A Texas-sized rally...21,841 supporters!

In order to create an accurate count of the number of rally attendees, we had volunteers with clickers at the gate counting every single person.  Despite today's afternoon rain, we are proud to announce that almost 22,000 people attended today's historic rally! 

As far as we know, that's the biggest rally ever in American history for a presidential candidate this early in the campaign cycle. We do everything bigger here in Texas!

If you'd like to watch a replay of the speech, then check out News 8 Austin at 10:15pm tonight.  Also, don't forget that we're having our next Meetup on Sunday at Scholz's at 5:00pm.

We'd like to thank the following folks for making this historic event happen:

• Our wonderful volunteers from University Democrats, African American Culture Committee and Texans for Obama;
• Ed Jurdi and Cyril Neville for providing the live musical entertainment;
• The City of Austin and Capital Sports & Entertainment for working overtime and putting together a 20,000 person event in one week;
• The hard-working Obama campaign team, including Tom, JD, Allen, Sarah, James and Charlie;
• Sen. Barack Obama, the next President of the United States.

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Obama stirs thousands at rally

Presidential hopeful's charisma, X-factor cited

by Gardner Selby & David Rauf - Statesman:

Thousands of people cheered Barack Obama at Austin's Auditorium Shores this afternoon as he revisited his call to withdraw U.S. combat troops from Iraq by the end of March 2008.

"Austin, it is time for us to bring this war to an end," the U.S. senator from Illinois said to a roar.

Dressed in a blue suit jacket and pants and wearing a white shirt, tie-less, Obama spoke through intermittent rain on a platform perhaps 100 feet out from the stage where Cyril Neville & Tribe 13 played before and after he appeared.

Crowd members waved red, white and blue "Obama '08" placards as Obama touched the themes of his 13-day-old campaign — bringing unity to the nation and focusing on bringing U.S. troops home from Iraq, ensuring access to universal health care and raising teacher salaries.

(Photo from Brian Diggs of the Statesman.)

Comments

[jcs]

Great job by the TFO team, the University Democrats, and the African American Cultural Committee and the dozens of volunteers who made this thing work! It was an inspiring afternoon, and a delight to see such a diverse crowd out in the rain. That unity in diversity is what this country is SUPPOSED to be about.

Kudos to all!

[Maria Gjonaj]

Bravo, Bravo Texans!..I saw some pictures and the diversity of the crowd warmed my heart..

[Christie Fisher]

I'm a graduate student in the UT School of Social Work, and I stood with some of my Caucasian social work friends on one side and an African-American woman on the other, holding her newborn infant,who reached out his tiny hand for mine. What a great moment.

[Josh]

Man, I'm so proud of Austin that I'm speechless - 22,000! Can someone get his speech on YouTube for the rest of the country to see? Please!

[maureen griffin]

Bush...Clinton ...Clinton ...Bush ... Bush ... Clinton?
Is this your idea of real change?
New ideas, fresh approach
OBAMA

[Velma Thomas]

Mr. Obama, I am so thankful that you have not lowered your standards to mud slinging like Hillary. Keep being the way you are.You GO Obama. I think you are wonderful!!!

[Felicia King]

Be prepared for the long haul Obamites, and remember you are fighting an oligarchy of Clintons and Bushes who use brown people and uneducated people to thwart democracy. It is about Change, change the Oligarchy or else, enter a serious non reversable period of darkness, where it will become impossible to take your government back. A spanish man who is a Hillary reporter stabbed another man, his brother in law that supported Obama. The hispanics thinks Hillary will help them thwart the will of American People and take over the US. where they control all policies.

[Felicia King]

The democratic Party is literally giving the white house back to Republicans,
they are severly stupid enough to think Obamites will ever vote for hillary instead of against her. John McCain is More change, Many will split the ticket to vote against her, and then vote against all the super delegates who ignored Obama, and the Millions who wanted change, democratic party is a screw up. Republicans are not voting for Hillary, and Obmites will vote for Republicans in the fall.Good bye democracy in America, you will be no more!!!!!!!!!

[Felicia King]

correction: Repubs are now voting for Hillary to make sure the democratic party disentegrates. DNC and superdelegates shows Democrats do not have the will or intelligence to run the white house. I am Obamite who will switch Republican to make sure hillary looses, I will work my ass off for others to do the same.

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