Texans Turn Out In Droves for Reid, Biden and Obama, Oh My!

Today the DSCC held a fabulously well-attended Democratic Party reception and rally in Dallas, Texas.  Hard to say how many attended the rally, but I'm guessing it was in the thousands.  Here is a picture of part of the crowd, just to give you an idea:

Sure, they were there to hear from local Democratic Party office-holders, but they were also there to see and hear the Big Three--Harry Reid, Joe Biden and Barack Obama!

More below the flip . . .

Here are some pictures of the crowd before Reid, Biden and Obama arrived . . . until then, a slew of local Dem office-holders (yes, they exist in Texas!) rallied the troops:

Those of us who paid to attend a private reception with the Senators had a really neat opportunity to actually meet and chat with them for a bit.  You never have enough time to really talk about anything substantive, but it was still great meeting them.

Harry Reid arrived first.  He was gracious and friendly, but surprisingly quiet and low key at the same time.  I'm not sure what I was expecting--perhaps a Marine bugle in the background or fire shooting out of his ears, in light of his recent victories in the trench warfare game--but he was not quite as I expected.  Here he is greeting one of the volunteers:

Barack Obama arrived next.  I found it interesting that they chose to have him enter before Biden.  As you might imagine, he was greeted like a rock star.  Texas Rep. Helen Giddings was so excited to meet him that she insisted that I take this photo of them (sounding like a schoolgirl!), and was kind enough to enlist another Texas Rep. to shoot my photo with Obama while she orchestrated the opportunity (she delivered, but I'll just post hers):

I was happy with a souvenir from the Senator Obama in the form of an autograph.

Speaking of stars, Joe Biden has a magnetism about him that reminds me of Warren Beatty's character in the movie Bulworth.  Here he is with Texas Rep. Marc Veasey (who kindly took my photo with Barack Obama):

Biden with former Dallas Mayor (and former U.S. Senate hopeful) Ron Kirk:

And with law enforcement:

The crowd at the rally outside grew in anticipation of the Senators' appearances.  I think it important to note that the rally wasn't free--these folks paid $35 each to attend.  Here they are:

The sound of the crowd when the Senators emerged was deafening!  

Listening to Obama speak reminded me of tapes I have heard of JFK's public speeches.  He has this amazing ability to reach right out and touch the heart of every person in the massive crowd.  They were right there with him, word by word.  Besides addressing important policy issues, Obama appealed to the hometown crowd by talking about how he answered doubters who questioned him spending time on a swing through Texas, with something to the effect of: "I heard that the President says he's from here . . . and we're going to show him how strong we are by taking back this state.  I thought about starting in Crawford, but they told me I'd better start in Dallas first."

Adoration is too weak a word to describe the feeling from the crowd for Obama, and it was touching to see the expression on Reid's face while watching him--like that of a proud and loving mentor:

Next up was Biden, and he gave what certainly felt like his stump speech for 2008.  His oratory is excellent, but not quite as strong as Obama's, so he drew on the naturally emotional themes of 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina.  He did an amazing job of portraying in vivid color the Administration's failures through those lenses.  He spoke of the squandering of opportunity for global unity against the fundamentalist terrorists following 9/11 and the Administration's inept management and lack of concern for the average American in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

The large crowd, young and old alike, hung in there and greeted Harry Reid:

Reid stepped up to the plate and delivered an earnest and gallant speech.  He was at his emotional best when sharing his delight regarding the outcome of last week's elections, his "favorite" of which was the St. Paul mayoral election, in which the incumbent Democrat (who endorsed Bush last year) was defeated by a Democrat who ran on that issue alone.

I'm not naïve.  Last week, Texans amended the state constitution to ban gay marriage by a 75% margin.  But seeing this wonderful and enthusiastic turnout for an off-cycle Democratic rally in Dallas leaves me feeling a bit hopeful.  And meeting these three Senators leaves me feeling very optimistic that the short-term future of the party is in good hands.  Now we need to do our part to help, focusing on voting fairness and financial support and unity, rather than whether or not the F-word and its kin are good or bad in DKos diaries (please forgive the unsolicited editorial).

UPDATE Here is a nice article from the Dallas Morning News (of all places) regarding comments Biden made at a luncheon that preceded this rally.