The Crowd - Chase Olivieri/The Chronicle
Long lines and occasional bursts of heavy rain didn’t keep thousands of Obama fans from streaming into a rally at UNC-Charlotte Monday. The rain cleared by the time Obama took the stage, but not before soaking this Chronicle reporter and the two photographers in attendance. The campaign set up a tent to protect the traveling press (the reporters who jet around with the candidate) but left the local press out in the rain, leaving them to take shelter under the risers set up for the cameras.
Heavy Rain - Michael Naclerio/The Chronicle
Obama, who took the stage around 6:30 p.m., announced the death of his grandmother, Madelyn Dunham, who raised Obama in Honolulu for several years. With tears running down his face, Obama said he did not want to spend much time talking about Dunham’s death. “She is going home and she died peacefully in her sleep,” Obama said.
The Tear - Chase Olivieri/The Chronicle
Check today’s Chronicle for full coverage of the rally, and make sure to visit the Election Blog throughout election day for hourly election coverage.
Update: Justin Ruckman, who I met at the rally, has posted audio of Obama’s speech on his CLT blog.
Tagged as:
Charlotte,
Dunham,
Election Day,
obama,
rain,
weather
Weather.com currently forecasts a 60 percent chance of rain tomorrow for Durham, NC. Is this bad news for Sen. Barack Obama and the rest of the Democratic ticket? Rain typically decreases turnout and at least one professor’s study claims that inclement weather aids Republican candidates on Election Day.
But, according to AccuWeather.com, the overall national forecast is mild: “no major storms or extreme cold will have an impact on people waiting in line to vote on Tuesday, as lines will be long with record amounts of voters expected to turn out…. History says that Tuesday’s forecast should favor Democratic candidate Barack Obama.”
UPDATE: TheHill.com provides an updated and slightly more detailed overview of Tuesday’s projected weather conditions in North Carolina.
North Carolina’s right-leaning coast looks to get the state’s worst weather, with 70 percent chance of rain forecast for the city of Wilmington. Meanwhile the Democratic precincts in the more Democratic-leaning Raleigh-Durham metro area have a 40 percent chance of rain. Obama and McCain are tied in North Carolina, according to RealClearPolitics’ average.
Perhaps the higher chance of rain in right-leaning areas as compared to left-leaning ones will cancel out the negative effect rain is said to have on Democrats’ success. (This update was filed by Alex Klein.)
Tagged as:
democrat,
obama,
republican,
weather
