ANDERSON — Rising at 3 a.m. Saturday, Daleville resident David Williams trekked to Marion and waited in line for three hours and then another two inside Marion High School before Illinois Sen. Barack Obama took the stage. Then Williams and his wife, Dawn, returned to Madison County and saw the Democratic Indiana Primary candidate again.
“We’ve followed him around the last few weeks like he’s The Beatles,” said Williams, 40. “He brings hope. The first thing he’s going to do when he gets in the White House is to pay back us.”
Anderson police Sgt. Bill Casey said the Anderson High School cafeteria has a capacity of about 2,500, and Obama’s campaign distributed about 1,200 free tickets for Saturday’s campaign stop.
Fire Chief David Clendenen pegged attendance at about 1,400. Officials estimated between 6,000 and 7,000 people attended Clinton’s visit in March.
Williams, a utility salesman for Daleville-based Wesco Distribution Inc., said he shook the Illinois senator’s hand and was able to get one of Obama’s books autographed during the Marion visit.
“It was wonderful to shake his hand,” Williams said. “I told him I wouldn’t let him down.”
Many of the people who attended the Anderson stop brought books authored by Obama, hoping for an autograph. Campaign T-shirts and buttons were hawked outside for souvenir seekers.
Reaction was somewhat mixed on the availability of tickets for the campaign stop. When Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., appeared at the Wigwam in March, it was general admission. Attendees needed a ticket to see Obama’s campaign stop. About 40 people were allowed in for standing-room only, however.
“I want to hear what he has to say,” said Molly Jackson, 59, Anderson. “I had to go to different places (to get a ticket).”
Tiffany Chappell, 20, said she picked up her ticket around noon on Friday.
“And I found out shortly thereafter they were sold out,” said Chappell, an Anderson University junior studying global marketing. “We got right in. I was very surprised.”
She said went to the town hall meeting “because that’s who I’m voting for. (I’m) a huge fan.”
Jeanne Maddox, 22, of Alexandria, joked she didn’t have much of a choice in attending the Obama rally.
“I got drug here,” Maddox said as she entered the high school cafeteria with friends. “It’s an experience I haven’t had before, so I’ll see.”
Gail Wilson, 56, of Pendleton, said she had been following Obama’s career since he worked in Illinois and plans to vote for him in the Primary.
“He speaks to me as a teacher,” said Wilson, the wife of Madison County Commissioner Paul Wilson, D-South District, and a 34-year veteran kindergarten teacher in the South Madison Community Schools Corporation. “I think he’s a peaceful man.”
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April 26, 2008
OBAMA: ‘He’s The Beatles’
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Photo gallery: AU vs Mount Saint Joseph Baseball
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Comedian Harland Williams coming to Paramount
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