Thursday, October 18, 2012

Obama Campaign Announces Election Night Rally at McCormick Place

Image from Esquire.com
Tuesday, November 4th 2008 was an electric and historic night in the Sloop full of amazingly tight security.  For those who aren't familiar with that date, it was the night local boy Barack Obama won the race to become the 44th President of the United States.

While we understand not everyone was happy to see this happen, you can't argue that our neighborhood was the epicenter of the world that night.  Lots of crying people.  Lots of smiles.  Lots of signs.  Lots of protests.  Lots of emotion.  And most of all lots of people in general.

It was an experience and something we will never forget.

Fast forward to this year's presidential race and President Obama's campaign is again headquartered in Chicago, his adopted hometown.  While their is definitely a different feeling this year than 2008, it was still assumed by many that the election night rally would be held in Chicago and probably held in Grant Park again (or so we thought).

Well yesterday night we found out that the event will be held in our neighborhood, but at a much more secure and less risky venue, McCormick Place.  The Tribune sums it up:
President Barack Obama plans to hold his election-night rally at Chicago’s McCormick Place convention center, a move aimed at easing concerns over weather and security, sources with knowledge of the event said Wednesday. 
Given the indoor location, the event seems unlikely to match the electric atmosphere of Obama’s 2008 outdoor victory rally in Grant Park. That event drew an estimated 240,000 people downtown and created picturesque images of the city’s skyline that were seen worldwide.
While we understand the rationale, it's still disappointing.  Chances are many of us who were there on that famous night in 2008 won't get access to McCormick Place.  It will be a different feel for sure.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

hope to god this guy isnt back for another 4

Super SLooper said...

Hope this guy IS back for another 4!

Serge said...

Yeah, no thanks..

Anonymous said...

I hope it's a quiet night in the Sloop election evening. Go Romney!

emily said...

No grant park?? Hopefully no rally at all, go Romney/Ryan!

MarkChicago said...

Hopefully the riots won't come north.

Anonymous said...

I just hope that we don't have to have another white person running this country again. They don't know how to handle money! Obama's gonna crush Romney. The only riots will be at the Koch brothers' compound for all the billions of dollars they've wasted trying to elect a man who still thinks it's 1952 and women should stay at home like good little lambs.

Anonymous said...

Perfect time to close this thread. You close it for much less off topic subjects. Screw all of your trollish

Elizabeth said...

What will this mean for traffic that evening? I wasn't in Chicago for the last election, so I'm not sure what to expect. We have trivia by UIC on Tuesdays and I don't want to be stuck!

Also, I'm so sorry if this is nit-picky, but I found an error in the fourth paragraph: "While their is definitely a different feeling this year than 2008..." I'm sure this was an oversight, but if you can, please change "their" to "there."

Anonymous said...

elizabeth--- i wouldnt worry about traffic, obama isnt winning. Romney up 51% and no candidate who has eclipsed 50% has ever lost. Carry on like any other day----unless of course youre planning on going to Mass, then you might have a traffic problem.

Anonymous said...

This country cant afford another Republican in charge. I'm tired of wars and spending.
I pray for this country that the Sloop is rocking election night.

Anonymous said...

Why is it that everyone with a political opinion thinks the rest of the world wants to hear it? By all means, go vote and make your voice heard that way. Otherwise, don't bash others for thinking differently than you. You guys are completely rude.

Regardless of who wins, does anyone know when we will have a better idea whether there will be road closures in the area as a result of the rally?

Anonymous said...

"this country can't afford another republican president" --- yeah because the last four years with a democrat have been super sweet.

Sloop22 said...

yes i would love for the south loop to host this again! We could all celebrate 4 more years of trickle up tyranny and record unemployment! yay!