Obama in Grand Rapids

I didn't go.

At about 2:00 Josh picked me up in his NEW Lancer and we took a quick ride down to the Van Andel Arena - just a few blocks from Davenport University where we work - to check out the crowd. T-Shirt hawkers were stationed on one corner. Several hundred people were lined up in the mist and chill, waiting.

At about 4:30, I got a "check in" message on BrightKite from Brian saying he was at the Arena. I'd heard his wife had already been standing on line for awhile. Amanda headed down there just before 5 p.m.

I went home and checked WoodTV8 online for some live video before tuning in on TV.

John Edwards spoke first, throwing his support behind Obama, finally. Funny thing, I thought, that he praised Hillary Clinton for about the first three or so minutes before he got down to the business of endorsing his candidate.

Then Obama came on. Now I haven't followed him all that closely,  so I don't know if he veered from his usual stump speech or not. I do know that the crowd -  about 13,000 inside and lots of overflow listening  outside  - was wild about what was a really rousing, old-time democratic values speech.  My own  gut stirred to hear him  - and  I was moved to see the  diversity of the crowd.   I even thought to myself, wow, 40-some odd years ago, Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke like this to crowds in hope of uniting a nation to acknowledge simple, obvious rights for people of color. Now, here is a black man running for President.  And - wonder of all - he has a great chance of winning.

All week I've insisted that you couldn't pay me enough to stand in line to see a rock-star anybody - no matter how short or long the wait or what the weather. Josh said to me, "But this is historic - he could be the next President." But I didn't waver.

You know what? I should have gone.