McCain at the Rally

Today, Morgan and I got up at 5:00 am (yes, that says 5:00 am) to go to the McCain rally in Tampa. We left the house at 5:40 am and got there at 6:10 am. Uncle Mark was already in line, and we were happy to see him. The line is moving slowly due to security checks. The website says that the rally is from 6 - 9. Well, apparently, they forgot to tell McCain that. :)'

I had told Morgan about Papa taking us to see Ronald Reagan when I was a child. He also took us to see John Glenn and even Geraldine Ferrarro. I have seen both Bush presidents speak, and I even saw Al Gore in Tennessee. The Reagan Rally is what started my love of politics. My best friend at the time, Nicole Murray, was the niece of Jimmy Carter. I loved hearing Reagan speak, and I went and told Nicole ALL about why he would be a great president (remember, this is 3rd grade). She was NOT happy with me. Obviously, she thought Jimmy Carter was the best. We had a student election at school, and we didn't speak for several days. She finally forgave me for putting Reagan down on my paper. A love of politics was born. :)

So, I was thrilled when Morgan said she wanted to go - even more shocking since it was at 6 am, and I thought she wouldn't miss any school since it would be over at 9 (she starts school at 9:40). So, we stood there for over 3 hours waiting for him to arrive. There were bleachers behind the podium, and we could have gone there because of Morgan, but Mark and I thought it would be better to be looking at him when he spoke. If we had known that it was going to be 3 hours, we might not have made that decision. :) The people around us were very nice though, and the cheers were very fun. We especially loved, "We want a HERO, not a ZERO!"

I had forgotten what a production a rally is. There was a guy who made sure that an equal number of pom-poms were there. The signs were handed out as you weren't allowed to bring in signs. Secret Service yanked some people outside and they didn't come back. One man who we dubbed Joe the Plumber, was taken out but he got to come back in. If anyone had anything Obama or negative, they had to leave.

Several people spoke, mainly local reps and a local business owner, and then the bus arrived. Alscott spoke, Charlie Crist spoke, and then McCain. McCain did a great job. Morgan got to stand right in the front (maybe 5 feet from McCain), and she loved it.

After the rally, he came by the crowd quickly, but he didn't sign her sign. She was disappointed, but she still had fun. Even knowing that he probably won't win, it was fun to go and see him.