35K Attend Obama Rally in Springfield, MO

Barack Obama, his wife and daughters attended a rally tonight at a high school football stadium in Republican stronghold Springfield, MO. This is John Ashcroft's and Roy Blunt's home. This is the headquarters of the Assemblies of God churches. This is where Jerry Fallwell went to Bible college.

The Springfield school district estimates a crowd of 35 to 40 THOUSAND people crowded into ever nook, cranny and cubbyhole in the stadium. It has seating for 8,000. Five times that number came to hear Obama.

Here's a Google map satellite view:

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Photos of the rally after the jump.

People began showing up at 5 a.m. for a rally set to begin at 9 p.m. The line stretched two (2) miles! People had to wait in line for hours, then walk two miles, then stand for a few more hours to see the Democratic presidential nominee. If you don't live in a very, very red section of the country, I'm not sure you can understand the significance of this. I live here and I'm not sure I understand what happened.


Amber Arnold/ Springfield News-Leader

Someone posted this video of people waiting in line:




Some came from Oklahoma, like (from left) Alyssa Siers, 15, and her mom, Tressy.


Amber Arnold/ Springfield News-Leader


Even the rednecks came.


Amber Arnold/ Springfield News-Leader

There were some very happy Democrats.


Amber Arnold/ Springfield News-Leader

Including Betty Burk, of Fair Grove, MO


Bob Linder/ Springfield News-Leader

The late hour made it difficult to get a good photo to show the size of the crowd. Here's the best one I've found.


Amber Arnold/ Springfield News-Leader

I don't think Obama can win in southwest Missouri, but I do believe he's putting a scare into the Republican machine here. And that can only mean good things for the future.

Can Obama win Missouri? I think so, and evidently so does the Obama campaign. Democratic vice presidential nominee Joe Biden and his wife, Jill will be in the Kansas City suburb of Lee's Summit Monday morning. Sen. Hillary Clinton will be in the St. Louis suburb of St. Charles later that day. And all of this is forcing the McCain campaign to send Sarah Palin back to Missouri Monday for a rally at the state capitol in Jefferson City. A few months ago Missouri was a slam-dunk for McCain. Now he's making campaign visits here the day before the election.

For about a year now I've been thinking America might need a second revolution to take the country back from the neo-cons who were destroying her. I'd been thinking of an armed revolution. Now I see I was wrong. There IS a revolution taking place, and not a single shot has been fired.