Local attorney and friend of KnoxViews Chuck Young went up to Bristol for the Obama town hall rally and phoned in this report on his way back...
Mr. Young said there were about 4000 people packed into a high school gym. The proceedings started about 11:55, almost right on time. Virginia Congressman Rick Boucher, an early and strong Obama supporter, gave the opening remarks. Chuck thinks Boucher is one of the reasons Obama picked VA to kick off his general election campaign.
Next up was Mark Warner, former VA governor and now running for Senate. Warner said VA is in play, and for the first time since 1965 is in serious contention.
Chuck says that Obama gave a powerful and inspiring speech to a wildly enthusiastic audience. In talking about his health care proposals, Obama got a huge response from the crowd when he pledged to shore up support for veterans and talked about the G.I. Bill.
Obama mentioned Tennessee a few times, and asked how many people at the rally had come up from Northeast TN. Hundreds responded.
One moment of levity came when Obama was talking about how it's better and more cost effective to treat a kid with asthma than letting it get so bad he shows up in the emergency room. Obama said he needs a "breathalyzer" instead of an ER. He realized his mistake, and said "inhalator," or "well, I'm tired, you know what I mean."
During the town hall Q&A session in which he took seven or eight questions, a woman introduced her 95 year old father, who brought a hand-carved walking stick he had made for Obama. Obama graciously accepted it, thanked them, and quipped that it would "come in handy when Congress doesn't do what I want them to do."
Chuck said the Obama's speech was incredible, and the whole event was pretty amazing in terms of the turnout and the enthusiastic support, especially given that it was organized on short notice. He was amazed at how many people came out on a work day morning. There were lots of media there. Chuck spotted Gene Patterson, so there will probably be some coverage on WATE 6 News tonight, in addition to major national news coverage.