Washington state's Democratic primary precinct caucuses were on Feb 9, the Saturday after Super Tuesday. Being familiar with the primary schedule, I recognized long ago that if the race were still undecided after Super Tuesday, the candidates would surely make appearances in the Seattle area some time between then and Saturday.

The reason I voted for Obama is that I think he'd be a more effective president; the reason I want to hear him speak live is that I think he's a tremendous orator. I love oratory as an art form. Almost exactly four years ago I discussed the relative oratorical skills of that year's candidates. The best orator isn't necessarily the candidate I prefer. I didn't like Kerry at all for president, but I still thought he was easily the best orator of 2004's candidates. I also thought that was very faint praise, since the competition was so feeble.

This year, some have said that Obama is the best presidential-level orator we've seen since Ronald Reagan. I think that's surely true. I was a teenager for both of Reagan's victories, so I don't remember him that well, but from what I do remember, I think Obama is better than Reagan. And if I had to wait 20 years for an Obama to come along, who's to say I won't have to wait another 20 years for the next one?

And so I was watching for an announcement. On Wednesday after Super Tuesday it was announced that Obama would be in Seattle on Friday, and then on Thursday it was announced that he would hold a public rally at the Key Arena, with gates opening at 11 a.m. Daytime on a weekday. Not good timing for me. Work was already starting to get busy by then (my job is for a tax accounting firm) and I was going to miss Saturday due to the caucus. My main worry was that although they specified when the rally would start, there was no indication whatsoever of when Obama would speak.

But the buzz on the Web was that although they don't want to be tied to an exact schedule, for the sake of publicity and television coverage they don't want to deviate too far either, and it was pretty certain he'd speak some time around noon. So I decided I'd skip work and go, hopeful that I'd still have part of the afternoon left afterward.

I live in Shoreline, the next city north of Seattle, but still only about 12 miles from downtown. By late morning, traffic shouldn't be too bad, but I didn't want to try to park there, so I decided to take a bus. I briefly considered arriving closer to noon, but then I thought better of it and planned my bus trip to reach the arena right about 11:00.

Key Arena is where the Seattle Supersonics play basketball. Officially, its seating capacity is 17,072. Maybe the luxury suites would be left empty bringing the total down a bit, but maybe they'd let people stand in the aisles bringing it back up.

The line was huge. I never saw the whole thing. When the end of the line first came into my view it was near the Space Needle. When I joined it it was about a block further south. (For those who know the Seattle Center, where I joined was right beneath an orangish red metal sculpture on a lawn not far from Denny Street.) The end of the line was a moving target, not because the line was moving but because people were joining it at a steady rate.

I found my place in line almost exactly at 11:00, and just as I joined, right on schedule, it began to move. They must have been really efficient at getting people in because the line moved quickly. It was going at normal walking pace, not slow shuffle-and-stand. Some people who didn't walk as fast even fell behind and there were gaps. On we went, past the Space Needle, through the area where the kiddie-size amusement park rides are, near the Monorail platform, around the main Seattle Center building, and down by the park with the big fountain, on our way to Key Arena.

Shortly after we began to move, a security guard came down the line and told us he didn't think we'll get in, prompting a couple of the faint-hearted to give up right then. A few minutes later another guard came by and gave us his opinion that we would get in, but only barely, inspiring a small impromptu "yes we can!" chant in our segment of the line.

As it turned out, the first guy was right. We were just starting up the ramp that goes up to the little plaza with the arena in sight across the field when someone came down the line saying the arena was all filled up. Seventeen thousand people! And only about 10 minutes to pack them all in. I don't know if Obama's staff or the Key Arena staff deserves the credit, but that's quite an accomplishment. Although I couldn't quite see the door from where we were, I could see the all of the line except for the final bend. I estimated there were about 500 people in front of me. Along the way I had looked behind me and there were a couple thousand more, not even counting the after-11:00 stragglers whom I passed while walking back into town looking for my bus.

Many of the people stayed in the plaza. There was no outdoor media set up, but there were a bunch of people and a friendly community mood to bask in. I decided not to. I was there because I wanted to hear Obama speak live. If I couldn't do that, I figured I may as well get back to work.

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