How many people were actually there
I was at the Bush Rally in 2004 - and the Sarah Palin rally today topped that by a whopping 10 miles...I’d guess there were way more than 70,000 there.
My in-laws live in the Villages and I live only 8 miles north, but I saw tags from all over the state and even some from Georgia.
There were students from UCF, USF, UF, and many others. They wore t-shirts like “Gators for McCain” and others waved the UCF flag.
Some people in attendance where in wheelchairs, and some walked with canes, but the vast majority walked unaided and stood for hours in the hot sun just to see Sarah. Ages ranged from babies to very old. There were lots of families with kids or teens on bikes without parents.
It was a broad representation of ages and races there. One group of Puerto Ricans began chanting for McCain! I saw several black families and one black teen who was there alone - he stood nearby and didn’t utter a sound when some moron cut in front of where he had been standing for over 1 hour. He was near the railing waiting to get a glimpse of Sarah walk by on her way to the stage. The rest of us took up for him and asked the lady to move and she finally did. An older white man put his arm around the black teen and he just smiled in appreciation.
Unfortunately, the heat took its toll - most people were dehydrated and some required medical attention. Maybe next time they’ll hold a rally later in the day.
All in all it was a very fun event.
Were there any disruptors present? We had a few in Colo Springs 2 weeks ago, and I faced off against the loudest mouthed of them.
FYI, I posted my best closeup photos of John and Sarah here, and told of my ad hoc Freep of the disruptors.
Someone should collect in one place, pointers to all the firsthand Palin/McCain rally stories/photos posted in FR by Freepers all across the country.