the entire montgomery county staff was at the meeting.  taryn, the regional field director for this area, was in full force explaining what was to expect and what kinds of volunteer jobs would be needed.  the meeting split up into different job areas, and just around that time, the truck will all our lit (perhaps some other offices, too) arrived.  we unloaded dozens of boxes in short order, because there were so many people there.  i came out to help as people were streaming from truck to office, and asked a simple question.  "is there any reason we're not using the hand truck?"

we agreed that working smarter was a good idea, and saved a few backs in the process.  really, what i was thinking about was moving bicycle rack in an hour.  at 20 til midnight, someone made a general announcement requesting volunteers to help set up at the wynnewood train station.  several dozen people (really more) joined us and we struggled out of the parking lot to go over.

when we arrived, we found the teamsters getting ready to start unloading.  but there was no bicycle rack to be found and so we basically twiddled our thumbs for a bit.  jessica, our advance person, had already taped off the parking lot where the bicycle rack would go.  as we where waiting, our neighborhood high schooler who was too good to help out in our office (but wanted to take credit for high school night with reporters) showed up.  he was proudly displaying a staff badge and told one of the (real) staffers that, "i've been promoted to apprentice f.o. in the west philly office and that's why i haven't been doing high school stuff anymore."  anymore???

while this may have been the case, it was far more likely that he got one of the staff credentials because we had run out of volunteer credentials.  just too many volunteers on this campaign and we can't keep up with them!  we got a good chuckle out of that but the truck with the bicycle rack arrived.  our newfound "staffer" ran across the tracks to the street to help direct the trucks to the parking lot.  jessica, not surprisingly, came over and admonished us.  "don't let it happen again."  we tried to explain the uniqueness of his situation, but we agreed with her point.

since we had so many volunteers, i tried to encourage groups of people to take sections of the rack to build out.  but it had now gotten to the point where taryn felt those under age shouldn't be there.  so she sent home about half our help (understandably) because she didn't want their parents going nuts about where they were.  after that, people slowing met their own limit and pealed off to go home.  around 3:30, we were down to five, and we hadn't finished.  the decision was made to go home for a few hours and return at six.

when i got there at six, there were already a dozen people waiting and the bicycle rack was almost fully deployed.  taryn arrived shortly afterwards with coffee -- which was much appreciated.  we started tying stuff down, roping off other areas and generally finishing up.  about 7:30 or so, the secret service would begin it's sweep and i went home to take a shower, eat and change clothes.

when i returned (around 9am), the line of people to get in already stretched down the parking lot, and then down its driveway, and down the adjoining street.  the air was full of excitement, and the gates (or metal detectors) wouldn't be open for another 30 minutes.  as i walked in (through the metal detectors for the first of 6 or 7 times), the volunteers were gathering at their appointed posts.  again, the biggest effort was directed at capturing people's information.  even then, four days from the election, we were looking for votes, volunteers and data for the fall.  the obama campaign is that organized.

i should have been a bouncer.  not even ten minutes into my arrival, one of the volunteers asked me to go talk to a lady who had hand-written "VIP" on a piece of paper and was trying to get to the front of the line.  we don't have a vip section, i told her.  i'm really sorry.  you must be thinking about yesterday's event, i told her as i escorted her to the end of the line.  "i've been volunteering in the wynnewood office for months," she told me as an explanation why she should be treated with special deference.  i'd never seen her before, but at least she knew about the office.  she'd probably had helped out -- lots of people have.  but these other people had been waiting for hours.  we had to be fair.

i served the same function in the handicapped seating area.  it was oh so fun to tell older voters that they would have to stand for the next three hours or so (just like everyone else) because seating was limited to handicapped people.  even then, my initial instruction was to let in only the handicapped individuals.  if they had an assistant, i asked them to stand behind them in the general area.  eventually, though, jessica told me i was wrong, that i had to let in their assistants, but they were expected to stand in the back of the section (which was pretty tight).  we only had a hundred seats, and we didn't really expect that to fill up.  but it did.

after the seats were all filled, we started filling the entry section with campaign volunteers.  i went around the parking lot looking for people i knew who had helped out and directed them to that section.  i escorted our data team leader (who happens to be very pregnant) through the thick crowd so that she could get a better view.  she abandoned her husband and his lonely place in the back for barack.  or a view of him, anyway.  she told me she got to shake his hand twice, so she was happy.

as i was shuttling volunteers to this "special" section, our greeters were gathering at the platform.  one of the times i went by, they asked me to take pictures of them shaking barack's hand.  i talked with the lead secret service agent, telling him i was going back and forth in terms of the request.  at this point, he said that was fine.  we filled up the section that would be where barack would come to the stage and closed it off.  the secret service tied police tape around it.  so now i am "back stage" or on the train platform waiting for barack with our local greeters.  our greeters were among our our most active volunteers, leaders in the office really.  marci -- who was introducing barack -- cary, robin, lynn and andy.  robin kept saying, "i'm gonna be sick, i'm gonna be sick."  she was so nervous that she really didn't look good.

but the trains were late, and we had to move everything around.  "we'll greet the senator after the speech" we were finally told.  and with that change, i lost my "pass" to move back and forth.  "don't leave," i was told emphatically.  my "punishment," apparently, was to be stuck back stage.  when the train arrived, the press poured off the train and to their risers.  a female conductor got off of the candidate's special car (which is privately owned) and waited at the steps.  finally, barack got off and gave marci what looked to be a peck on the cheek.  the whole crowd went nuts.  barack goes up to the bicycle racks and starts shaking hands.  he definitely knows how to work a crowd.

marci introduces senator casey, who introduces barack.  what was amazing, from my vantage point, was how many people had their cameras or their cell phones trying to memorialize the moment.  some even had called their tape machines and were recording his speech.  barack started with things from his philadelphia speech but then launched into a longer one than the night before.  during this time, i talked to the woman from amtrak that seemed to be in charge (there were about five administrators from amtrak on this trip).  she told me that the private owner of the railroad car was also there (who could blame him?).  i asked her if hillary was going to do it, too.  "we'd certainly love to accommodate her," she said.  since it's been quite common for hillary's campaign to do what we've done, i expect a whistle stop tour of indiana real soon.

it's almost shocking how far behind the curve hillary's campaign has been consistently.

i was talking a little bit with robert gibbs.  i eventually introduced him to our greeters.  marci and cary really engaged him in conversation.  it's possible andy, lynn and robin didn't know who he was.  but it's always a thrill to connect local people with national figures because i think both sides get something out of it.

in the end, the wynnewood whistle stop was a smashing success.  there were several naysayers who thought we couldn't get many people to show up.  the place was absolutely packed, though.  the lower merion fire chief estimated the crowd "inside the barriers" to be 6,000 but there was probably at least another thousand in the overflow section that we had roped off.  the most surprising thing -- and something i don't think we planned for -- was the fact that people started gathering on the platform across the tracks (so they were behind barack and the speakers).  there were at least 500 people there, maybe more.  the secret service quickly redeployed some of their security personnel over there.  i have no idea if they could hear or see anything, but they obviously wanted to be part of the experience, to be part of history.  can you blame them?

people in our office were also responsible for the "slowdown" at bryn mayr.  they had peeled off during the morning sometime and started flyering that area to let people know that barack would be speaking briefly as the train moved very, very slowly through the station.  they got little more than half the people that came to hear hillary at haverford, which i think is an amazing achievement in itself.  there is simply something about barack that people in this country identify with and a growing movement that people want to join.  i can't tell you how many republicans in lower merion i've talked to (when knocking on the door for someone else in their household) who have told me that they will take a serious look at barack in the fall.  barack simply connects.  it is a strong contrast with hillary, who really does energize the conservative base while dividing democrats.  while talking about unifying the country seems to offend hillary's supporters, barack does have that ability.  pennsylvanians know it.  they respect it.  and they will definitely go for barack in the fall.

you can still help barack in pennsylvania.  donate here to reunite the democratic party behind a strong nominee who can beat mccain; you can also help by making phone calls now.  with the pennsylvania democratic party intervening in the democratic process, anything you can do to compensate for their interference would be welcome!