The guy in the very center of the picture...looks middle eastern (sorry, no PC comments here.) Do the people who attend these things have to be searched etc before entering?
Yes, to your question. We (daughters and I) went to see the President when he was in Lebanon Ohio. We all had to go through a metal detector and purses searched, etc. If anyone set off the detector, they would pull them aside and use a wand. Umbrellas were conviscated also. A man selling buttons was forced to leave by the secret service. It was crawling with tons of SS. Also tons of local police, etc. Sharp shooters on roofs. And that was just the stuff you could see. Imagine all the stuff you couldn't see. When the President walked around the front of the audience after his speech, the secret service was all over in the crowd. They were behind us when we were getting his autograph and they were within arms reach of him and he had tons standing behind him too. By what we saw it would be extremely difficult for someone to get to him. Praying just the same, though.
Also, one more thing we noticed. There was a camera man following along with the president and also during the speech taking pictures of the crowd. We theorized this was so they could study them to see if maybe the same people were showing up to different venues, like stalking or something.
On a different note, before the President's speech at the RNC, when Fred Thompson was speaking, there was a picture of the President hugging a little girl. That was at Lebanon, Ohio, right in front of us. It was a day I will never forget. I was trully honored!