Michelle Obama spoke at an outdoor rally at 18th and Vine in Kansas City. Media estimates of the crowd ranged from 3000 on up. The other presidential campaign event in our area today drew a much smaller crowd.  

The space.

One of the many volunteers.

The crowd gains entry.

“Signed, sealed, delivered, I’m yours…”

The sound system was cranking tunes while we waited for the event to start. A significant group of women started swaying to the music and waving their arms. You could hear them singing “…signed, sealed, delivered, I’m yours…”

The invocation included the words “….and vote and vote and vote and vote and vote and vote and vote…” The crowd answered with a loud “Amen!”

A sea of faces.

I started photographing this baby when she looked at me. In the last frame she started to reach out to me.

Obama!

The crowd shows their red “commitment cards”.

As people streamed into the event volunteers got them to sign up and make a commitment to help the campaign in the following days, giving each a red “commitment card” after they had done so. A speaker asked everyone to show their cards.

Congressman Emanuel Cleaver.

Michelle Obama.

“You go girl!”

A rather short woman kept straining to see through the obstruction of the media on a riser. Throughout the even she would respond to the speakers. When Michelle Obama made one particularly emphatic point the woman called out, “You go girl!”