Obama: "Wow, wow, wow"

Yesterday, I guess you could say that Barack Obama had a rather well-attended campaign rally in Portland, Oregon.

The attendance numbers vary.

According to the Associated Press, 80,000 flocked to the rally.

Fire officials estimated 65,000 packed into a riverside park for a spectacular afternoon rally at a sun-splashed scene on the banks of the Willamette River in Portland. They said an additional 15,000 were left outside and dozens of boaters could be seen floating in the river.

“Wow, wow, wow,” Obama said as he surveyed the audience. “We have had a lot of rallies. This is the most spectacular setting, the most spectacular crowd we have had this entire campaign.”

MSNBC reports a slightly smaller crowd estimate.

Per the Obama campaign, 75,000 people (60,000 in the gates and 15,000 outside of them) turned out in Portland to hear Obama speak there this afternoon -- making it the largest Obama crowd to date.

Duane Bray, the battalion chief with Portland Fire and Rescue, validated that crowd estimate, the campaign says.

Give or take 5,000, it was an ENORMOUS crowd.

This wasn't your average political rally.

Some in the crowd were fanatical.

From KATU:

Portland is a Democratic stronghold, known for its bike paths and green ethos. It was one of the few cities in the country to briefly allow gay marriage, frowns on plastic bags and chain restaurants alike and was christened "Little Beirut" by no less than President George H.W. Bush.

In August of 2004, then-Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry held a large rally in the same location, drawing about 45,000 people.

But on Sunday, Obama topped that without even being the official nominee, speaking to a crowd filled with sunscreen-smeared babies in sun hats, union members in matching T-shirts, elderly ladies fanning themselves under the hot sun and twenty-somethings dancing to his opening act, the Portland-based band The Decemberists.

Some voters lined up before dawn to see him, including Michelle Kay.

"We are all so sick of Bush, his lies, the war," she said. "When Obama came out he was so honest, so refreshing."

Others arrived at the last minute, such as Afang Tang-Christianson of Beaverton and her husband Daniel. She is due to give birth to twins in the next week or two, and the two had spent the morning at the hospital when she began feeling early contractions.

But after leaving, she said they came straight to the rally, adding, "It's all about a new beginning, a new start. We are really hoping for change in Washington."

Lining up before dawn?

That's extreme.

It's also extreme for a woman pregnant with twins to go straight to a political rally, to mill around with a mob of tens of thousands, just after spending hours at a hospital because she was experiencing early contractions.

Maybe going home and taking it easy would have been a wiser thing to do.

Don't tell me that the cult of personality isn't a factor here.

I wonder how many of the 75,000 are familiar with the specifics of Obama's positions, beyond his vague change and hope rhetoric.

Such enormous gatherings are impressive, but they don't necessarily translate into votes.

In 2004, John Kerry drew 80,000 to a rally in Madison.

Gov. Jim Doyle said from a stage at the bottom of the W. Washington Ave. hill that 80,000 or more people stood between him and the statehouse, an estimate backed by Carl B. Saxe, Madison's assistant fire chief of operations, who was supervising the scene.

Saxe said the crowd was greater than the capacity of Camp Randall Stadium, about a mile away and home to the University of Wisconsin football team.

Something worth noting: Appearing at Kerry's rally was Bruce Springsteen.

Granted, Springsteen and The Decemberists aren't comparable. I think Springststeen had more than a little something to do with the massive crowd, but nonetheless, a huge number of people did attend Kerry's event.

In spite of the impressive turnout for that rally, Kerry very narrowly won Wisconsin and convincingly lost the election to President Bush.

Republicans shouldn't fear. Obama's ability to attract a crowd doesn't necessarily mean he'll be the next president. Big rallies aren't an indicator of success in the general election.

Sunday's Obama rally does have to be disheartening to Hillary, another sad reminder of how terribly her expected coronation as the Dem nominee derailed.