This will be a very short diary. I wasn't there, because I'm geographically challenged. But one of my children was there to hear Barack Obama speak at Beloit College, in Beloit, WI tonight.
edit: I should note, Chelsea Clinton was also in Beloit, but in the morning, and classes conflicted for my student, so I have no first hand accounts of that.
I haven't been able to find much on this in the news yet. However, a report from a local news station says that many people waited up to 6 hours to enter the Beloit College gymnasium, where the event was held at 8 pm tonight. My daughter waited only three, and managed to get a coveted seat on the 1800 seat risers close to the stage. There were many, many, more hundreds crowding the stadium, but unable to sit on the risers. The audience had some great signs. "Cheeseheads for Change", "Yes, WI Can!", and others.
My daughter reports the crowd, comprising not only Beloit College kids, but also people from the city of Beloit and surrounding areas, was on fire, energetic and obviously very moved by what they heard tonight.
I don't have much more than that to report. After speaking, Senator Obama came up to the barricades and shook hands with many of the attendees. He shook my daughter's hand, asked her if she was going to vote tomorrow. She said yes. He said, "For me?" with a winning smile, and she said "For sure!". He grinned, said thank you, shook her hand again, and moved on. My lovely daughter is over the moon with her experience. She said he spoke about Iraq, health care, education, taxes, reviving the grassroots economy. That's all I have on the details of his speech, unfortunately. If someone finds audio or video I'd love to see it.
In the meantime, I'll leave you with these three pictures my daughter sent me: