Obama, originally uploaded by jsrcyclist.
This past Friday I went to my first political candidate rally of the election year. Jessica Savidge, Danny Hammontree, and I attended the Barack Obama Rally at the Bank Atlantic Center in Sunrise, Florida. I have to say, going part as press and part as a supporter, I did not know whether to clap at times or press my camera shutter release button. We arrived with the main press corps at about 1:00. Even at that early hour, there were still thousands of Obama supporters lined up at the front of the arena. After linking up with a Sun Sentinel reporter, we found our way to the press entrance at the back of the building. The area was buzzing with Secret Service officers and BSO officers. They instructed us to set our equipment down on the ground so the police dogs could sniff around. After we passed the sniff test, we were ushered inside the arena, and escorted through the metal detectors. A Secret Service officer then gave us each and Obama ‘08 press pass and explained to us “the rules” as he walked us out onto the main arena floor. And then, the waiting game began. There was a good hour or so of mic checks, equipment checks for the opening band, etc.
More to come soon!
