Barack Obama Comes to the Bay State--Long Lines Ensue

People, so many people, mostly young people, people everywhere. There were so many people waiting in line for Senator Barack Obama's rally at the Seaport World Trade Center last night that the campaign turned the queue into a phone bank, handing out lists of voters and asking people to use their cell phones to plead for support. There were so many people waiting in the cold that a nearby Dunkin' Donuts had to prematurely close its doors after it sold every ounce of coffee in stock. So many people.

Like any rock star worth the name, Obama showed up late---although no one really knew what time things were supposed to be starting in the first place. The campaign's invitations said the doors would open at 8 p.m., and this Bostonist showed up at 6:30. By then the line was already several blocks long, and it would soon wind up and down the streets near the waterfront.

After three and a half hours of waiting outside, we were cold, on a first name basis with a lot of new people, and increasingly paranoid that people were cutting in front of us in line. The site was said to hold 8,000, and everyone was worried that they would get left outside.

After finally finding refuge (but no chairs) in the giant conference room, the event itself was well-orchestrated but anti-climactic. There were introductory speeches from Fitchburg mayor Lisa Wong, Governor Deval Patrick, Senator John Kerry, and Senator Ted Kennedy. Obama finally took the mic a few minutes before 11 and gave a compelling address that lasted almost an hour. Still, either sheer exhaustion or the need to get to a soon-closing T station meant that Obama ended his speech to a noticeably diminished crowd.

Obama, as he mentioned several times, owes a huge debt to Boston, where he gave the now famous address at the 2004 Democratic convention that brought him into the national spotlight. Bostonians returned the favor by coming out in massive, Dunkin' Donuts-closing numbers for him last night. It remains to be seen whether that will translate into a victory today, and whether we'll get the feeling back in our toes.