Well, that was something, all right!

Last night, lorac and her husband, prunesnprisms and her husband, and I went downtown to see Obama speak at a rally.

Doors were supposed to open at 8. We got there a little after 6 and the line was already long enough that we weren't sure we'd get in - we were a good three or four blocks from the entrance, I think . By the time the line started moving to let people in, it stretched further than we could see down Seaport Blvd, then curved around the block and back up past where we were standing on the other side. I don't think the line went over the bridge before looping back, but I'm not sure.

It was cold and we were out there for a long time. Everyone seemed in good spirits for standing around in the cold for hours. Whenthe line finally started moving, it went incredibly slowly, as they were (apparently) running the line through metal detectors and screening bags and the like. Whn we finally got in the doors, they had, it seemed, given that up - I think they realized that they would never get everyone in if they kept moving at the glacial pace - as it was, we didn't get in until nearly 9:30.

Once we got in, we could hardly see the stage - I had a great view of the back of some guys head, and we had to listen to pointless speeches (the mayor of FITCHBURG? Really?) before getting to the good stuff. We ended up having to leave before Obama's speech was quite over, so we could relieve Lorac's mom of babysitting duty.

It was *still* totally worth it.

Here's a good quiz

http://www.votebyissue.org/election2008/

Gives you a couple paragraphs of statement on each candidate's position on 10 different issues, then compiles your Agree and Disagree answers with which candidate made each statement.