want to get there insanely early, or would that just be a waste of time? The rumor is that the campaign gave out more tickets to the event than there will be room for, which would tell me to get there a bit earlier, but I don’t actually know if that’s true.

Any advice from people who’ve done this sort of thing before would be most welcome, regarding both the time to arrive and anything else it would be helpful for me to know. I’ll be sure to take pictures in case anyone is interested in that.

(I’m not sure if this thread really goes best in Elections. Mods, please move as appropriate.)

Only presidential candidate I ever saw was George McGovern at a library in a VERY Republican town, so that’s no help, but you’re talking about seeing a very popular POTUS the morning after a big debate? You might want to get in line tonight.

I wanted to attend a rally in Michigan last year and they ran out of tickets. They had to turn back dissapointed people that waited in line for tickets.

Get there now.

I went to the one in Columbus last week. I got there around an hour before the “doors” opened, and there was already a pretty long line ahead of me. It wasn’t really long then, but it was out of sight behind me pretty soon afterwards.

The purpose of the tickets is to get your contact information so they can solicit you for time and money, not to control who gets in. Anybody who showed up last week could get a “ticket” by texting the campaign. I’d expect it to be first-come, first-served in practice.

I saw Clinton last week at my campus. I arrived at 0830, the event started at 11:30, Clinton spoke at ~12:15.

I was really close to the stage, could see perfectly. People who arrived later didn’t have that great of a view. And that was for a small rally. If it’s the president I’m sure it’s going to be even more packed.

Saw Obama in FL this year and we got there about 2 hours before he was due to show. This put us about 200th in line to get in. About 400-500 got in so we were fine. There are always more tickets given out, we had VIP passes because we work for the campaign. The types were, Preferred, VIP, regular and walk up. No walk ups got in and only about half the regular tickets got in. If you are not VIP or preferred, get there 4 hours early to be at the head of the regular or walk up seat line.

I saw him in Seminole in August, doors opened at 9 and we were there at 7:30. There were about 50 bajillion people in line already. I think they had camped out the night before. The line moved quickly once it began moving, but that took another 30-40 minutes. Once inside, we were really too far away to see anything but there were about 10,000 people there (actual number), and they had given tickets out three days earlier (there was a line for that too). So the real answer is, it depends on how close you want to be to see anything. If you want to be right up there, get there at 3am. If you don’t mind being far away and just want to attend the event, get there at 7:30.

And pray for an open public toilet nearby. :smiley:

Thanks for everyone’s advice. I will use it to good measure tomorrow morning. Past that, I will let everyone know how it goes.

I’m here at the really. My seat is excellent. Some of my friends are even going to be seated on the stage. I wasn’t photogenic enough. I well post more later but typing on my phone is a pain.

Here is my rundown of the event:

The time to get in line to the event was about 6 am. Pretty much everyone who got there at that point not only got into the event, but had decent position, either a seat in the bleachers or a standing spot close to the stage. There were three levels of tickets. Yellow tickets were for the standing area immediately around the stage, and it was these people who got the opportunity to shake Obama’s hand. Then there were red and blue tickets. I had blue, which was general admission, but I have no idea what red was for. There were very few of these red tickets, and some of the holders of these tickets got to enter the arena fifteen minutes before everybody else, but the rest of them entered with the blue tickets. So, I’m not quite sure what the distinction was.

All in all, there weren’t too many people there. The gym was large enough to hold a full basketball court and maybe eight rows of bleachers all on one side. And everything was filled except for the stage and the photography and television camera area. So, it wasn’t that big a venue. There was however a spillover area where you could see the president on a giant screen, and there were a few people in it, but not all that many. The vast majority of attendees got into the main arena to see Obama with their actual eyes.

Security was efficient. It was similar in some ways to security at the airport, but it wasn’t all that showy. It was handled by both TSA and Secret Service people. You weren’t allowed to bring in any large bags, which probably helped things a bit, but there were none of those stupid machines, and the process was fast. I couldn’t help but wonder if this were what a reasonably tight security checkpoint would be like, without security theater. I can’t say for sure, though. Maybe they just trust Iowans. (Many attendees simply left their bags outside, fully expecting them to still be there when they left the arena three hours later. And they were. That is something this Californian’s mind would never consider.)

It was interesting to gauge the reactions of the audience to the local congressional representatives, because I have no knowledge of any of them. The senator, Tom Harkin, got a huge ovation, right up there with what Obama himself got. He seems very well liked, although I don’t know why. A local federal representative (although I don’t think the one for Mount Vernon himself because he seemed fairly young and David Loebsack seems rather old) got some boos. I don’t really know why.

Obama’s speech itself played up on his strengths at the debate last night, as you might expect. The 47% didn’t work its way into it, but the binder of women most certainly did. He also talked a bit more about education, again, as you might expect, than he did at the debate, trying to show how he helped make college affordable for more students. The repeal of “don’t ask don’t tell” got a huge ovation, but healthcare reform got much less. It was almost awkward, which is why I was a bit surprised that Obama said that he liked the name Obamacare. “I’m Obama and I care.” It’s a straightforward and reasonable claim, but a bit strange given the tone of the room.

I also have to say that I was surprised by the duration of the speech. He spoke for about 25 minutes. Which for me seems like not all that long of a time. It’s hard for me to believe that it made sense to fly all the way from Washington to Iowa on Air Force One and then to drive, presumably, to Mount Vernon, just to talk to half an hour.

I have pictures on Photobucket. They’re not that interesting, but I said I’d provide them. Here’s the link: Photobucket | Make your memories fun!

All in all, it was an interesting experience, and one I’m glad I’ve had. I had the opportunity to listen to Clinton speak when I was in college, but I didn’t take it, and I’ve regretted that almost immediately. (This was the time that Air Force One got stuck in the mud in Champaign, Illinois.) So, going to see this president was a most serendipitous opportunity that kind of makes up for that poor decision of mine.

Party members, I suppose.