AlchemyToday

A quick update from going to DC February 5th and hitting Obama’s Baltimore rally on the 11th;

Rally pregame:

After taking the metro to 1st Mariner Arena and waiting in line in the cold with a handful of a few thousand folks not quite fired up enough to take it without hot coffee, made it inside (did not make it to the floor due to snafu of some sort… boo) to check out the setup.

Baltimore Metro: the least crowded subway system in America

Line to get in.


Less than half of the floor was used.

But the stands nearly filled up.

Now it was up to the crowd to keep things alive. That and a 14-year-old violin phenom, the cheery Obama MD political coordinator, Shiela Dixon, and a few enthusiastic kids successfully engineering the wave around the arena.

Great violinist

Shiela gets folks fired up, but only for like 5 minutes?

The wave! Unfortunately did not get a pic of the bejerseyed kid who was so pleased that he succeeded with this.

Next came the Man himself, and the place blew up (not literally; we had Secret Service).

A fiery intro from Elijah Cummings

Working the ropeline (animated GIF)

O cracks them up with his new stand-up routine.

Can you spot the self-proclaimed Republican? Made himself known when Obama told the story about someone coming up to him and going, “pssssst…. I’m a Republican and I’m voting for you!” To which he replied, “Thanks. Why are we whispering?”

I had to book it right before the crescendo to make it back to work in time, so here’s a shot of the whole crowd.

And now, the afterglow (downtown Baltimore isn’t that bad!)

Scene of the crime.

Beautiful (if cold) moonlit night.

And a few shots from DC earlier in the week.