John Kerry Rally in Columbus, Ohio

A picture of John Kerry speaking tonight at his rally on the Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. It is not the greatest picture, I'm actually surprised that my camera was able to capture this good of an image.

This is the first real rally that I have ever attended (unless you count a primary speech given by Jerry Brown at UC-Davis during my graduate school days). It was an interesting experience. This tends to be the program of a rally.

1. Loud anthemic rock song - Twisted Sister's, "We're Not Going to Take It"
2. Yelling local politician who no one knows.
3. Yelling local politician who no one knows.
4. Loud anthemic rock song - Bon Jovi, "It's My Life"
5. Loud anthemic rock song (oldies) - Queen, "We Will Rock You"
6. Audience participation song - "Hang on Sloopy" (for you non-Ohio types, it is the official State of Ohio rock song---I kid you not)
7. Yelling statewide politician who some people might know. (Candidate for U.S. Senate Eric Fingerhut). The man had the crowd chanting with him, "Finger.....Hut, Finger......Hut, Finger....Hut." And politicians wonder why we have trouble taking them seriously.
8. Loud anthemic rock song - U2, "Elevation"
9. Hour long pause of silence for crowd to get restless.
10. Loud anthemic rock song - Van Halen, "Right Here, Right Now"
11. Yelling local mayor-Mayor Michael Coleman.
12. Subdued former important politician/person - John Glenn. He gave a good short speech, until he gave a corny introduction of Bruce Springsteen by using Springsteen song titles to make a comparison of John Kerry and Bruce Springsteen. I wonder if before this evening if Glenn had even heard a Springsteen song.
13. Celebrity who large portion of the crowd is there to see-Bruce Springsteen. Sang two lesser known songs acoustically, "Promised Land" and "No Surrender". He gave a great performance that actually sounded very good for a last minute outdoor show.
14. Celebrity introduces the candidate, John Kerry.
15. Crowd cheers and yells.
16. Candidate speaks and crowd cheers in response. Repeat several dozen times.

Overall it was an interesting night, but I don't think I am any more energized about the election than I have been before tonight. It was good to be in a crowd of 40,000 plus Kerry supporters, because sometimes I am worried that right-wing wackos have taken control of Ohio. Well at least for one night I didn't have to think that.