Going to a Ron Paul Rally

February 16, 2012 | Category: Events, Travel, Washington

Ron Paul speaking before thousands of Seattleites

Ron Paul speaking before thousands of Seattleites

I’ve never been into politics. It’s always seemed to be a whole bunch of BS and it’s just never interested me all that much. However, Ron Paul is the first politician who’s ever gotten me excited because what he says just makes sense. One morning recently on one of my days off work, I found out he was going to be speaking here in Seattle later this evening. Since I’d never been to a political rally, I figured I’d go and have that experience to see what it’s like. 🙂

This rally was being held near the airport and when I arrived at the hotel where he’d be speaking, I got there an hour early and there were already hundreds of people in line.

People were walking by handing out road signs you could plant, stickers, buttons, and so on. In the mood to “play the part” of being into these sorts of things, I grabbed a button and a few stickers and put them on. 🙂

Adorning myself with Ron Paul paraphernalia

Adorning myself with Ron Paul paraphernalia

While waiting in line, the people around me and I naturally struck up a conversation and it revolved around, you guessed it, Ron Paul.

The guy in front of me mentioned he was a caucus leader or something. “What’s that,” I asked. and he began to share with me all about how this whole election thing worked. It was all very foreign. “So people don’t actually vote for the candidates they want?” “Nope.” Apparently it all starts with this thing called a caucus. Each county in the state is made up of multiple districts. A caucus is a meeting of people into politics. They vote for people called delgates who would go to the next level of voting and would vote for a certain candidate they want to represent. Then there’s higher and higher levels of elections. Caucus. Delegates. Districts… I had no idea these things even existed. It all sounded like a foreign language to me. 🙂

Ron Paul pamphlets and stickers

Ron Paul pamphlets and stickers

In any event, once we got into the room, I managed to actually get a seat, and in the center section no less!

The room continued to fill until the whole place was packed, with standing room only. (It didn’t really matter much because people wound up standing the whole time anyways… heh)

The press set up to record the event from the back

The press set up to record the event from the back

Before Ron Paul came out, some other dude came up to start talking about something to start the event.

The guy who introduced the guy who introduced the guy who introduced Ron Paul

The guy who introduced the guy who introduced the guy who introduced Ron Paul

Then another guy came up. I believe he was a chief justice.

A chief justice

A chief justice

Then finally the last introductory guy came up on stage. I can’t remember anything these guys talked about, but I’m sure they were important people…

I think this guy is a Senator

I think this guy is a Senator

Finally when Ron Paul entered the stage, everyone went ballistic.

People recording the cheering as the room explodes for Ron Paul

People recording the cheering as the room explodes for Ron Paul

Throw your iPhones in the air like you just don’t care!

One thing that I liked about being in the back was that I could get the people holding their phones/cameras in the air taking pictures as Ron Paul talked.

This guy is really passionate and energetic

This guy is really passionate and energetic

Since I had my SLR with me, I think I spent more time focusing on the pictures than on what was being said.

The light levels were pretty low there and the only lens I have now, the 18-55 IS, only opens to f/5.6 at 55mm. What this meant is I was shooting at ISO 1600, 1/15s or so. And this was done by holding the camera over my head, hail mary style. (Thank goodness for Live View. You are a life saver… You too, IS!) Because of the shutter speeds, shooting over my head basically involved steadying the camera as much as possible, waiting for a still-ish moment, and machine gunning off a few shots, hoping for some sharp frames. 🙂

People cheer after he shares his viewpoint on one of the many subjects he addressed

People cheer after he shares his viewpoint on one of the many subjects he addressed

I’ve gotta be honest. What this guy has to say just makes a lot of sense. No B.S. No nonsense. Especially when he addressed issues like economics, war, the fed, business, the role of government, etc.

An Obama sign being held up in the crowd

An Obama sign being held up in the crowd

As Ron Paul continued to speak, I started to listen more because like most everyone else, I had already gotten the main shots I’d wanted. 🙂

Speaking to the crowd

Speaking to the crowd

When he finished speaking, everyone cheered like mad.

Even though I’m not really into these things, the energy was very electric and exciting. Almost like being at a concert. 🙂

The crowd cheers as Ron Paul finishes and leaves the stage

The crowd cheers as Ron Paul finishes and leaves the stage

After he finished his talk and exited stage right, a mob of people poured forward, hoping to get autographs and whatnot. I tried getting close too to see if I could get a shot, but the closest thing I could get was, I think, a part of the top of his head. lol… He stayed a couple minutes more before heading out.

After heading out, paying for parking, and heading out to my car, the mob of people turned into a traffic jam of taking a good 30-45 min just to exit the hotel parking lot and get out the pay gates. 🙂

It was a cool event. Writing about this now, I feel like I’m coming off bored about it. and perhaps I am. I mean, it was definitely an exciting atmosphere at the time, but now that it’s all over and done, it feels like well… whatever. 🙂

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