I Don’t Hate America!

1:18: LIVE FROM MINNEAPOLIS, this is DJ Danielson liveblogging from the Target Center. LINES OUTSIDE WERE HUGE! I’m sure this will be an event I will tell my grandchildren about someday. Doors are set to open in about 10 minutes.

1:24: Place is still buzzing. Situated with me on bloggers row are Flash, Jeff Fecke and Sean Broom. I’m right next to a gentleman from ABC Radio.

1:28: One last sound check. You can also get coverage over at the Uptake.

1:30: IEEK! Fox News Radio is to my right! AS IF!?

1:31: Lights are up; I can only assume doors will open any minute.

1:34 I don’t think doors are open yet, but the press risers (which I am right behind) are getting full, not sure how much I’ll be able to see!

1:57: In a scare to this and many other bloggers, wireless internet was down for a while. BOO! But it is back up. On the risers as well are Ollie Ox and Joe Bodell. I also met a nice lady named Corissa who is covering this event for MTV. People are now coming in; no idea when the event is set to start.

2:03: Wireless is spotty still, but I will try and update the best I can. The gentleman from ABC Radio just filed his report as state Sen. Patricia Torres-Ray walked by. Meanwhile, I will continue to soak in this electric atmosphere.

2:09: Also spotted is Minneapolis Mayor and big Obama supporter R.T. Ryabk. He debated Tarryl Clark, DFL Asst. Senate Majority Leader on Almanac last night. Lower bowl is about 1/3 full. With the secret service and metal detectors here, I’m sure it takes a while to get through the doors. Oh, and pardon the sentence fragments today!

2:26: What is Hillary Clinton thinking: 4pm at Augsburg? No offense to any of my friends who attend Augsburg, but for real? During the Super Bowl?

2:30: I’ve come to the realization I’m not going to be able to see a damn thing once this starts (the half the arena opposite the stage is beginning to fill; next will be the upper deck) and that’s fine by me. Earth, Wind and Fire is playing on the PA system: sweet!

2:32: Cotton candy and mini donuts for sale. Rats, I’m out of cash!

2:36: Congressman Keith Ellison is in the house.

2:44: Folks starting to enter the upper deck. No idea when this is set to start.

3:04: Just a guess, the upper about 1/3rd full. An unnamed mainstream media source just told me Barack Obama landed at the airport. It’s gonna be a while.

3:10: The band Golden Smog was just introduced and is now playing. I guess they are big supporters of Sen. Obama. Cool.

3:20: The crowd is doing the Wave as the camera follows. Not quite restless yet, but this crowd is energized.

3:16: ROCK FOR BARACK. That is catchy.

3:34: Traveling bus press has arrived. Tons of men walking around talking to receivers on their collars; presumably secret service. I would assume the Senator is nearby or here.

3:39: As the traveling press corps plugs into the wireless it becomes more spotty so bear with me. The jumbotron is showing supporters and they yell wildly when the focus of the camera.

3:43: “Fired up, ready to go!” The chant emerges. Two of Obama’s field directors are welcoming the crowd and reminding the crowd to caucus. The end of the arena facing the stage on the upperdeck is about full and the portion behind the stage is about half full.

4:12: RT Rybak, Betty Mccollum and Keith Ellison are on stage. I’m going to step away from the computer for a better view; wireless is slow anyway.\

4:54: Heckuva speech so far. Wide ranging topics from education to the war to health care.

5:13:  This concludes the liveblog.  I’ll have more later when I arrive home.

This entry was posted on Saturday, February 2nd, 2008 at 2:19 pm and is filed under Obama, DJ D.. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.