The crowd of 8,500 people was feisty and fired up after being warmed up by student leaders, the First Lady of Colorado, Congressman Mark Udall's wife, and former Denver Bronco Rod Smith. Smith told the crowd that despite this being the 5th Presidential election in which he is eligible to vote, he never voted until the 2004 election and now has deep regrets about it. "People died so that I could have the right to vote," he said. He assured the crowd that his 18-year old daughter would be voting in this election and urged all of them to vote too. He also recounted how he had been excited to go to the polls in 2004 only to spend his whole time in line talking about football and signing autographs. This year, he said, he was voting early.
When Michelle Obama finally took the stage, the energy in the crowd was electric. The feeling of young people (and not so young people) excited at the prospect of being involved in the political process was palpable. The recurrent refrain in Michelle's speech was "wouldn't it be nice to have a President who understands..."
She emphasized that Barack Obama knows what it is like to grow up with a young single mother who sometimes had to rely on food stamps, understands both the privilege of a higher education and the hard work it takes to get and pay for one. The Obamas have only recently paid off their student loans, she said, and that was only because "Barack has written two best-selling books."
Time and again, Michelle connected her husband's life story to the crowd:
Barack Obama gets it because he's been there... Barack has seen what it is like to struggle.
She also connected herself:
It is not just politics for me, it is personal.
As she talked about building a green economy so that our children can get good jobs and we can leave a cleaner planet for them she reminded the crowd that energy and enthusiasm are great, but that votes are what matter.
We don't want to wake up with regrets the day after election day saying "You know I really liked that Barack Obama."
I heard a lot of young people around me say that her speech was excellent when she finished, many pressed forward to have a chance to shake her hand as she worked a rope line at the end. I hope all of them also registered to vote. Today's paper suggests the voter registration effort is working with an average of 2,000 new voters registering in Boulder every day.
If you're not registered yet, no matter where you live, you can do it here now.
Here are some fun shots from today's rally. My favorite? The T-shirt reading "lipstick is not a vice presidential qualification"
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