Obama Rally 11/05/12

Obama Rally 11/05/12, a photo by andiwolfe on Flickr.

I attended the campaign kick-off rally back in May, and it was my privilege to attend President Barack Obama's final Ohio campaign rally yesterday afternoon. There was an estimated crowd of 15,500 according to the news reports. The crowd was enthusiastic and very patient with all of the delays. I arrived at Nationwide Arena just before 2 pm, but the doors opened at noon, and there was a crowd waiting in line from the early morning hours onward.

Fortunately, I had a campaign office ticket, which meant I didn't have to wait in a line, and I was able to work for much of the day before heading to the rally. I sat in section 119 and had a decent view of the stages, although I was slightly behind the stage where Bruce Springsteen and Jay Z did their sets.

I have been inspired by Barack Obama since I first heard his speech at the 2004 DNC. He has been a president who represents and cares about the majority of citizens in this great country of ours. He represents the demographic of current day USA, whether the conservative GOP pundits want to recognize that or not. When I look out on the audiences of Obama's rallies I see people from every ethnic and religious background, cheering him on and lending their energy to his campaign. When I look at the audiences for Romney and Ryan, I see a bunch of scared and angry old white men, but mostly I just see white skin color - a sea of it, with a lot of hateful messaging to go along with their support.

I've never seen so much spiteful hate in a campaign, and it starts with Fox News, carries on with Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Ann Coulter and Shawn Hannity. Why do people get sucked into this misinformation that is largely misogynistic, bigoted, racist, and full of hate-mongering? I just don't understand how any woman can vote for the GOP ticket when one of their main goals is to take away our rights.

As you can probably tell, I support Barack Obama for president. Whether you agree with me or not isn't relevant, but getting out to vote today is. Exercise your right to vote and please inform yourselves about the issues, the candidates, and the future before you hit that "vote" button.

Here are more pictures from yesterday's rally:

Obama's final Ohio campaign rally

Upper Arlington support of Barack Obama

Labor Day Arts Fest, a photo by andiwolfe on Flickr.

This past Monday at the Labor Day Arts Festival in Upper Arlington, Ohio, there was so much support for President Barack Obama. Here are some of my pics from last Monday:

















All photos by Andi Wolfe ©2012

President Barack Obama

Interlude between blog posts about the campaign rally last Saturday. This is one of the portraits I did of the president during his speech.

President Barack Obama, a photo by andiwolfe on Flickr.

Here is the entire speech, posted on YouTube. I was inspired during the rally, and I found the speech inspiring while watching the video. If you know where to look, you can see me taking photos....

President Obama Campaign Rally - Columbus, Ohio - Part 1

President Barack Obama had his campaign kick-off rally in Columbus, Ohio yesterday. I volunteered to help, and had to be on site at 7 a.m.  I entered volunteer information into a form on my iPad while working the VIP line. All volunteers who had worked on the campaign prior to the rally were eligible for a VIP ticket.  I had mine in hand, but I also volunteered my iPad for the cause.

 

Early on the morning of the rally, the line barricades were set up. This is the area for the VIP line, which is where campaign volunteers lined up to enter the building.

One surely hopes that this is the police check-in line and not a line for donuts....... (just joking around, officers).

The doors to the Schottenstein opened at 10:30 a.m. The building was undergoing a final sweep when all the volunteers arrived to the site.

Carol Mohr is the UA for Obama team leader. She's the one who recruited me to help with the campaign.  She and I volunteered to enter data using our iPads, and we were assigned to work the VIP line. How convenient - when the doors opened, we were already in line.

The VIP line is on the move. Everyone was very patient during the wait and there was a lot of cheering going on all through this area.

This videographer was working the VIP line right at the entrance to the Schott. He wanted to record the hype and so he was shouting "Fired Up!" and the people in line responded "Ready to Go!"

At this point in the line, there were only a couple of dozen feet to go before the security checkpoint. You can see the some of the volunteer VIP line in the background. There were thousands of "fired up" volunteers waiting to get into the arena for the campaign rally.

This was the first campaign rally I've ever attended, and this is the first political campaign I've volunteered to assist. I strongly support President Obama in his re-election campaign. If you're interested in volunteering - just go online and sign-up to help. It's easy to do, and you meet a lot of interesting people.

Mayor Coleman at the Obama rally

Mayor Coleman at the Obama rally, a photo by andiwolfe on Flickr.

Columbus Mayor Michael Coleman welcomed a crowd of 14,000 supporters at yesterday's kick-off rally for President Obama's re-election campaign.

President Barack Obama

President Barack Obama, a photo by andiwolfe on Flickr.

Today I spent all morning volunteering for the Obama campaign, and then attended the campaign rally at the Schottenstein Center at Ohio State University. It was a very inspirational day for me. I'll do a proper blog post soon, but I wanted to post this picture today.