A week ago, Senator John McCain came to Columbia, Mo., ate barbecue in the south of town and left. The visit was announced three hours before he arrived, though even upon arrival, his spokesperson refused to confirm where the Senator would be going while in town. He stayed less than two hours, made no public remarks and — unless you happened to be stopped in traffic as his motorcade went by — was widely ignored by locals.
Then there’s the case of Senator Barack Obama, who announced Monday his big news: he’ll come to Columbia on Thursday, speaking in a prime time address — 9:30 p.m. local time — on the South Quad. I don’t know where they’ll put the stage, but it will be somewhere between the Tiger Fountain and Jesse Hall (see right).
No one has ever given this type of address before on the South Quad, so no one really knows how many people will squeeze in to see Obama. But I’d guess that between the quad and the various fields/streets behind it, somewhere north to 40,000 people will show up to hear him speak.
As a current University of Missouri student, I will also say this: if we don’t beat the crowd of 45,000 that was at Colorado State last weekend, I’ll be disappointed.
[photo by Dan Oshinsky]