tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8821860064089117084.post-56660539985605071842008-03-22T16:28:00.000-07:002008-04-04T21:41:27.390-07:00<style type="text/css">.nobr br { display: none }; </style><br /><div class="nobr"><br /><p><br /><table id="rp_picture_table" style="border: 0px none ; margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 20px; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0pt; float: right;"><br /><tbody><tr style="padding: 0px;"><br /><td style="padding: 0px;"><img style="width: 270px; height: 202px;" class="picture" src="http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y289/tecknopuppy/4.jpg" border="0" /></td></tr><br /><tr style="padding: 0px;"><br /><td class="caption" style="padding: 0px; width: 300px;"><br /><p class="caption-text" style="margin: 3px 5px; font-size: 80%; line-height: 110%;">Line around Mac Court</p></td></tr></tbody></table>The highlight of yesterday for the democratic presidential frontrunner, Barack Obama, was the endorsement and praise from New Mexcio’s Governor, Bill Richardson. Barack Obama has been the talk of the media the last few days with his 5000+ word speech which directly addressed the issue of race to try and soothe the controversy brought up over the Senator’s Reverend.<br /></p><p>Barack later then made a pit stop in Eugene, Oregon at Mac Court around 9pm. The stadium holds 9,000 people in which people were lined around the entire block both ways with people apparently standing in line since 6am in the morning, according The Oregonian. </p><br /><table id="rp_picture_table" style="border: 0px none ; margin-top: 10px; float: right; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 20px; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0pt;"><br /><tbody><tr style="padding: 0px;"><br /><td style="padding: 0px;"><img style="width: 270px; height: 202px;" class="picture" src="http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y289/tecknopuppy/1-3.jpg" border="0" /></td></tr><br /><tr style="padding: 0px;"><br /><td class="caption" style="padding: 0px; width: 300px;"><br /><p class="caption-text" style="margin: 3px 5px; font-size: 80%; line-height: 110%;">Security</p></td></tr></tbody></table><p>The scene was quite eerie as the security guards, Eugene City Police, and the Secret Service all paraded around the crowd to show their dominance in authority. Security guards made their rounds around the barricades and searched the crowd with metal detectors as well as padding down everyone in the front line. </p><br /><p>I didn’t make it out to the line until around 7pm which was when the doors were slated to<br />open. <table id="rp_picture_table" style="border: 0px none ; margin-top: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 20px; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0pt; float: right;"><br /><tbody><tr style="padding: 0px;"><br /><td style="padding: 0px;"><img class="picture" src="http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y289/tecknopuppy/Obama.jpg" border="0" height="202" width="270" /></td></tr><br /><tr style="padding: 0px;"><br /><td class="caption" style="padding: 0px; width: 300px;"><br /><p class="caption-text" style="margin: 3px 5px; font-size: 80%; line-height: 110%;">Barack Obama</p></td></tr></tbody></table>The whole stadium filled up by 8:15 pm and there were thousands of people that were left out in the cold. I was one of the thousands that almost made it to the door, nonetheless, I was able to make it to the front part of the barricades in hopes of seeing a glimpse of Barack Obama on his way into the stadium. Thousands of die hard Obama fans waited until 9pm when he made a quick 10 minute speech to acknowledge the crowd. The Secret Service in particular were like robots while they surrounded Obama as he made his rounds around the crowd. As he proceeded to circle the crowd and shake peoples hands, of which I had the pleasure, he raised the spirit of his supporters. </p><br /><p>Although I didn’t get to see Obama’s speech on the inside of the stadium it was well worth getting to see him up close. The feeling of the crowd really invigorates and inspires the masses, especially young people. </p><br /><p>Oregon doesn’t get to vote for the primary until May 20<span style="vertical-align: super;font-size:xx-small;" >th</span>, which is two whole months away. With the democratic nominee still up for grabs with Hillary Clinton fighting the good fight, Oregonians may actually get to see their vote count.<br /></p><br /><a href="http://technorati.com/faves?sub=addfavbtn&amp;add=http://www.oregonecology.com"><img src="http://static.technorati.com/pix/fave/btn-fave2.png" /></a> <a href="http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php" onclick="window.open('http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?wt=nw&pub=tecknopuppy&url='+encodeURIComponent(location.href)+'&title='+encodeURIComponent(document.title), 'addthis', 'scrollbars=yes,menubar=no,width=620,height=520,resizable=yes,toolbar=no,location=no,status=no,screenX=200,screenY=100,left=200,top=100'); return false;" title="Bookmark using any bookmark manager!" target="_blank"><img src="http://s9.addthis.com/button1-bm.gif" alt="AddThis Social Bookmark Button" border="0" height="16" width="125" /></a></div>JTnoreply@blogger.com