Walking to Grant Park...USA!
The early birds...
They herded us like cattle.
These cones marked checkpoints where they checked your ID and ticket. I was ID'd 3 times.
The massive line of metal detectors.
They made me turn my phone and camera on to see if they worked (and weren't concealing a weapon, I guess). Then they inspected everything in my pockets, including looking at every key on my key chain.
This is a good test run for the 2016 Olympics, eh?
We briskly walked to take our spot by the stage.
The media tents across the way. CNN, ABC, etc. The grass lawn between the crowd and the media tents was reserved for VIP guests.
We weren't allowed to bring banners, but someone snuck this in.
Eric and Mark: The "Before" Picture.
We watched the projections come in on big monitors broadcasting CNN. Not a good pic because of the lights on top...I had trouble making my camera take good pics.
The crowd again. See the podium? With the bullet proof glass around it?
This was the main media tent that Barack was facing during his speech.
The other media tents again.
The crowd is getting bigger..
Chrysteena drew an Obama logo on my cheek.
And gave Eric patriotic war paint.
Eric requested I take a picture showcasing his "Delaware" t-shirt. He failed to get any "Biden!" chants going.
Really tall light. You can see, but some guy was up there fixing something.
Cameras like this were sweeping over the crowd.
Almost there!
A better picture of one of those monitors.
Lots of people had big video cameras in the crowd, too.
WE WON! (I only took a video of the winning part). This is the "After" picture.
Barack comes out, cameras go up.
This is about where we were standing.
Speech.
At some point, Joe Biden came out.
Let's get outta here!
250,000 people can do whatever they want!
Sidewalks?! HA.
People cheering in the windows of a hostel.
Lots of cop cars. That's it!
