Below is a play-by-play recap of my experience hearing Senator Barack Obama speak on Friday, April 4th in Fort Wayne, IN:

4:00 AM – I woke up with a start to the sound of my cell phone alarm. Today was the day I’d get to hear Barack Obama speak and possibly meet him. I shambled downstairs and woke up my friend, Nathan, who was passed out on the couch. Both of us groggy from a mere three hours of sleep, we fired up the Super Nintendo and played a round of Dr. Mario before heading out the door.

On the way to Wayne High School, we stopped at McDonald’s for a quick bite to eat. To our surprise, the drive thru was closed so we walked up to the building and knocked on the door. The manager who was inside mouthed something to us that could have either been “We’re closed” or something that I can’t repeat on this blog. Obviously he had been forewarned that Obama fanatics would be roaming the city at this godforsaken hour. He must have seen the crazed, “Barack the vote!” look in our eyes. I could already tell it was going to be a great morning.

4:30 AM – We tried our luck at Scott’s grocery store and it also happened to be closed. I always thought that fast food chains and grocery stores were open 24 hours, but I was proven wrong this morning. We ended up at a gas station, which I guess is one of the only places you can buy food at 4:30 AM, and the clerk asked us what we were doing out at this hour. “We’re going to hear Obama speak,” we replied casually (as if getting up in the middle of the night to hear a Presidential candidate speak was a fairly normal thing). We chatted about politics for a few minutes and then left with our pile of high quality gas station food.

5:00 AM – We pulled into Wayne’s parking lot just as a light drizzle began to fall from the sky. The parking lot was completely empty except for some news station vans parked near the gymnasium. After dropping off our food and a couple of magazines near the front door of the gym, we wandered over to the WANE-TV news van. On our way over, I could see the newscaster signaling the cameraman to get his camera rolling to capture the first couple of Obama maniacs on film. Before we knew it, we were live on the 5:30 AM news being questioned about why we support Obama and more importantly, what the #*%&@ were we doing here this early (although not quite in those words). During the interview, I mumbled something about playing Dr. Mario after we woke up and how I was surprised to find McDonald’s closed at this hour. After the live interview, they recorded two more interviews with us, one in which we said that we came out to “Barack the vote!” and “Barack and roll!”

6:00 AM – Feeling great about our five minutes of fame on the local news, we took up our post at the front door to the gym. Some other people soon began lining up behind us. A large and diverse crowd of people eventually formed, and we conversed about politics to pass the time. I even shared my story about Hillary Clinton flashing me the peace sign to get a few laughs from the crowd.

7:00 AM – An argument broke out between an Obama merchandise salesman and an angry mob. The mob was questioning whether the salesman was going to use the money from the merchandise to fund the Obama campaign or keep the money for himself. Although the vendor looked like he may have been making the buttons and shirts in his garage next to his meth lab, I believed him when he said that he was officially endorsed by Obama’s campaign. Then about 20 Secret Service agents walked by us on their way into the gym and this quieted the angry mob.

8:00 AM – My friend Barton shows up and he joins us at the front door. By this time, it was becoming very crowded and the line was actually wrapped around the building. The Secret Service agents were setting up metal detectors inside. I tried flashing my Obama sticker to the agents inside and said I was with the press, but they refused to allow me entry into the building. Some of the people in line recognized Nathan and me from the news earlier this morning and waved to us saying, “Hey weren’t you on the news this morning? You guys baracked!”

8:30 AM – People began randomly coming up to the gym doors and trying to open them. This didn’t make sense to me because if the doors were actually unlocked, none of us would be standing outside in the rain waiting for someone to open them for us. So I had some fun with these people and kept pointing to each door saying, “Maybe this door is unlocked. Try this one.” And sure enough, they’d try opening it and it’d be locked. I’m easily amused. At one point, people began shouting, “Barack Obama!” and I couldn’t resist and shouted, “George Bush!” This got a lot of laughs from the crowd.

8:45 AM – Sarah and Joy show up just in time before the doors open. They bribed their way up to the front of the line with a box of donuts. Any time someone in line would start to get vocal about them cutting, they would quiet them down by smiling and asking, “Want a donut?” It was ingenious. Soon they were giving away donuts to Obama campaigners, volunteers, members of the press, and Secret Service agents. I handed Obama stickers to each of my friends which proved to come in handy later.

9:00 AM – The doors opened and all of us were herded through metal detectors as we flashed the agents our official tickets. The tickets sold out within 90 minutes, so my friends were lucky I was able to snag a few for them. We entered the gymnasium and quickly made our way to the front row. One of the ushers tried to make us fill the seats to the side of the stage first. We didn’t wait four hours to sit off to the side, so all five of us sat down in the middle of the second row and everyone else filed suit.

9:30 AM – After we had our seats saved, it was time to walk around and have some fun. I put Joy’s professional camera around my neck and three of us made our way over to the press booth. I told the guy working at the press table that we were with the IPFW Post and pointed to the camera around my neck to emphasize the point. He told me that my name wasn’t on the list, and I told him that doesn’t make sense because we registered for our press credentials last night. After looking at me and then at my camera and then back at me, he handed us a list and told us to sign our names on it. He then handed over our official press credentials. Sarah told me she didn’t know that anyone could be a bigger BS’er than her dad. I took that as a compliment. Maybe I should go into politics.

9:45 AM – We were free to roam around the entire gymnasium using our press passes. If anyone questioned where we were going, we simply flashed them our badges and said, “It’s okay. We’re with the press,” and it worked every time. Sarah and Joy managed to talk their way onto the stage (with the help of their Obama stickers) and got to sit in a reserved section behind the podium.

10:00 AM – With only an hour to go until game time, the energy in the crowd was palpable. Nathan and I stood up and started a ton of different chants such as, “Yes we can,” “Fired up, ready to go,” and “Here we go Obama, here we go.” The entire gymnasium of 2800 Obama-ites chanted along with us. It was awesome to see everyone so excited about a Presidential candidate. People were yelling, clapping, and cheering so loudly that the sound was bouncing off the walls of the gymnasium. I lost my voice by the 10th chant.

11:00 AM – Mike Riley, the late Bobby Kennedy’s Indiana campaign manager, came on stage and gave a great speech in which he compared Obama’s passion and drive to that of Kennedy and even Martin Luther King, Jr. It was great to hear a prominent campaign manager making such positive, bold statements about Obama. It got the crowd even more fired up to hear Obama speak.

11:15 AM – An African-American pastor (from Fort Wayne, I think) gave an intense and high spirited prayer for Obama and his supporters. There were a lot of “Preach it!”’s and “Amen!”’s being yelled by the crowd, and for a moment, I felt like I was back at the Greater Progressive Baptist church service on John St. I attended last weekend. There was so much positive energy in the room. I loved it.

11:30 AM – Barack Obama entered from stage right and the crowd went wild. We were all chanting, “Yes, we can” and “Obama!” as Barack smiled and waved to everyone as he walked on stage. It was a surreal moment in my life and I felt like I was standing in the presence of greatness as Obama stepped up to the podium.

11:45 AM – Obama gave a heartfelt and prolific speech on Martin Luther King, Jr. and talked not only about his fight for racial equality but also social equality, and how they are one in the same. The speech lead into a 40-minute Q & A session in which Obama answered questions from the audience and discussed issues concerning gun control, education, the economy, and global warming (“President Bush doesn't believe in science”). He is an engaging speaker and whenever he made eye contact with me, I felt like he was speaking to me directly and had a vested interest in me as an American. It’s that kind of connection that Obama is able to make with his supporters that indicates to me his unflinching ability and desire to unite the people of this country—people from all races, cultures, and religions. His message and vision for the country are able to transcend the way in which the game of politics has been played in this country for so many years now.

Many people tout his lack of experience as a fault, but I look at it as a strength. He has not been corrupted and swayed by the lobbyists and special interest groups as have other politicians in this country, specifically the other two Presidential candidates. He’s bringing a fresh perspective to Washington and I think this is definitely what America needs to get back on track. His politics are about unity, not division. Barack Obama is able to give the American people hope, which is not an easy thing to do in our trying times. And it is only with this foundation of hope that I believe positive change can occur. People gripe about a lack of substance behind Obama’s message of change, but I completely disagree. I think he makes it clear through his policies for many of the major issues (http://www.barackobama.com/issues/) and his liberal voting record before Congress (http://projects.washingtonpost.com/congress/members/o000167/) that there is indeed content behind his eloquent rhetoric.

I think Obama possesses five important qualities of a good President: intelligence, leadership, judgment, integrity, and empathy. I think empathy is one of the most important qualities he has, and his concern for all types of Americans stems from his diverse background and life experiences. His integrity shines through when he speaks and you can tell he genuinely cares about us as individuals. After all, he admits that government can only do so much for people, and that what we really need is a fundamental shift in the way in which we live our lives as Americans. I think Obama empowers people to want to begin making positive changes in their lives. It’s these traits he possesses that set him apart from the other Presidential candidates.

After his Q & A session, Obama shook hands with everyone on stage including Sarah and Joy. He then made his way around the perimeter of the stage and Nathan and I got to shake his hand, too. I thought about giving him the peace sign like I did to Hillary or saying something silly like, “Barack and roll,” but I decided to be sincere and I thanked him for everything he’s doing for our country. When he made eye contact with me, smiled, and thanked me for what I said, I caught a glimpse of his integrity and compassion.

12:45 PM – After the speech was over, I met up with my friends who were on stage, and all of us were awestruck. We couldn’t believe how lucky we were to have experienced everything that happened at Wayne High School that day. I’ve had a lot of good times during my five years at IPFW, but this was without a doubt one of the best.

Note: For unbiased evidence that all of the above events actually occurred, look for our video interviews titled, “Students say Barack – N – Roll” (http://www.wane.com/global/video/popup/pop_playerLaunch.asp?vt1=v&clipFormat=flv&clipId1=2354248&at1=News&h1=Students say: Barack - N - Roll) and “Students wait for Obama early Friday” (http://www.wane.com/global/video/popup/pop_playerLaunch.asp?vt1=v&clipFormat=flv&clipId1=2354237&at1=News&h1=Students wait for Obama early Friday). Also, watch Obama’s speech on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABdDSxI6eSY where you can see Joy and Sarah sitting behind him during the entire speech.