Yesterday I went to the campaign rally for Jim Pederson, who is trying to take Jon Kyl's seat in the U.S. Senate. The special guest speaker was Senator Barack Obama of Illinois. Obama really stole the show, but I suppose that was what he was supposed to do. Most of the people were there to see him, but at least people are more aware of Pederson now.

Obama spoke for a few minutes. What he said was nothing I haven't heard him say before, but that was okay. He is a fantastic speaker. I can really see people getting behind him if he does decide to run for President or Vice President someday. He is certainly a breath of fresh air compared with stuffy, boring politicians (I'm looking at you, John Kerry). He is left-handed as well, which makes him infinitely cooler. The crowd was very optimistic as a whole. If we don't take back Congress in 2006, I will be very disappointed.

After the speeches, Obama greeted the crowd. I was surprised with how long he stayed. He shook hands with nearly everone afterward (including me) and he signed autographs for nearly everyone who wanted one (including my copy of his book). Poor Pederson had a much smaller crowd around him, but I met him as well. One of the pictures I took of him made him look like Don Rickles. I don't know if that is a good thing or not.

I also videotaped Obama's speech with my camera. Unfortunately, the file size is 565MB. I have no idea how to edit it. It's a good thing I have that 1 gig memory card.



Terry Goddard, Congressman Raul Grijalva, Jim Pederson, Senator Barack Obama




Senator Barack Obama




Barack Obama greets the crowd after the event.

posted by Jonathan @ 9:43 AM Sunday, November 13, 2005   
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