Obama and Biden slated to come to Fredericksburg Weekend rally at the ...

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama and his running mate, Joe Biden , plan to appear at a weekend rally at the University of Mary Washington .

[hammatime]

Dammit,I'll be working overtime.

[tanfouk]

Carpool! Parking around MW is awful, so expect to walk a lot, or take the Fred bus.

[rachel]

I was there and i never seen so many people in my life. Of course it poured down raining for a good 20 mins but we held in there. IT WAS AWESOME

[El and Al]

Was there with 26000. Got lucky when they closed the gates because we got to go stand by the fence... no we couldn't actually see Obama while he spoke but we saw him leave and come. Got soaked. Got inspired.
Obama Biden '08

[Disappointed]

We stood in line for over 3 hours and did not get in. I don't mind that we didn't get in - its actually really encouraging that Obama is so well supported in VA.
What i would like to know though is why did the organizers not inform people that they were waiting in vain as soon as they knew??
UMW should have known what the maximum capacity was for this event - handed out tickets to that number in line and told everyone else they would most likely not get in so we could go home and not waste our time.
We were handed tickets at 3pm and told getting a ticket meant we would definitely get in.
This event was a mess - there was no sense of order - people were pushing in line - and then the police were man handling perfectly well behaved people. Shame on UMW and the local police.
I don't mind not gettin in but i do mind that no one cared to tell us (and the hundreds of other people) when the gates had closed. Apparently the gates had shut and the metal detectors taken away etc a good hour before we finally gave up. We could have gone home and saved ourselves from getting soaked in the rain. We are so disappointed in UMW - what a poor show!
Vote Obama!!

[Bill Warrick]

I was there and was fortunate enough to get in. I heard, and you all know that that has to be taken with a grain of salt, that the reason that some were denied entrance was that the metal detectors had stopped working.

I don't know if they were stopped on purpose or because of the weather or some other mechanical reason.

I found the entrance and organization to be have been wonderful. The line was orderly, we had information from volunteers periodically, and, despite waiting in line for about 2 hours, we were given access in an orderly and professional manner.

I was a bit surprised to see that crowd control and screening was done by employees of the TSA. I don't know how that works.

Exiting was another story. I think that was done poorly. The security fences were left up but the exits through them were not well marked and there was confusion and frustration.

Overall, the event was great. There was plenty of room in the area for more attendees.

[Disappointed]

MWU, and the all responsible parties failed to properly inform the( public)individuals standing in line and those walking to get to the end of the line that space were not available.

[Palins Family Pictures]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/10/01/anti...