Roadtrip! Springfield, IL

by: Hopeful

Sun Aug 24, 2008 at 01:01:53 PM EDT

(Actually, except for the shirt, that was my plan all along. The Obama campaign provided Blue Jersey with media credentials.)

My wife, from Hawaii, donned her Hawaii shirt.  We were fired up! (She was excited because she went to high school a block away from Obama, but had never heard him speak.) We drove all night, it was a beautiful drive. The radio confirmed the choice was Biden somewhere in Ohio as the Sun rose.  It seemed like nearly every car in Illinois had an Obama sticker.  The Midwest farmland looks great but Salem County is more beautiful.

We miraculously found a place to park a block from Abraham Lincoln's house.  Everyone noted our New Jersey plates and commented on our shirts, even the park rangers.  Our media credential got us past the enormous line, and allowed us to stand behind the army of photographers, cameramen, and reporters, as well as a small tree:

We were mixed in with Obama volunteers so we were able to cheer as much as we liked.  Obama clearly laid out why he chose Joe Biden. The crowd cheered for Biden -- you can't tell from the TV how loud it was -- and went wild for every attack on McCain.  Most of the crowd stayed long afterwards as the candidates and their wives mingled and shook hands.

The Old Capitol made a spectacular backdrop:

Oddly enough, later in Missouri we met a pipe-smoking, self-proclaimed Florida independent voter who wanted to talk about the election. He immediately repeated the McCain houses story.  He also said he voted for Bush, but we need change.  He ended by saying "People say Reagan was a great President, but the first thing he did was rob Social Security."  He kind of seemed like a young Mark Twain.

Next stop: Denver, CO.