Photos of packed house at Kerry rally in Macomb Co., Michigan

[Lefty48197]

If you didn't get a chance to be there, then you missed a great event folks. The gymnasium at Macomb Co. Community College was packed to the rafters with over 10,000 enthusiastic Kerry fans who cheered wildly for the equally enthusiastic candidate.
The partisan crowd screamed their approval as Kerry excoriated Team Bush for it's many many failures.

Mind you, Warren isn't just any old city in the state of Michigan. It's our third largest city by population, but more importantly, it sits on the northern border of Detroit. The legal northern boundary of Detroit may be 8 Mile Rd., but the philosophical boarder begins around 10 Mile Rd. as Warren's industrial southern side (Eminem's old stomping grounds) gives way to the suburbs and "Reagan Democrats" of northern Macomb County.

This location was not chosen by accident.

If you've read about John Kerry's military history, then you've probably heard of a swiftboat maneuver he invented, whereby the boat's Captain would turn his boat towards the riverbank and charge the enemy's firing position. Today's rally in Warren, MI was a similar move as Kerry boldly took the fight directly to the so-called "Reagan Democrats" of Macomb County. The crowd responded with thunderous approval.

The rally was scheduled to start at 6:45 P.M., with the doors opening at 4. I got there about 3:45, expecting to be in the front of the line. Much to my surprise, there was a HUGE line out front already. Within a half hour of my arrival, there was an equally huge line behind me. The line moved very slowly through the security checks. Finally at about 6:30, I got into the building!
There was a quick warm up concert by Jon Bon Jovi, followed by an even shorter warm up speech, by America's greatest Governor, Jennifer Granholm of Michigan.
By the time Kerry took the stage, we were all more than ready to hear him speak. We did however, find time to chant "Ker-ry", "No more Bush" and "Eight more Days".

Here's the line in front of me shortly after my arrival. If you look way way in the distance, you can see more of it. The front of the line was well out of the picture:



Here's the line behind me, about a half hour later:



This photo shows about 1/2 the crowd:



I just kinda liked this photo.

Here's Kerry with Jennifer Granholm, and the Levin brothers: Senator Carl, and Rep. Sander Levin:


Here's a slightly elevated view:



A couple more rousing cheers, and then it's off to victory!

[nonconformist]

1. That is great! I'm a Michigander too, Oakland county

Currently displaced in Kentucky.

[Lefty48197]

3. You will be happy to learn, that...

former Republican stronghold, Oakland Co., has voted for the Democratic Presidential candidate for three straight elections.
The old theory was that Oakland county represented the interests of the wealthy and the business owners.
Now we know that Oakland Co. has a much more tolerant population that previously thought.
If you consider that Oakland Co. has a large Jewish population in Southfield and the Bloomfields, a large African-American population in Southfield, Pontiac, and several other communities, the "artsy Malibu" types from Birmingham, and...

...um, Well, Ferndale and Royal Oak have very special populations of liberals of their own.

Now, toss in the fact that Grand Rapids facist Betsy DeVos has declared war on the "moderate" Republicans in Oakland, and is trying to take over the county party, and you have the makings of a Republican stronghold that has completely imploded. It's a joy to watch!

[nonconformist]

9. That is excellent!

I had practically written Oakland Co. off (which is a damn shame since it's a heavily populated county). I was disgusted when I saw that the Oakland Press endorsed Bush. The Detroit News even declined to endorse! Ugh.

But that is wonderful news!

[Hand]

2. Great pics!

Looks like America!

:yourock:

[faithnotgreed]

4. yeah! thanks for sharing

[Gloria]

5. Inspiring!!! Thanks!!!!

eom

[noamnety]

6. I have photos from Macomb too!

Jon Bon Jovi:


Kerry, thinking to himself "I should really stop by to model for lwfern more often":


Kerry, with Jennifer Granholm on the left, Carl Levin on the right:


one more:


The guy in front of me in line was a Vietnam vet. He said he has always voted republican, every election going back to the 70s, but he was disgusted with Bush, and he's voting for Kerry.

[Cha]

8. Great pics and Great News about the

Vietnam Vet..I love stories like this because I think there are going to be A LOT of them!

That is a really good looking picture of Kerry where you have him thinking that he should "model" for you more often!

[Lefty48197]

11. How did you take those great pictures

with those spotlights shining in your face?

[noamnety]

14. the spotlights!

I was a bit closer, for one thing (about the 11th row in the mosh pit), and I used the head of the person in front of me to block the giant light that was a problem from my angle (using the patented cranium-spotlight eclipse method).

[kodi]

7. after seeing the philly rally pix and now these its clear kerry has the Mo

everywhere he goes he is drawing huge and very enthusiastic crowds.

get out the vote!

[noamnety]

10. What those crowd pictures don't show

is that the people who showed up weren't even close to fitting in the building - they had an overflow area where people could listen in.

[AlinPA]

12. Thank you for the report. As Pres. Clinton said, "that'sgood for my heart"

[TrotToTrotsky]

13. I was so there,

...and, by the looks of your pictures, only about 200 feet behind you in line!

Also, I can see the back of my head in your third picture. How cool is that?

Anyway, it was a fantastic rally, and actually filled me with resounding hope for next Tuesday.

My only qualm: Granholm's introduction was painful. I love Jenny G., but that was...not good.

[noamnety]

16. I agree.

Jennifer was great at Laborfest, and also when Max Cleland was in Warren ... but she definitely wasn't in top form last night.

[Clinton Crusader]

15. I sure wish either one of them had come here, even ONCE

;( ;( ;(

:kick:

[noamnety]

17. you need to move to a battleground state

I'm at the point where I passed on watching one of the debates with John Edwards because I've been accused of spending more time with him than my husband (seen him in Flint, a few times in Detroit). And I could see Kerry again this week in Toledo if I had an excuse to slip out of the house at 5:30am ... and again on Saturday. I saw him in August too.

Add in Teresa, Elizabeth (could have seen her twice this week), Max, and I think I've seen Sandy Levin and Jennifer Granholm about a dozen times since August. It's pretty crazy for me to be waking up thinking "oh, I've got to print this out to hand to the governor today when I see her."

If you're in a battleground state, you end up feeling like you know them personally, it's crazy.