I didn't catch any fainting, but the crowd was an interesting makeup of all kinds of races, ages, and affiliations. Union workers had a presence, specifically SEIU. There were only a few people noticeably in the crowd who were not supporting every word that Obama spoke. A couple sitting next to me seemed to be listening, but not chomping at the bit to hear the next thing that he said. This was surprising because of the enthusiasm from the rest of the crowd. It appeared that they were there to hear what he was about, not to cheer him on. It's great to see Salemites take that kind of interest in politics, even at the federal level. It was not clear whether he won their vote or not.

Obama has a powerful stage presence and kept the audience interested. His jokes had the crowd laughing, and when things got serious they were serious. The presidential voice is strong with him, and it's no wonder that he is where he is today.

Another neighbor of mine made it a point to call all of her family and friends while we were waiting for the Senator to arrive. With nothing better to do I did some investigative eavesdropping. Most of her friends were excited to hear she was about to see Obama. But she met some resistance when she spoke to her parents; her mother specifically was voting for McCain (She responded with: "But he's going to keep us in war!"). When she spoke to her father (probably on an extension) he brought up that Obama's pastor was the reason why he wouldn't vote for him. Her explanation of the pastor situation was somewhat troubling. She said she believed that the pastor was PAID by someone to give that sermon. Obama has laid it out clearly that not only did the pastor say that, and probably still believes what he said, but that a lot of people do. Racism is still alive in this country. Cowering and making up a crazy scenario is the opposite of what Obama stands for.

The presence of anti-abortionists outside the Armory was sort of expected. One sign read "God hates abortions," to which a person walking to get in line retorted, "And God loves war!" That's sort of where the pro-lifer lost it with his retort of "No, but you obviously do!" It's up to you to decide what THAT means. Perhaps the most disturbing aspect was one of the protestors had enlisted the help of a child to carry around a sign with a huge picture of a partially aborted baby.

At least three students arrived with ill-intent. I say students because at least one of them was wearing a Willamette University sweatshirt. There had been a couple wimpy yells coming from the west side of the armory, but because they were so muffled it was unclear what they were trying to say -- positive or negative. Until the end when it became abundantly clear that the interaction was meant to be negative. The students stood in the walkway on the west side, one raising his hand looking like he wanted to ask a question, the other giving a thumbs down. They yelled something uninterpretable, the only words I could make out were "Are you kidding me?" Shortly after the loudest outburst, an Obama volunteer came by and asked them to leave. They seemed to resist for a minute, but then left with the volunteer.

While I left not knowing any more than I already knew about Obama, I can admit that it was nice to hear it live.