The Obama train plowed through Gainesville Wednesday afternoon, leaving in its wake thousands of sweaty, inspired fans yearning for change.
The media-fueled frenzy made only one stop: the Hippodrome State Theatre.
In front of the theater, Michelle Obama, wife of Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama, riled up more than 10,500 Gainesville-area Obama supporters by delivering a speech about her middle class upbringing and the dire importance of the ever-elusive youth vote.
Gainesville Mayor Pegeen Hanrahan was so caught up in the moment, she ripped off her jacket to reveal an Obama T-shirt. She then proceeded to twirl her jacket around her head in a manner reminiscent of a movie rhyming with "snip these."
If that isn't an endorsement, we don't know what is.
Michelle Obama's visit to Gainesville hammered home a point that has already been made clear by about 95 percent of the guest column submissions we've received this election season: UF and Gainesville are crazy about Obama.
We know this sort of blanket statement doesn't represent the entire UF student body (we hear you scoffing, College Republicans), much less all of Alachua County, but you can't deny the fact that our area turned out Michelle Obama's largest audience to date. Those are concrete numbers, folks, and from what we hear, numbers don't lie.
At the rally, Michelle Obama encouraged the pro-Obama mob to convert its "energy into real votes," and said, "Now it's time to work."
We don't remember Sen. John Kerry ever getting this much of a response from a crowd, and if he did, we assume it was forced through clenched teeth and muttered expletives.
If Gainesville is a reliable indicator - which remains to be seen - then the Obama train shows no sign of slowing, at least not in the next two weeks.
