Missed Michelle Obama in Gainesville, These Pictures Make You Feel Like You Were There

Published by Andrew Wise on October 23, 2008

So little old Gainesville, with a population of 115,000, drew 11,000 or about 10% of the entire city, people to the downtown rally infront of Gainesville’s Hippodrone theather for Michelle Obama’s speech.

On October 22nd, 2008, the narrow strip right along 1st avenue, downtown, just infront of the Hippodrone packed in 11,000 Obama supporters.

The balcony outside our office was supposed to accommodate about 50 people, but somehow we ended up with 300 or so spectators.

True to political fashion, Michelle’s arrival was a little late, as I heard she was held up in Jacksonville, but once she began speaking, the crowd roared and cheered “Obama, Obama, Obama,” just like you saw on those McCain “attack” commercials.

Michelle told us about her personal story: her father was a blue-collar fireman, who never went to college, and neither did her mother. Her father was stricken with MS, but still worked every day of his life.

They worked to give Michelle the opportunity to attend Princeton for Undergrad, and then Harvard Law School. She is the working class example America is so proud of, and Michelle was a very impressive speaker.

She closed her speech, and then proceeded to shake hands in the crowd. This being my first political rally, it almost felt like a Gators’ football game, there was the big crowd, the cheering, and everyone was so happy..

Now, for those of you who missed it, here are more pictures from her appearance.