Me & Obama....Today.

When he announced he'd be in Des Moines today to make up for a missed date last week when he went to see his ailing Grandma, Toot (who I am praying for to make it to see her son become President!), I emailed a friend of mine w/ the campaign asking about potential seating for someone w/ a small child. I took my daughter in May to see him and it was tough being in a huge crowd with her, so small, not able to see....etc etc. She did me one better and hooked me, my ex husband and my daughter up w/ VIP tickets!

The rally was 5 blocks from the shop so we closed up and walked over this morning. The line was a couple blocks long but moved quickly, we got through the metal detectors w/ TSA checking our stuff and went right up front. I got a cool pic of a sharp-shooter beneath a HUGE American flag that would have blocked him from where we were but a breeze blew it up....notice the girl in her apartment window below the sniper......

With 25,000 people in attendance, our Governor, Chet Culver, spoke...as did Senator Tom Harkin, congressman Leonard Boswell and a dem. running for Congress, Becky Greenwald. A highlight was when Iowa native and world reknowned opera singer, Simon Estes, sang the Star Spangled Banner....people were literally weeping it was so beautiful.....

And then Barack came out!!

There was a runway down the center of the crowd he walked and then came back up front to speak.....

Shot of the crowd, I didn't take this.....

At the end he actually walked down to the front of the barrier so people could speak to him...I was about 5 rows back and made it my mission to get the sign my daughter made for him up there into his hands. I left my daughter w/ my ex and pushed through to get to him...handed him the sign, he looked at it and smiled (it was total chaos up there), and handed it to an assistant who tucked it into a folder!!! My daughter was so proud and excited!

The speech was incredible, it was an overwhelming experience to be that close to someone so brilliant....someone who (crossing fingers!) will be the next President of the United States!!! The speech can be seen here, if anyone wants to see it....

http://tinyurl.com/6lo9na

Also, another girl that came into the shop during the caucus was Hope Hall, who is a film maker. She is extremely talented and as it turned out, she made the film they played at the DNC before Obama's acceptance speech, you can see it here...

http://tinyurl.com/68qzjg

Its pretty fantastic to live in Iowa during a presidential campaign, even more so during this epic moment!!!

Ang