First in Line for Barack Obama's Election Night Rally: A First-Hand Account

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First in Line for Barack Obama's Election Night Rally: A First-Hand Account from Tom

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Tom Krieglstein's Election Day experience began hours before the polls opened. On the quiet streets of late-night Chicago during an unseasonably warm night, he had one goal in mind: have a front row seat to a historic moment for our nation. That crazy feller ended up landing the first spot in line for Barack Obama's Election Night Rally in Grant Park and he happens to be my fiance, so he was kind enough to write all about his experience as "the first guy in line," as dubbed by organizers and the surprisingly jolly Chicago Police Department.

Here is Tom's account of his Election Adventure:

Being on the front lines of history is a rare opportunity, so without much second guessing I waited 28 hours to be the first person in line for the Barack Obama Election Night celebration.

It started on Nov 3rd at 6:30 pm when the campaign emailed out 65,000 customized tickets to everyone who signed up for Obama Election Night Rally. I assumed it would be a mad rush to print the ticket and start lining up in Grant Park, so I rushed out the door and got to Grant Park at 7:30 pm only to find out I was the only one there except for hundreds of security staff all mulling around the quiet park.

None of the hundreds of security officials seemed to know where us silly, excited ticket holders should line up, so throughout the night I was moved to 5 different locations as they closed off more and more of the park.

With my fiancee sick at home and time ticking slowly, I called my brother at 10:30 p.m. and asked if he would wait in line with me overnight so there were at least 2 people--an important number to hit as one person is a person standing like a lonely speck, but two folks makes a legitimate queue.

We camped out at the Michigan Ave and Congress Parkway bus stop throughout the night with a couple runs into the Congress Hotel across the street to warm up and use the facilities.

After numerous early morning debates, my brother declared this was my dumbest idea yet since it was clear that no one else was silly enough to camp overnight. At 5:30 am we almost packed up our limited supplies to go home when the first (non-family) ticket holder showed up. Then one hour later a group of Northwestern students showed up and we could officially call ourselves “The Line” since the security was still not clear about where they wanted to start the line.

As the day went on more and more people showed up with the biggest rush coming after lunch, probably because it’s easier to sneak out of work using the “long lunch” excuse. Time flew by as a countless number of local, national, and international reporters stopped to ask us questions. I didn’t expect to get media attention (especially considering the magnitude of the larger event) by being number one, but it was exciting and added to my experience.

The tickets said they would start letting people in at 8:30, but due to the lack of planning for the line and Congress Parkway starting to overflow they had to change plans and moved us into two different holding cells (think cattle) inside the park. The poor crowd management throughout the whole process was amazing. At times it felt as if they were making it up on the spot.

At the second, and last, holding cell one of the security guards asked the crowd who the first person to line up was. A large number of people pointed to me and I was allowed to stand in front of everyone with my fiancee as we entered the field. That was an amazing feeling.

Once on the field it was an all out sprint to the front row to claim a spot in history. The crowd quickly packed in around us and within 10 minutes we were locked into our spot and leaving wasn’t an option. We couldn't leave to go to the bathroom, get food, or sit down. Over the next 4 hours we were lucky to lift a leg or turn our bodies. The excitement of each poll closing keep us going to the end.

I quickly bonded with all the people around me who were white, black, asian, hispanic, young and old. The diversity was beautiful and made me remember the stat that talked about the RNC conference was 97% white and the DNC conference was 60% white.

At 10 pm (26.5 hours into my day) the polls closed on the West coast and CNN officially declared Barack Obama the 44th president of the United States. The place erupted in celebration and tears. I hugged and high-fived everyone around me. I turned around to see a sea of people celebrating like it was New Year’s. In the VIP section, the hard working campaign managers pulled out cigars in celebration. The mood was euphoric when then Obama took the stage.

The podium for Obama actually didn’t face the crowd, but instead faced the massive tent of press. During Obama’s speech he would occasionally glance at the crowd. Two massive bulletproof panels anchored around him for protection from the surrounding buildings. The speech itself was a mix of stump speech lines and new material all delivered with classic Obama perfection. One group of elder African-American women next to me cried throughout the speech. I could tell we were all feeling his speech, but each of us had our own personal reason. For me it was a chance to show ourselves, and the world, we can do better and we will.

And then it was over. I was front row to history and will forever keep this story with me, but now the real work begins and I’m excited to have a president smarter than me at the wheel.