Progress Illinois

A little piece of video from the moments after Barack Obama ended his victory speech in Grant Park yesterday:

Despite the enormous crowd and the even larger historical context, the atmosphere was decidely respectful in Hutchison Field last night.  It was respect for Obama's incredible feat.  Respect for the occasion, one the crowd knew would stay with them for the rest of their lives.  They smiled and embraced and beared witness.  When he finally reached the stage, Obama's speech took on a similar, appropriate seriousness.

Speaking for myself, I looked at Barack and could only think of my earliest memories of the man: by himself, yet to win a single election, browsing the shelves of a Chicago bookstore.

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The house is full, folks. 

I'm not sure what happened, but about 45 minutes ago the floodgates opened and people suddenly began streaming into the Hutchison Field basin from all sides.  They arrived just in time to hear Blitzer call Ohio. 

While the news got a nice ovation, I was expecting more ... jubilation. While the pundits and anchors didn't want to say it explicitly, that was earth shattering news for the McCain campaign.  Following that projection, the question is no longer "if" but "by how much."

This crowd is apparently so confident, they didn't expect any other result out of the Buckeye State.  These folks came to hear an acceptance speech.

Here's a photo of those on the front line.  You can't see it, but they're about 50 feet from the podium

And here's the inner circle, the area directly around the stage where Obama staffers, donors, and friends will assemble:

By the way the sweet, sweet soul music has now, unfortunately, been replaced by Brooks & Dunn.

I arrived at the center of the universe -- excuse me, Grant Park -- about a half hour ago and folks will be interested to know that the security was very, very tight, at least at the media entrance.  Much more stringent than at Denver's Pepsi Center or Invesco Field at the Democratic National Convention this year.  

The crowd seems to be arriving in waves and I'd say Hutchison Field is about a quarter full at this point.  CNN is playing on a large screen beside the stage and during the ad breaks they're piping in some sweet, sweet soul music. 

The atmosphere is something like this: Blitzer on.  Blitzer off.  Boogie on.  Boogie off.

The crowd is also a bit over-eager.  As Wolf prepared to call South Carolina for McCain, the audience saw that Obama is currently ahead in the early count and erupted in applause, followed by an awkward trailing off.  Whoops.

Meanwhile, the cameramen without a spot on the risers are literally crawling over each other in search of a decent shot.

More to come, as time, modem, and battery allow.  

- All day long, volunteers flooded into the Obama headquarters in Gary, coming from Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan.  By the time I arrived there in the late afternoon, staff were redirecting people to Portage County.

- The walls of the Gary headquarters were littered with precinct maps.  The office itself was jammed with about two dozen people, all of them hitting the phones.

- Polling places in the city weren't at all crowded, but residents expected lines to form as the 6 pm closing time approached.

- During the 5 o'clock hour, I visited two quiet polling places in Hammond and another in Munster.  All said they'd seen record turnout over the course of the day, the bulk of it in the morning.

- I asked one tired looking Obama volunteer, "Are you running on steam at this point?" Her response, "No, hope!"

Like millions of Americans, Jaime Rios (right) of Waukegan cast his ballot today in the hope that new leadership in Washington D.C. will ultimately bring better jobs and health care. But for the 43-year-old landscaper, one particular issue really motivated him to vote: immigration reform.

The father of six has never lived with his children. They're in Mexico with their mother. As he cast a ballot for the first time since becoming a citizen one month ago, Rios worried that, without sufficient congressional support, the mountains of paperwork necessary to bring his family to America will simply collect dust.

"I voted not just for them," he added, "but for a lot of other people too."

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Across the country, heavy turnout has forced many voters to endure seemingly interminable lines. Democratic congressional candidate Debbie Halvorson, on the other hand, breezed right through her polling place in far-south suburban Crete. And frankly, that was just fine with her. "My precinct is technically more Republican," she told me from her campaign headquarters in Joliet.  "So there was no line at all! I got right in."

That's not to say turnout was depressed everywhere in the sprawling 11th Congressional District. Only 30,000 people took advantage of early voting there, in part because of the location of various county clerk's offices.  But Halvorson campaign manager Brian Doory said polling places were jammed this morning in Kankakee (a Democratic stronghold), Bourbonnais, and Frankfort.

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Don't be fooled by the bevy of McCain/Palin and Peter Roskam yard signs staked throughout the western suburbs, says Dawn Hall, a waitress from Lombard. 

The 49-year-old hit the polling place early this morning, in time to make her 7 a.m. shift at Granny's Diner. And, unlike years past, she wasn't alone in her determination to inject some blue into the Dupage County vote count.

"Even though DuPage County has been a Republican stronghold, I think there's enough disgust for the war and the economy that Democrats have a good chance this year," Hall said.

That's the sentiment that 6th District Democratic congressional candidate Jill Morgenthaler is banking on today.

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Seven hours before the doors to Chicago's "Obamapalooza" open wide, I swung by the entrance at the intersection of Michigan and Congress to see how many people are assembled.  There are two lines extending north and south from the well-guarded gates.  While I'm terrible at estimating crowd size, I will say it's a pretty relaxed affair.  Folks of all ages are present, but the current crowd is heavily made up of students.  Most are sitting on the curb -- reading, chatting, listening to music.  Lots of curious, international media are hovering around and interviewing those in line.  The police plan to let the two lines curve onto Michigan Ave. in opposite directions and extend as far as necessary.  I wouldn't be surprised if it's half a mile long in both directions by the time 8:30 rolls around.

Rose, a freckled, brown-haired field organizer, laughed when I asked what time she got up this morning. "Three-fifteen," she said with a slight grin. "But we didn't get to bed until 2:30."

Over the past week, staffers like Rose and a bevy of volunteers for Democrat Scott Harper's 13th District campaign have worked at a frenetic pace. When I arrived at at their Naperville-based headquarters just before 6 AM, 60 canvassers were already out in the field, posting signs and passing out campaign flyers. Throughout the day, the campaign plans to run phone banks from 14 office phones, dispatch volunteers for election protection, and hit targeted precincts with GOTV materials.

According to Harper, his campaign's enthusiasm matches that of the district's voters. "I've been out to train stations and coffee shops and I've knocked on doors," he told me, standing next to his daughter who had flown in from New York City, "and it feels like a lot of people out there want change."

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In lieu of the Early Bird, here's a short video compilation featuring some of the Election Day coverage in Chicago this morning:

Check back throughout the day.  We'll have reports and photos streaming in from the 6th, 10th, 11th, and 13th congressional districts, as well as from Northwest Indiana.