By making their last joint appearance for awhile in Northern Virginia, the McCain / Palin ticket demonstrated their clear commitment to winning the Old Dominion. While recent VA Republican campaigns have seemed to write NOVA off, McCain / Palin ran a rally program today aimed at bringing independent and undecided voters into their column.
They brought a crowd of at least 20,000 (conservative estimate) into Democrat controlled Fairfax city (population of about 10,000). And, oh yes, the MSM is totally under-reporting the crowd numbers. The campaign was shocked by the turnout in NOVA — I heard one staffer say that it was their largest rally yet, though I have not verified that. As a long time political activist, I’m used to male-dominated political events — this one wasn’t. If anything, I’d say there were more women than men in the crowd, though I can’t be sure. There were children everywhere. From boyscouts to Vietnam vets, from
See more pics on Flicker from “Wizbang.”
BD has already covered the controversy surrounding the venue for this event. Van Dyke park seemed to be the perfect location for the rally — families spread out on the hillside and a tightly packed — standing room only crowd pressed close to the stage — an hour and a half before the event was scheduled to start.
Palin’s presence drove the choice to attend for many of the non-activists I talked to. Attendees handmade signs celebrated their reasons for loving the ticket — most of them featuring Palin. International media noted the comments of rally attendees who Palin swung to the ticket. Whatever she is doing is certainly working for McCain — and he doesn’t appear jealous. One volunteer handed out 2000 “Veterans for McCain” bumper stickers in the hour before the rally started — all by himself.
On the ground, excitement for the team was palpable. Live country music warmed up the crowd. Many people seemed to know the stump speeches given by McCain and Palin by heart – reciting portions with them and leading loud chants of “USA,” “Maverick,” “John Mc-Cain,” and “Sa-rah!”
Fairfax City Mayor Lederer introduced a host of state and local elected officials and former elected officials — that read like a “who’s who” of VA Republican politics. Former Senator George Allen, 11th District Congressional contender Keith Fimian and State Senator Ken Cuccinelli received particularly enthusiastic applause and cheers from the crowd (although the latter was never sighted, some members of the crowd sported his lapel sticker). Fimian had a very strong volunteer presence at the rally — and campaign signs spread around the route to the park. Of all the politicians present, Fimian was also the only Virginia candidate I noticed engaging voters and shaking hands before and after the event.
Following the introductions, retiring Congressman Tom Davis (who helped organize event volunteers), emceed the event, introducing a local clergyman for a prayer and an Iraqi Freedom veteran to lead the pledge.
Speeches were given by:
Congressman Wolf, who equated Palin with the biblical Esther, a veteran who had served with McCain, School Board member Tessie Wilson, a biodiesel manufacturing Democrat-turned-McCain-supporting small businesswoman from Richmond and a high-powered feminist Hillary supporter who is voting McCain.
Senator Fred Thompson drew hearty applause for his praise of Sarah Palin. Cindy McCain introduced Sarah Palin and she introduced John McCain. Their speeches followed the outline of their wildly successful convention night performances, with an emphasis on combating the good ole’ boy networks fighting for taxpayers. Palin reminded the crowd that John McCain is the only candidate who has ever “really fought for you.” McCain told us that, as Alaska Governor, she cut half a billion dollars in wasteful spending – while Barrack Obama was requesting nearly a billion in earmarks. She called that an “executive responsibility.”
To wild shouts of approval from the crowd, McCain promised to veto the first pork-laden bill that Congress sent across his desk.
All in all, it was an incredibly successful event to a crowd some have called “raucous.” A commenter on Daily Kos had this to say about all of us: “A crowd of 20,000 low-information/low-intelligence voters is a truly ugly thing.” How’s that for classy?
McCain seemed excited by the crowd’s response and he and Palin and their spouses were autographing campaign signs for half an hour after all the speeches were over.
You can see a video here:
