Photos: President Obama Kicks off Campaign Rally in Ohio

Posted on May 5, 2012 by SouthernGirl2

About SouthernGirl2

A Native Texan who adores baby kittens, loves horses, rodeos, pomegranates, & collect Eagles. Enjoys politics, games shows, & dancing to all types of music. Loves discussing and learning about different cultures. A Phi Theta Kappa lifetime member with a passion for Social & Civil Justice.
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26 Responses to Photos: President Obama Kicks off Campaign Rally in Ohio

  1. SouthernGirl2 says:
    May 5, 2012 at 10:10 pm

    The GOP Problem, In Pictures

    http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2012/5/5/14242/40068

    In 2008, the McCain campaign knew they had a major charisma and excitement deficit. Their candidate was old and cranky, and unloved by the base of the party. Barack Obama was not only filling stadiums of excited voters in America, he was doing it in Europe, too. First they tried to bring Obama back to Earth by comparing him to Paris Hilton. Then they tried to change the game by selecting Sarah Palin as his running mate. Here’s a visual representation of the problem the GOP was dealing with four years ago.

    Flash forward to the present, and the Republicans are stuck with the exact same problem. They are going to nominate a flat-out dork. A dork who is also unloved by the base of the party, or anyone else outside of his immediate family. Here’s a visual presentation of the problem the Republicans are facing now:

    Reply
  2. rikyrah says:
    May 5, 2012 at 8:51 pm

    a report from the Virginia rally at TOD:

    PoliticalJunkessa
    May 5, 2012 at 9:42 pm

    Okay, TOD Family. Here’s my account of today’s rally in Richmond, Virginia. I’ll repost in case Chips changes threads….

    I arrived at the VCU Siegel Center at just after 12 noon. There was already a sizable, but not discouragingly so, crowd of people waiting in neat lines. The weather was very warm, however the cloud cover made it bearable. Thankfully, the first rain drops didn’t fall until *just* as we were entering the building — about 2:45pm.

    There were all kinds of people on line — I met some great people, including a retired, African-American, female AirForce vet and a fulltime Tim Kaine staff member who had taken two semesters off to work for PBO in 2008 and was in Grant Park in Chicago on Election Night. People had on all kinds of Obama regalia: hats, t-shirts, buttons, totebags…and the energy was high. A marching band from Virginia State University played for us outside and they were GOOD! The crowd got their groove on. The Obama Campaign Staff and Event Volunteers kept everything orderly and organized — they handed out water and kept the lines neat. Except for one duo that *tried* to cut the line, but got told off by a fiesty woman who ran and got a cop to remove them, everything ran smoothly.

    Once inside, I realized that having a so-called preferred ticket has it pluses and minuses. The plus was that I was seated earlier, and it was highly unlikely that I would have been turned away. The minus is that the preferred tickets were seated *behind* the speaking platform, probably because they want to make sure that these people(basically volunteers and staff) are the ones that are providing the backdrop for the President and other speakers. So, yeah, the general admission seats were actually the ones that faced the platform. Besides that, I was very happy with my seat — I wasn’t too far from that giant flag that was in one of the pics, which was hanging over the entrance into the stadium and runway that PBO used to access and leave the platform.

    I don’t know what the controversy is about regarding whether it was a full house or not. The Siegel Center was full to capacity, but no more. The ONLY empty seats were the ones directly behind the press corp and behind a huge “FORWARD” sign. There were a lot of cameramen and photographers stationed in the seats directly facing the platform, and anybody who sat behind them would not be able to see a thing, as would anybody sitting behind that sign. I am 99% sure that there was a cut-off point where no more people were let into the building. This was probably for safety reasons. I remember the doors being closed and the traffic in stopping cold once the seats were full. Another silly non-troversy! Anyway…

    VCU basketball coach and local hero, Shaka Smart, kicked off the program, Mayor Dwight Jones gave an awesome opening prayer, and the Boy Scouts lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance. Representative Bobby Scott said a few words. Former Mayor and Governor, and now candidate for Senate, Tim Kaine, was very impressive in his remarks — he has more gravitas and presence in person that what I have experienced from him on t.v. He is extremely supportive of the President, and he seems ready to run this race.

    The program was kept moving by lots of music, and some of the great videos we’ve all seen here: Forward, Fired Up and Ready to Go (the lady from SC), I’m In, etc. People loved these videos and cheered them with gusto. We did the wave, we danced, we laughed. Things started getting buzzed when we saw the campaign photographers enter the building — I saw Pete Souza, at one point he was standing a few rows down from me! Then more Secret Service personnel came in, and a security dog sniffed around the area where the Presidet would enter. Anticipation was high.

    Finally, around 5, we heard a voice simply say, “here to introduce the President of the United States, is the First Lady, Michelle Obama!” And the crowd went wild! She is even more beautiful and radiant in person. She is in absolutely tip-top shape and exudes a softness that come across even more in real life. It’s very magnetic. She spoke with no notes, no prompter, for about 10(?) minutes — extremely warm, heartfelt words about her background and how her story relates to all of ours as we’re trying to move forward in rebuilding the middle class and re-electing PBO. It is absolutely true what they say about Michelle — she is incredibly impressive on the stump. A fantastic aura, a strong yet warm voice, and an authenticity that can’t be faked. I can’t imagine a better partner for the President.

    Then the main event! Michelle brought PBO on, and the crowd went even wilder! PBO swag-bounced his way in, megawatt smile in place, waving to the whole crowd on all sides. He looks healthy, strong, and energetic in person. Trim, but not skinny. Because I was facing the back of the speaking platform, I can confirm that, just like his wife, he is in incredible shape, and everything is quite proper. *ahem* You all have the video and transcript of the event, so I don’t need to give blow-by-blow of what he said. I will just you that he was clear and forceful in making his points and that the audience was hanging on his every word. PBO made it clear that the campaign would require lots of work from all of us from now to November and beyond. He was interrupted continuously by applause, Amens, “we’ve got your back!”, “I love you!” — the crowd was totally fired up from beginning to end and exploded into cheers when he gave his trademark closing “……God Bless the United States of America!”

    Michelle joined him back on stage, and TOD, let me tell you, it is amazing to see them in each other’s space in person. We see still photos and snapshots of time, but truly, PBO’s face lights up when she comes into his space and they are extremely touch-feely in each other’s presence. It is a beautiful thing to see. He can’t keep his hands off her. Very warm, very loving, very genuine, very inspiring. They made their way to the floor and shook hands on the floor, from one side of the stage to the other. They eventually made it back over to my side where a funny thing happened. There was a man in my section who had the cutest, chunkiest baby girl. I don’t know how in the world he got to where he did, but he got PBO (who had already passed him on his way out) to backtrack and do his baby-whispering thing with the cutiepie, get a picture, and hand the baby back. It was adorable.

    There was lots of love and positive energy in the building. If you can at all get to a live event, I highly suggest you go. It puts you in a totally different frame of mind than the rut we get into looking at the talking heads, reading toxic internet sites, listening to poisonous lies. No, a rally is not the election. However, it is a reminder of the higher potentiality, the love, the joy that is accessible to all of us. These 8,000 or so people who showed up today know thousands of other people, and they know thousands of others, and so on and so on. It is a seed that will bear fruit, I’m convinced, and will help keep Virginia blue and keep this country moving forward.

    Sorry for the length. Feel free to ask me any questions :-) ….

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  3. Ametia says:
    May 5, 2012 at 7:36 pm

    Michelle Obama‏@MichelleObama

    Incredible turnout at the rallies. I already knew you had Barack’s back, but today we really felt it. –mo

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  4. SouthernGirl2 says:
    May 5, 2012 at 7:11 pm

    President Obama in Columbus, Ohio

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  5. SouthernGirl2 says:
    May 5, 2012 at 7:04 pm

    Obama Launches Campaign in Empty Arena

    Barack Obama launched his campaign in unspectacular fashion today at the Ohio State University, the largest college in this crucial swing state. According to a photo posted to twitter by Mitt Romney’s campaign spokesman Ryan Williams, the event was poorly attended. The picture above, according to Williams, was taken during the President’s first official campaign. During the speech, Obama ripped into the presumptive GOP nominee and discussed nation building at home, but the most newsworthy item of the day was not the talking points Obama delivered; it was the crowd… or lack thereof. According to ABC News, the Obama campaign had expected an “overflow” of people.

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  6. Ametia says:
    May 5, 2012 at 4:39 pm

    FLOTUS is Beautiful, and the crowd LOVES her!

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  7. SouthernGirl2 says:
    May 5, 2012 at 3:07 pm

    TRENDING: Romney campaign uses Obama kickoff rally to beef up ground game

    http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2012/05/05/romney-campaign-uses-obama-kickoff-rally-to-beef-up-ground-game/

    Columbus, Ohio (CNN) – Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign is hoping to leverage President Barack Obama’s kickoff rally at The Ohio State University.

    A Romney campaign bus was parked across the street from the Schottenstein Center, where Obama Saturday was holding his first official campaign rally of his re-election bid. Outside and inside the bus, around 35 Romney campaign volunteers and college students were holding a mobile call center.

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