Well, it’s not every day that the President comes to town .
Except when you live in a “swing state” like Colorado and the president is
running for reelection, it feels like the President is coming to town just
about every third day.

I think political campaigns try to make it sound like
tickets for campaign events are very limited, while at the same time making sure
they are actually available to everyone who wants to attend. And would there be
a limit at an outdoor event in City Park next to the Museum of Nature and
Science on a weekday afternoon? Anyway, I was a bit intrigued by President
Obama’s late October campaign appearance. When I saw my friends Nick and Warren
(“other Warren” as my friend Jerad calls him) announce on Facebook they had an
extra ticket for whoever wanted it, I claimed it and went over to pick it up.

If you asked me about attending a political campaign rally
at any point between about 1993 and 2007 I would have rolled my eyes and said,
“You’ve got to be joking!” I did kiddy politics in my college years as a
hardcore College Republican but look back at those activities as something very
juvenile . Some people do pot and other drugs or casual sex in their youth; I
did College Republicans. It’s pretty much the same thing. That’s not to say
that I’ve become I dedicated Democrat since. I’m not.

I’ve generally felt positively toward President Obama even
though I don’t agree with him on all his policies. I only have to look at what
came before him to feel supportive in a general sense. I voted for him in 2008
and intend to do so in 2012 too, and even though this would be a campaign event
I view it more as an opportunity to see a sitting president.

I decided to hoof it from my apartment to the event site in
City Park. Even though I thought I arrived early, I still had to go through the
Colorado’s longest line snaking through the park to show my ticket and go
through security. There was a significant but not huge crowd gathered, nothing
like the 100,000 estimated to have shown up for Obama’s last campaign rally in
Civic Center Park in Denver in 2008 . Mayor Hancock gave a speech, as did
Congresswoman Diana DeGette in her annoyingly shrill voice, plus a bunch of
others. The president wasn’t especially late as candidates often can be in busy
campaigns. He gave a rah-rah political pep talk to excite all the Democratic
activists to get out the vote in the last weeks before Election Day and then it
was over. I wasn’t particularly far back in the crowd but could hardly make him
out on stage. So I got to see the President. OK, I’m happy!

A cold drizzle began as the event ended. I continued on
towards downtown where I planned to have dinner at an uppity steakhouse with my
friend Jerad using a 2-fer-1 Groupon deal I purchased online. It was a good
day; I got to see the President.