Yesterday Julia and I had the exciting pleasure of volunteering at President Obama’s first White House rally at the Target Center in Minneapolis to argue for health care reform. We we asked to volunteer on Wednesday shortly after the visit was announced, and we jumped at the chance. Following a training session on Friday night, where we learned that we would be volunteer captains for the VIP section on the floor of the Target Center close to the podium, the rally left us tired, sore, and fired up. Here are a few of our experiences at that rally…
7:45 AM: We arrived at the Target Center, where volunteers are assembling at 8 AM. Already there is a line blocks long starting at Butler Square and heading north. The local media reports that people have been lining up since midnight, or even earlier.
8:10 AM: The volunteers that will be working inside are let in to the building (there will be a large number of volunteers working outside to keep the crowd flowing). The Secret Service is still sweeping the Target Center floor so we can’t yet check things out, so we head to a room underneath section 136 and get together for some last-minute instructions. It’s early, but everybody is already excited.
8:40 AM: Since the doors have not yet been opened up to let the general public in, things are moving along slowly for our group of volunteers.
9:10 AM: We’ve been allowed onto the floor for a while now. They’ve set up a podium with risers behind them; VIP ticketholders will be allowed on the floor, and out of them, a select few will be called on to fill the benches behind the president. A few lucky people will be on the video the entire time he is speaking, reacting to his speech.
9:20 AM: There are dozens of police officers, Target Center security, ushers, and other non-volunteer staff here for the event. We overhear over the radios "Ten minutes to doors open". The crowd has been let into the makeshift bike rack chutes leading direct to the front doors of the Target Center. There are also entrances at the Skyway level.
9:35 AM: The doors are opened, and people start going through the metal detectors pretty smoothly. However, the VIP line has not yet been opened. A man in a Keith Ellison shirt is over there, being questioned by several people (presumably Secret Service). He is questioned for a very long time, but is eventually let in to the event and is not seen again. We never learn what he was questioned about.
10:00 AM: We can see banners outside, both pro reform and anti reform. News reports later say that there were a few heated arguments but no major confrontations.
10:10 AM: Several people say that there is a two-mile line for people to enter the Target Center.
10:20 AM: The VIP line opens. It runs very smoothly: people with tickets are in a special line and are shunted off to the floor instead of up into the bowls. There was some concern beforehand that people without tickets would try to argue their way onto the floor, but aside from one person, this problem does not crop up.
10:40 AM: The VIP ticket holders are a very diverse group. Elected officials, campaign volunteers, families, labor people…there’s no way to best categorize them, except that they were all pretty excited to be able to see the president pretty close up (although there is some grumbling about how the VIP section lacks chairs).
11:00 AM: So far the biggest problem I’ve dealt with is showing a few people where the bathrooms are. On the VIP floor, a man from Rochester is wearing a shirt that says "World’s Largest Obama Supporter". He’s 7’8", and I believe the shirt.
11:15 AM: The skyway entrances have much shorter lines than the main doors, so we start sending volunteers out to move people from the street entrance to the skyways. I see House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher arriving.
11:30 AM: Former Attorney General and gubernatorial candidate Skip Humphrey comes through the VIP line, looking for help with finding his skybox suite, which we quickly solve.
11:45 AM: It’s time to start filling the risers behind the podium, so Julia and I are grabbed to direct those lucky people. I end up standing in the press section right behind the video cameras. I see plenty of press that I recognize: Eric Eskola, Tom Scheck, Rachel Stassen-Berger, all interviewing the crowd, asking them why they are here.
12:15 PM: The Jumbotron at the Target Center cuts to live vide of Air Force One arriving at the airport. The crowd goes wild.
12:30 PM: Several more lucky people are being grabbed from the floor to fill the blank spaces in the risers. The lower level of the Target Center is now full, and people are filling up the upper level.
12:40 PM: Julia and I work our way down near the rows of seats reserved for VIPs like Senators Amy Klobuchar and Al Franken, Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, Mayor R. T. Rybak, and others. Sadly, the president does not come along this path either entering or leaving, but we are still pretty close, right off of the president’s right side.
Shortly after 1:00 PM: After some introductory remarks by a couple speakers, including Secretary Sebelius, and the Pledge of Allegiance and a signing of the National Anthem, President Obama comes out and the crowd again goes wild.
He’s mainly rehashing his speech from his joint address to Congress on Wednesday, but in a much more relaxed, informal manner, and in front of a much friendlier crowd, which he comments on. He also points out the World’s Largest Obama Supporter, who is later interviewed by the media. If I had to guess, I’d say he’s pretty excited about it.
1:30 PM: Some old guy on the first level charged down the stairs to the railing and starts yelling something at the president. He soon leaves. I have no idea what he said, and his attempted interruption accomplishes nothing.
Around 2:00 PM: Obama’s speeches climaxes as he leads the crowd in a few rounds of "Fired up! Ready to go!" People are going crazy, truly fired up and ready to go.
2:30 PM: The president is gone, people are leaving the Target Center, and the couple hundred or so volunteers are all gathering for a few pictures. Most of us, however, won’t need any pictures to remember this day.
We were on our feet all day and our feet and backs are killing us, and we are in desperate need of a beer, but we’re all incredibly happy that we were able to have this incredibly unique and rare experience.