28%. twenty-eight percent. veinte ocho por ciento.
that's how much BARACK OBAMA won South Carolina by in the Democratic Primary yesterday.
Yesterday was the craaaaziest day ever, starting at 8:30am. Staffers and volunteers across the entire state worked their butts off until the polls closed, and it worked. FITSnews wrote a pretty sweet article about it, actually. Just as the day was winding down, we were canvassing and saw a car in the driveway of a house that had previously been tagged "vacant". So we decided to hit it up. And they hadn't voted and went to go vote for Obama. THAT is whats up.
Back at the russell house at about 6:30, the Gamecocks for Barack volunteer team was huge and energized. Come to find out, CNN had been running a countdown timer until the polls closed at seven.
Back at the russell house at about 6:30, the Gamecocks for Barack volunteer team was huge and energized. Come to find out, CNN had been running a countdown timer until the polls closed at seven.
RIGHT WHEN IT HIT SEVEN, THEY CALLED IT FOR OBAMA.
Someone feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, I've only been alive for 18 years, but that seems really unusual. Unprecedented, even.
So we went absolutely CRAZY, right there in the middle of the grand market place. Everyone ran outside screaming and jumping up and down, and we proceeded to tell everyone that cared (or didn't care) that Barack Obama had just won South Carolina. All this at, like, 7:03.
Then, we hit up the victory party/speech/awesomeness and it was so incredible. There were thousands of people at the convention center, screaming every time CNN put up another poll he won (i.e. best platform: change). We cheered every time a new precinct reported, and watched his margin of victory get bigger and bigger.
So we went absolutely CRAZY, right there in the middle of the grand market place. Everyone ran outside screaming and jumping up and down, and we proceeded to tell everyone that cared (or didn't care) that Barack Obama had just won South Carolina. All this at, like, 7:03.
Then, we hit up the victory party/speech/awesomeness and it was so incredible. There were thousands of people at the convention center, screaming every time CNN put up another poll he won (i.e. best platform: change). We cheered every time a new precinct reported, and watched his margin of victory get bigger and bigger.
This great band was getting the crowd pumped up and the crowd would sporadically start cheering "YES WE CAN" and "RACE DOESN'T MATTER" (every time the news said something about the white vote, the black vote..) and "O-BA-MA" and "FIRED UP? READY TO GO" (read here: Hakeem and I started that a time or two :D). Then a guy comes on stage with a sign that says "hope" and a sign that says "change" and the two sections of bleachers went back and forth yelling "hope" or "change" depending on their section. Then he comes out with a sign that says "SPEECH IN FIVE MINUTES". The crowd went crazy. :)
Obama proceeded to give, in my opinion, his best speech yet, complete with crowd interruption every minute or so. Don't think I wasn't yelling "amen", that Hak wasn't responding with his signature "MMMHHMMM", or that George wasn't throwing up the peace sign. It all happened frequently. Then he told this story about an old woman who mailed him a money order for $3.01, and I even got a tiny bit emotional. His campaign has received more campaign contributions under $200 than any other campaign in history. Michelle was as incredible as ever and, in the words of my lovely roommate, "look at that first lady suit."
I'm beginning to think that she would be a great choice for Vice President, but hey, that's just me. Actually, I think Hakeem would agree; he's crushing a little bit...(read: a lot). People cheered and cheered as he was leaving, and I was once again struck by his ridiculous likability.
My new favorite group of people, which should henceforth be known as the slammin' six, went to dinner with Derek and Amin, our favorite out of state volunteers. We convinced the waitress to change the channel to CNN and had this guy who looked like he was about 16 come up to us to ask for a reason he should vote for Obama that affects HIM. George told him about the $4,000 tax credit he will get for college, I told him he could stay on his parents insurance until he was 25, and Mitch said, "..well, you won't have to go to Iraq because he is getting us out." Cheers erupted and they smiled and walked off.
It was such a freaking awesome night, and it ended with the slammin' six deciding to go to Georgia next weekend to GOTV with nicole. All this hinges on our ability to get George's mom's fresh mini van for the weekend :) We said our goodbyes to the out of staters, and came back to crash. and we've just woken up.
My new favorite group of people, which should henceforth be known as the slammin' six, went to dinner with Derek and Amin, our favorite out of state volunteers. We convinced the waitress to change the channel to CNN and had this guy who looked like he was about 16 come up to us to ask for a reason he should vote for Obama that affects HIM. George told him about the $4,000 tax credit he will get for college, I told him he could stay on his parents insurance until he was 25, and Mitch said, "..well, you won't have to go to Iraq because he is getting us out." Cheers erupted and they smiled and walked off.
It was such a freaking awesome night, and it ended with the slammin' six deciding to go to Georgia next weekend to GOTV with nicole. All this hinges on our ability to get George's mom's fresh mini van for the weekend :) We said our goodbyes to the out of staters, and came back to crash. and we've just woken up.
Check out his speech. It's short and beautiful. Good work, Senator Obama. You stay classy.
Comments
Amazing blog Kat! SC showed the world that we are ready for change and I am so glad that we embarked on this amazing journey together as we move to elect Barack Obama PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES!