McCain, Obama duel for N.M. on same day

Crowd estimates for the Obama rally ranged as high as 45,000 people. (Photo by Gwyneth Doland)

ALBUQUERQUE — If the two presidential rallies in Albuquerque on Saturday were songs, John McCain’s would have been a solemn ballad and Barack Obama’s a rollicking party tune.

The McCain rally was subdued, even quiet, causing one to wonder if at any moment the plaintive strains of a bagpipe were about to pierce the chilly morning air.

Obama supporters, on the other hand, danced, chanted and looked so ecstatic the crowd could have doubled for, say, an Aretha Franklin or U2 concert.

The crowd at McCain’s event numbered somewhere around 1,000. The throngs at Obama’s were estimated at between 25,000 and 45,000, depending on whom you asked.

When McCain arrived, the crowd cheered.

When Obama arrived, the crowd roared — in capital letters.

But crowds don’t equal votes. And both campaigns know it, which is why each candidate worked to counter the mood he found among supporters Saturday in the Duke City.

Never mind the polls and what the pundits are saying. The two candidates were speaking to the people who matter — voters.

McCain reminded his supporters that he is known for the political equivalent of pulling a rabbit out of a hat, going from also-ran to presidential nominee in the space of a couple of months earlier this year and giving Americans yet another reason to ignore the wisdom of America’s political punditocracy.

If there is a comeback kid in this race, McCain has earned the moniker. And McCain played it up for all it was worth.

“The pundits of course, as they have four or five times … have written us off,” McCain told his supporters. “You know what, my friends, they’ve forgotten one thing. They have forgotten to let you decide. We got them just where we want them.”

Obama, for his part, exhorted supporters to remember that the race goes not to the swift but to those who persevere. He didn’t exactly use those words. He and every other speaker Saturday night used phrases more apt to a political contest — Vote early! Volunteer! Talk to your friends! — because this election is far from over, whatever good feelings may have been washing over the Obama crowd at that moment.

A big question mark for Obama is the youth vote. Will all those young adults the Obama campaign has energized across the country actually turn out to vote? It’s not an unimportant question. How many stories about the youth vote in 2000 and 2004 would political writers across the country like to take back if given the chance? The fact is older voters turn out to vote. The youth, not so much.

Yes, the nation’s electoral map appears to favor Obama when Virginia is tilting toward the Democrat and Obama can draw 100,000 people to a rally in St. Louis, Mo.

But the sense of inevitability that may grip any Obama supporter is easily popped when one thinks back on recent election history.

As a result, Obama tried to tamp down overconfidence when he invoked the campaigns of Al Gore and John Kerry to remind his supporters that the 2008 election was not over despite what the polls said.

“If you organize with me, if you will vote early for me, we will change the country,” he said. “We can do it.”

But only if you help me close the deal, he said.

Supporters of each candidate appeared to internalize their candidate’s exhortations and admonitions Saturday.

Interviewed after Saturday night’s rally, some Obama supporters sounded anything but overconfident.

“I am holding my breath, and as an African-American I am particularly concerned because I realize that across this country that African-American and minority voters will be disenfranchised,” said Sandra Mills of Albuquerque. “We’re talking in our churches, in our fraternities, in our schools, and we’re talking about voting early and standing in line. We have cell phones. We have cameras. It’s going to be different. It is not going to be 2004. We will be documenting everything.”

Charlie Ridgell of Oakland, Calif., spoke in sports analogies to convey his feeling that Democrats had to close the deal before they can celebrate. Ridgell felt so passionate he traveled to New Mexico on Oct. 2 to help the Obama campaign get out the vote.

“Neither team quits until the whistle blows. We are going to phone every day. We are going to walk every day,” Ridgell said.

A young McCain supporter leans against the railing minutes before John McCain took the podium. (Photo by David Alire Garcia)

McCain supporters, meanwhile, exuded hopefulness despite their candidate’s tough sledding over the past month.

Allyson Dennis was hopeful enough in McCain’s candidacy that she drove 26 hours from Washington state late last week to help the campaign in New Mexico.

“The McCain campaign sent me an e-mail and asked if I would be a McCain Maverick and be willing to travel to another state if it was a battleground state,” Dennis said. “And I said, ‘Let me know where.” And my friend and I came here on a wing and a prayer because we are right now between jobs and it’s not because of the economy. We just wanted to help John win and to help Sarah (Palin) win.”

Paula Riley of Albuquerque said she felt similarly motivated.

“I have been volunteering at the McCain headquarters since it was established,” Riley said. “Any extra time I have I come down. I make phone calls. I volunteer. Whatever they need me to do I’m there to help. This is history. What’s at stake is that we could have a Democratic president. We could have a Democratic Congress. We could have all our branches of government would be heavily Democratic. To me, there would be no checks and balances. We need independents, Republicans, Democrats. John McCain is a maverick when it comes to that. He reaches across party lines. And he gets people to work together for the common good of the people. That’s what we need.”

This thing is not over. That’s all that was clear on a Saturday in 2008 when two presidential candidates came to Albuquerque.