Went To The Hillary Rally Today in L.A.

And it was worth getting up at 5 am, trekking over to campus, and standing in line for four hours to get in to see/hear Hillary Clinton. They opened doors at 9 am. They say close to 20,000 folks showed up to see her, for a space that held about 10,000. I was number 50 in line. Went with several colleagues and friends.

I'd never been to one of these events, so I didn't know what to expect. I didn't know you wait for so long. I kinda figured you'd have to go through extensive security. I didn't know there were several opening entertainment acts, before the opening speaker acts. I didn't know the level of passion everyone has for their candidate of choice.

But with only one cup of coffee holding me down, I enjoyed hearing Laura Richardson, America Ferrera (Ugly Betty), Sally Field, Maxine Waters, Delores Huerta, Magic Johnson, Antonio Villaraigosa, Gloria Molina, and company with their words. The mayor of Oakland, whose name escapes me right now, was most inspiring in his endorsing words. Maxine Waters brought down the house as always.

But when Hillary Clinton walked in, the energy was electric. She's quite a personable and magnetic person. I don't know if it televises well. But in person, there's just this air of intelligence, warmth, poise, and articulation that is so inspiring to see live. She didn't use a teleprompter, a cool observation... as I thought most candidates used some type of visual aid to keep them on point and in command.

What was most inspiring was seeing all the college students fired up for anything political. And seeing all the mothers and daughters (young girls) who attended together. I could see that her candidacy means a lot psychologically to young women and their mothers as they sat and listened.

So I think I confided about a month ago, I was in that "undecided" category... kinda swayed by a lot of media hype about various candidates on both sides most of us hadn't really heard of until just a few years ago. I really waffled between the three frontrunners on the Democratic side.

But I gotta say, attending today's rally really sealed my decision on who I will vote for on Tuesday in California.
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