McCain / Palin Campaign Stop at Lancaster, PA

Traffic heading to Franklin and Marshall College on the Harrisburg Pike is backed up almost to U.S. Route 30.
Outside, long lines wrap around the Alumni Sports and Fitness Center Field House waiting to go through the security screenings required for entry into the event.

Sources:

Pittsburgh Tribune Review
Penn Live.com
and Google, Yahoo and Reuters sites for photos
and additional notes from news sources

LANCASTER, PA.
It’s official, Sen. John McCain’s crowds are now Obama-sized.
The event was sold out with 7,500 tickets distributed within 48 hours. According to a Pennsylvania State trooper, they have an over-flow section in the parking lot for an expected 4,000 more.
Karen Miller, 50, of Lancaster, was in line with her husband, Tom. A registered Democrat, she voted for Sen. Hillary Clinton in the Pennsylvania primaries.

“Palin is a strong woman going after the big boys in Washington” said Miller, “she has made the McCain ticket a powerful one and one of reform.”

Husband Tom, 54, said he didn’t need Palin to persuade him. He was already on board with McCain after Hillary lost: “McCain is not afraid to buck the Republican Party he belongs to, he belongs to the people.”

Three hours before the event was to begin, the line of cars stretched over a mile from the exit off of the Lincoln Highway to the event site at Franklin and Marshal College. A line a few thousand deep wrapped it’s way around F&M college.

Supporters of Republican vice presidential candidate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, hold up campaign signs of her as ‘ Rosie the Riveter’ as they wait in line to see Republican presidential candidate Sen., John McCain, R-Ariz., and Palin, Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2008, at a campaign rally at Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, Pa

Amish are usually apolitical, but this election is special and my thinking is they are very aware of the kind of person McCain and Palin are running against. And also the kind of person especially that Sarah and McCain are with their stance on abortion too. The Amish were big supporters of Dubya in 04. I think the presence of Sarah Palin on the ticket will bring out millions of deeply religious people who might otherwise have stayed home. People that believe in religious freedom, family, and moral values.

Huge American flag with lights reflecting on and behind it. Also music played setting the mood perfectly.
Matt Goss Band playing “Raisin’ McCain.”
Also on hand for entertainment are the band and cheerleaders from nearby Hempfield High School.
There were women that that wore pink “Hot Chicks Vote Republican” buttons; one hoisted a McCain placard bearing a hand-scrawled message: “Guns, God, Lipstick.”

McCain-Palin enthusiasts begin filling the floor of Franklin & Marshall’s Alumni Sports and Fitness Center Field House prior to this afternoon’s Republican rally in Lancaster.

Photo of the bitter,religious, gun clinging people in Pennsylvania….. take that Obama freakazoid!

With electricity in the air of excitment and the audience like a roar…….. Palin and McCain were introduced…….
“Ladies and Gentlemen, please welcome the next President and Vice President of the United States!’

A local minister who asked the crowd to pray for President Bush, Vice President Cheney, the Republican candidates and U.S. troops. Conspicuously absent from the prayer requests were Obama and his running mate, Sen. Joe Biden.
The biggest cheers have come each time Palin’s name is mentioned, underscoring her popularity with the Republican base.
The Hempfield cheerleaders took the stage a few minutes ago to lead the crowd in a cheer of “When I say John, You say McCain” and “When I say victory, you say now.”

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, center with her husband Todd Palin, reacts to cheers from supporters during a campaign rally at Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, Pa.

McCain stepped up to the microphone and said:

‘I am privileged to have been introduced to you by Sarah Palin. But I am looking forward even more to introducing Sarah Palin to Washington D.C.’

… at which point seven thousand south-central Pennsylvanians lost their composure, and the cheers and applause were (literally) deafening. Once the din subsided, a powerful chant of ‘Sa-rah! Sa-rah! Sa-rah!’ filled the hall.

Palin’s speech is long on praise for McCain the veteran and former prisoner of war, and short on policy. Speaking with McCain beside her, flanked by her husband, the “First Dude” Todd Palin, the vice presidential nominee praises McCain’s “determination, resolve and sheer guts,” reminding the crowd several times of McCain’s military record, because “he won’t say it on his own behalf.”
“There is only one man in this election who has fought for this country,” she said.
Palin also seeks to reinforce McCain’s image as a maverick and an agent of change, saying the senator, who has been in Washington since he was elected to Congress in 1982, “doesn’t run with the Washington herd. He’s willing to shake things up.”
Several lines of her speech were familiar to those who watched her acceptance speech at last week’s GOP convention
“We prefer candidates who don’t talk about us one way in Lancaster and another way in San Francisco,” she said, subbing Lancaster for Scranton in her referring to Obama’s oft-quoted comments about bitter voters clinging to guns and religion.
“There are candidates who use change to promote their careers and those like John McCain, who use their careers to promote change,” she said.

McCain got big cheers at all the expected places — “Drill here, drill now”; “I would rather lose a political campaign than see America lose a war”; “All you ever ask of government is to stand on your side, not in your way.”
But without a doubt, the biggest reaction came when he told the crowd, “I can’t wait to introduce (Palin) to Washington.” That brought a thunderous ovation, followed by a loud chant of “Sarah, Sarah, Sarah.”
McCain proclaimed the surge in Iraq a success, promised to drill offshore and to build nuclear power plants, pledged to reach across the aisle to get things done and promise to veto pork-barrel spending.

McCain spoke and shook hands outside, Palin and her husband signed autographs and posed for photos with supporters inside, who pressed against the barriers on the floor to try to get closer.

Palin also made a stop at the outside overflow area to shake hands and sign autographs.

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Wild Thing’s comment………….
It is reported that more than a thousand were turned away.
This is an absolute political Tsunami that is going to engulf and wash away the Obama presidency aspirations.
I caught a shot of McCain about a month ago from the side and thought he looked old and tired and kind of hunched. It surprised me because looking at him straight on you get a different impression. But ever since he made the Palin announcement he seems to be reborn. He looks healthy and energized and more than ready to take on Obama!
McCain’s choice of Sarah Palin and the manner in which he has conducted himself since he chose her speaks so highly of his character as a leader. Good leaders want other leaders around them, and are not threatened by the abilities of those leaders. McCain is energized by Sarah Palin’s leadership abilities, and it shows.
On the other hand, petty tyrants are petrified of the abilities of others, and so the character of B. Hussein Obama is seen in his choice of VP candidates. He could never chose a running mate who might steal any of his limelight.
They also made a special place along the railing in the front for those in wheelchairs and there were a lot of Veternas there wearing VFW hats adorned with a buttons and medals. I could not find any photos of this but one of the write ups online mentioned this and it touched my heart, because they thought of everything for the crowd attending the rally.
I got this below late in the evening after the rally, from one of Nicholas’s cousins that lives in Maryland. It is from a frieind of his he works with and I thought you might like to see it too.

“Got to tell you my story. Sunday I got an email from the McCain camp about the rally in Lancaster. I immediately got on the horn with my friend and asked if she wanted to go. YES!!! was the answer, so we zipped up to Gettysburg to get tickets for us and another friend.
This is the first political rally for any of us, and that is something since I am 72 and my younger friends are in their 60’s.
Well,we can’t go to any more rallies since this one was perfect. We got there at 10:30 and found a spot right near the building. We got in line with great people: registered Democrats, and women holding the “Rosie the Riveter” pic. Media were everywhere, we got to speak to Molly H from Fox.
We were allowed in the building at 12:30 and found places right in front of the Speakers stand. We got great pictures, got to shake John’s, Sarah’s and Todd’s hands, and got my “Sarah for VP” button signed by Sarah.
My friends and family are so excited for me. Such a fantastic day, great excited crowd. great people.
Something we both noticed too, Johon McCain has a genuine respect and admiration in which he appears to hold Sarah Palin. It was extraordinarily obvious today on the speakers’ platform.
And I know it isn’t important, but Sarah is more beautiful in person than on TV. Molly H from Fox is a tiny little thing. And I tell you, John McCain was fantastic and looked great.. Can you tell I’m pumped!