OBAMARAMA

So now, the story you've all been waiting for--my delve into the world of national politics. Let me begin by saying I worked 23 hours over Monday and Tuesday, and I am feeling a little under the weather, so if this is in any way disjointed or confusing, that's why, and I apologize. Where to begin?

I got a call at 10:30 p.m. Friday night (Oct. 24) from my boss telling me that Mr. Obama was coming. He told me to come in early on Monday, because we'd have lots of work ahead. Monday morning, we game planned the work each member of our office would be doing. It was then I was told that I'd be writing a story for our Web site which would be accompanied by a brief video. Wanting to stay above the political fray, the story was supposed to be geared toward about how the Obama rally and a separate event, a pre-planned presentation by former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas) were helping to engage JMU students and community and opening a dialogue among our students, no matter their political affiliation. Our office was only allotted 5 press passes for the event, so I was very lucky to get one. I spent most of the day Monday getting a leg up on the story, conducting interviews with students and faculty, researching some local history, helping put together a fact sheet and coordinating with our video guy. My former colleagues back at COUNTRY will also be pleased to know that I spent some time stuffing swag bags for about 100 media members who would be attending. That included peeling price stickers off of JMU-branded mugs, which were terribly stubborn.

I then attended DeLay's speech, which was hosted by the JMU College Republicans. That was held from about 8-9:30. I had to be there around 7 to get some more student interviews. Thankfully, I was able to grab some rest and food between 5 and then. The speech was about how he believes the Constitution is largely informed by Christian values and how the U.S. is a Christian and blessed nation. Some of it was believable, but a lot was a little hard to swallow. I didn't really get his point, but for us in PR, it was good to have him there as a counteragent to Obama, and I did get some good soundbites from students there. Not exactly the nightcap I was looking for after what was already a long and stressful day.

Then, the big day. Let me begin by saying it didn't turn out exactly as we'd hoped, but it was still an undeniable success for JMU. We wound up on the front page of most Virginia papers and got tons of national and international exposure. Just do a Google News search for "Obama JMU." So here was the plan as it pertained to me: Go to work at around the normal time, do a little more legwork on the story and coordinating with the others in the office, including video and those who were stuck behind to answer phones, communicate with the outside world, etc. Then, around 10, the video guy and I were to head over to the arena where the rally was to be held, get our equipment set up and get the lay of the land before evacuating at 11 from a Secret Service sweep of the building. At that time, I'd planned on grabbing something to eat, getting some more interviews with students outside waiting for the event (many had begun lining up as early as 5 a.m. for the event set to open doors at 3:30 p.m.). Then, in the afternoon, head back in and get ready for the rally, handle some post-event media and get set to finish up our materials Wednesday morning. A long day in its own right.

Now, let's go to how things turned out. Morning went fine until about 10. At that time I was informed the video guy and I needed to haul the roughly 100 swag bags to the arena--not a huge deal. We did it, got there, and then I was looking for a spot to park most of my gear. That's when things soured, a bit. I was told that there wasn't any secure area set up yet for my stuff, and that I needed to leave the building, because they didn't want anybody just 'hanging around.' That was fine, as I was going to head out and get some interviews anyway, so I brought my gear (laptop, tape recorder, padfolio, notebook, general reporter's stuff, plus glasses, emergency Tylenol, etc.) outside and started chatting up some of the people outside (by this time there were already hundreds if not more than 1,000 lined up, even though according to the campaign, they would begin lining people up around 1:30). That was fine for a while, but the temperature was near-freezing with a biting wind. Having planned on being inside for most of the time, then taking a quick jaunt to a restaurant for lunch, I didn't think it necessary to bring my coat, just extra stuff to have to haul.

By 11, the crowd was flat-out large. There was no security or even roping/barriers set up to corral the growing crowd, much of which was assembling on a recreational soccer field behind the arena. Due to the lack of security, and since we were there and employees of the university, it fell to me (160 pounds on a good day), the video guy Brent (even more wiry than me) and my two middle-aged bosses to contain the crowd, growing both in number and agitation. I was helped by the fact that I was wearing my dark suit and tie and aviator sunglasses. On numerous occasions I was asked if I was with the Secret Service. I told them no, but they still seemed to listen to me whenever I told them to do something. Eventually, we got some orange road cones from the nearby rec center, and set those up to try and form some semblance of a line pattern. To make a long story short, we wound up having to do that for 4 hours. After three hours, we recruited some other (and equally poorly-suited for security work) employees from our office to lend us a hand. One was kind enough to bring me my coat, which I'd left in the office. Finally, exhausted, frozen and sore, my boss made the call that we'd done all that could possibly be expected of us and that we needed to head inside so we could do the jobs that we were actually supposed to be doing.

That's where the next mild problem occurred. The three other men from my office were able to get in the press entrance fine, just a few minutes before me. Somehow I got stuck back of them for a little while and was forced to stand in line with several other members of the media. Mind you, I had a rally-specific press pass issued to me from the advance team days before, but I did not appear on the list maintained by the volunteers running the entrance. I was told to stand aside with a group of about 20 other media people who had to wait and have their credentials 'verified.' Knowing that secret service was crawling all over, I did as I was told. For about 20 minutes. At that point, and with the encouragement of another disgruntled reporter in the same predicament as me, I "tailgated" on the back of a TV crew that was sent through to the floor. I flashed my pass and was let through without incident. In other words, I made a run for it past security--and I made it. Now some of you may be thinking why didn't I just call my boss and have him get me down there--the problem is my phone gets no service in the arena, so that was worthless.

However, once I got down there, it was undeniably exciting. I interviewed some JMU students in the crowd and a few journalism students who were in the press pit as well. After pleasantries such as the national anthem and the pledge of allegiance, Virginia Governor Tim Kaine and former governor and current Senate candidate Mark Warner were introduced. They did well. Then, the man himself was introduced. Needless to say, the crowd went wild. It was electric. He opened with some pleasant and personalized joking about JMU, including the school's homecoming theme of "Duke Dog for President" (Duke Dog is JMU's mascot). But the rest of his speech was pretty much the same stump speech he's given at every one of his rallies. I probably could have recited it. NOTE: I had planned on posting the audio I recorded at the event here, but am having technical issues with it. If I can, I will update it later.)

I did not get to meet him (his people had him in and out quickly and with very little contact with our people), but I did see Richard Wolffe of Newsweek and MSNBC as well as CNN's Candy Crowley at a distance of about 2 feet, as well as several other recognizable local media figures. I'm sure there were many more I didn't see. My experience was markedly better than most of those who had hopes of getting in to see Obama, including my brother.

Believe me, JMU has been getting grilled on local blogs and our office has received many angry phone calls from people who didn't get in. Being rightfully upset but uninformed as they are, they have been blaming JMU for the deficiencies. And there were deficiencies. A few:
-Previously mentioned lack of crowd control devices/personnel
-Lack of any crowd count or cut-off point (I should mention that the venue holds about 7,000-8,000 people, and I would estimate the crowd outside to be more than double that)
-Lack of adequate restroom facilities and trash cans
-Blatant misrepresentation, by the Obama team, of requirements for entrance to the event. From the time the rally was originally scheduled, the campaign had said people wishing to attend should RSVP online. As it turns out, there was literally no use for those, other than for the campaign to get people's personal information
-Blatant lying about "tickets" for the event--This one needs some explaining. I'm not sure if they were campaign volunteers or people from a different group, but some group of people begun handing out forms to the thousands in line, asking them to fill in personal information and telling them it was their ticket in. Again, the tickets were meaningless other than to gather personal information for the group handing out the papers.

Now, both as a university PR person and as an honest person, I must state that JMU should not be held responsible for the deficiencies. Here are a list of facts about the roles of the different groups involved:
• Sen. Obama's rally was completely organized and managed by his campaign.
• The Obama campaign leased the Convocation Center and adjacent parking lots for the purposes of holding a rally.
• The Obama campaign refused to contract with JMU's Guest Services to manage the event instead saying they would use campaign volunteers.
• The Obama campaign did not provide personnel or volunteers to manage the crowds outside the venue. When it became clear things were getting out of hand, JMU employees attempted to minimize the confusion by attempting to form and maintain lines leading to the Convocation Center.
• JMU was in no way involved with the Obama campaign's event RSVP system nor do we condone the manner in which this was conducted.

So, there you go. If the story hasn't been posted to the JMU Web site yet, please check back tomorrow. I know for a fact the video is up on DukeDogTV, JMU's YouTube channel. Also check out some other stories in the JMU Newsroom if you want to see some other stories I've done so far.

Sorry for the huge story. Only fitting for a long couple of days.