Two days ago, a rumor floated in Grand Rapids, Michigan that Barack Obama was coming. By the end of the day it was confirmed that he would be visiting Grand Rapids Wednesday evening (tonight) at 7pm. Grand Rapids and most of West Michigan is known as being very conservative (think “Dutch Reformed”) and Republican.

The local television stations went absolutely nuts when they heard Obama was coming. One station said this event is turning into a huge celebration of his (Obama’s) coming to Michigan. This is a visit from the most liberal Presidential candidate to come along in a LONG time, and the locals in GR are making it sound like the Lord is coming (actually, I’m beginning to wonder if the Lord would get this kind of attention). It is currently 5:10pm on Wednesday, May 14, 2008 and Obama is not set to speak at the Van Andel Arena until 7pm. The doors opened at 5pm and there is already a huge crowd inside. I believe the place will hold 12,000 … we’ll see if that’s big enough.

Now there is a rumor that John Edwards will be endorsing Obama and will do so at tonight’s rally in Grand Rapids. The local reporters asked the campaign about it and they gave them a look of shock that they shouldn’t know about this and then got on their phones and walked away.

Growing up near Grand Rapids, it is typically known as a city with a church on every corner and a Christian bookstore on the opposite corner. It is a bit of an enigma to see this kind of crush for such a liberal politician. Grand Rapids police had little notice to prepare for this event, and are treating it like a sold out, big name rock concert.

If you’re interested in following this event, you can watch it streamed live at Wood-TV. The station just confirmed the “rumor” and said that John Edwards will be taking the stage in about an hour.

Obama coming to Michigan certainly shows that he is moving past his campaign for the democratic nomination and into the general election against McCain. About every third commercial during the local news has been an Obama ad … specifically a veteran talking about always being a strong Republican, etc etc and at the end says “I’m a life long republican and I’m voting for Barack Obama”.

Obama is slick, he’s young, energetic, and very dangerous. (BAIPA)

I’ll update when something new comes out of Grand Rapids.

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