illusionofjoy | Hillary Clinton rally in Pittsburgh

It was at 3:30 this afternoon at Soldiers and Sailors Hall in the neighbourhood of Oakland that the doors opened to allow supporters of Hillary Clinton into the granite and marble building. In front of the building was a registration tent, where one was required to fill out of a form which was required for admittance into the event. It took me five minutes to fill out the form, but over forty-five minutes in line to actually enter the building. Once inside, there was a standard metal detector screening before one was finally allowed into the auditorium.

It would be nearly two hours before Clinton herself would take the stage. In that time I had the chance to converse at length with a woman who just happened to sit next to me. On the whole, the majority of the crowed were quite friendly and energetic. Judging my informal glance at the demographics, I can say that Hillary Clinton seems to have cornered the hot Asian chick vote in Western Pennsylvania. Aside from that, women did seem to outnumber men, but the age of the audience was not stereotypically "older," as the polls of Clinton's supporters suggest. The stereotype, unfortunately, came in the fact that I only saw one black person at this rally.

The event properly started when Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell took the stage, followed by Allegheny County Executive Dan Onorato and finally Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl. They all gave speeches and endorsed Clinton's candidacy before ceding the stage to the woman herself.

During her speech, she went through her usual talking points - universal healthcare, boosting education, ending the war in Iraq, etcetera, but it was as she was speaking about education - specifically college loans - that a moment of zen occurred. Clinton asked the audience, "how many of you have student loan debt?" A sizeable number of hands raised in the audience where I was sitting. However, one notable hand was raised on stage: it was the hand of none other than Pittsburgh's Mayor, Luke Ravenstahl, whom holds the distinction of being the youngest mayor of a major metropolitan area in the United States.

I found the event electrifying. When Clinton mentioned student loan forgiveness as part of her campaign, I couldn't help but shout out, "yes!" While I don't agree 100% with everything she has to say (for example, socialised healthcare would be far better than universal health care), I truly believe that she would get the country heading in the right direction.

On a lighter note, as I was exiting the venue, there was a lonely Ron Paul supporter standing outside in the rain. He held a sign with his candidate's name on it and was attempting to pick fights with the throngs of Clinton supporters now headed out of the building. Apparently this pathetic creature didn't get the memo regarding his candidate's irrelevancy. I succeeded in not actually walking over and belittling him, but I couldn't keep myself from stopping to turn around and yell, "Ron Paul sucks!"

Hillary Clinton for President!

KDKA news clip regarding the rally.