The Oakland California Rally

[Erik Paterson]

What an amazing event!!! My wife Nancy and I had attended the Friday night Volunteer meeting, getting ourselves assigned to the Campaign Store, along with several of the fantastic young men and women from "Students for Obama." Our task was to organize, and hand out the different size T-shirts to the cashiers at the tables. How hard could that be? Nan and I spent the night at the Marriott, had a nice breakfast and walked the four blocks to the City Hall Plaza, arriving at about 10:00am to help set things up. Things were crazy from the start, opening the multitudes of boxes, folding and organizing shirts by size and color, setting out the buttons and bumper-stickers by the hundreds. Our store was in the center of the Plaza behind the huge oak tree that dominates the lawn area, shades the amphitheater, and was a prime location for sales. Little did I realize at the time, that damn oak tree would prevent those of us working that booth to see future President Obama give his speech. That would be the only negative of the day for me.

The crowd was incredible. From our vantage point, during the progress of the day, we watched as the news crews arrived and set up, watched the vendors, and crowds grow outside the fences. We had not even finished setting up before throngs of the volunteers were wanting to make purchases, and it became evident to all of us at the store that we would become very popular that day. Once the gates were opened to the varying ticket holders, our customers came in cycles, and the excitement grew as Max, one of our young students, and a walking vendor at Wrigley Field Baseball games; started barking out "TEE_SHIRTS, BUUUUTTONNS, BUMPAH STICKAAHHHS!!". I figured I’d give it a try as well, so using a voice that had been trained on the drill fields of the United States Marine Corps, I belted out the same phrase, causing all heads at the table to stop, turn and look at me in amazement from the volume alone. Okay, so I pat myself on the back a little bit, I never was into the humility thing..... Many kudos to those outstanding young people for their effort and enthusiasm, they worked their tails off, and we all had a blast.

Sales at our table were continuous. Even while Senator Obama was speaking, there were enough customers to prevent us from leaving the table and trying to catch a glimpse of him on stage. After the Senator had finished, the insanity began. Throngs of people descended on our little store, each demanding our wares. We sold out our inventory twice, eventually being resupplied by our sister store located outside of the plaza with a very small amount of stock. We ended the day with only a few buttons and bumper stickers, brought over too late to sell. A few of us remained for the tear down and clean up finishing up around 6:00pm. We were to find out just before leaving that our tables alone generated over $17,000.00 in campaign contributions.

So here I sit this morning, recounting the events of yesterday with aching muscles, remembering the cheers of the crowd, the electricity in the air, the incredible words from Senator Obama, the joy of new friendships, and the honor I feel at being part of such a historic event. These memories are priceless.

[Jacqueline Wachtel]

Hi Erik - your post helps me anticipate what it will be like this weekend in Kansas City! Thanks!! My sister, Judy Dudley, is the Admin for Kansas Families for Obama. I am helping her network, etc. We are thrilled that we can visit Obama within a 3 hour drive from Wichita. We are going tomorrow (Friday) afternoon and meeting with a group that evening. Sounds like we may be in for an exciting time! Reading your story helps me visualize what we are going to be doing. Thanks so much!!