We went to the Obama rally in Española, New Mexico, today, and we are now quite sunburned.

But it was incredible. I’ve never stood in a line of that many people before. Here’s where we started (click on any of these for a larger version — all of these pictures were taken with my arms way above my head, since I am quite vertically challenged and the views of other people’s backs, chests, and hats are not all that interesting):

Here’s the bottom of that hill, looking back toward the top where we stood in the last picture:

Here’s the crowd on the Plaza:

And on the other side, complete with Secret Service:

Here’s Governor Richardson, wearing black (oy! too warm!):

And here’s the man of the hour, Senator Barack Obama, this picture being the best view I got of him since many tall people had elbowed themselves in front of me at this point:

His speech was really, really good. He followed his basic stump-format, where he starts off with an assessment of where the country is now, and a couple of barbs at McCain’s insanity on the economy and the old boys’ network, then goes into detailed policy proposals, then into a section about how we can’t change everything at once, but if we all work together we can certainly do better than we have been.

There is something very powerful about being squished together with thousands of people, hearing this message. And the call at the end, to roll up our sleeves and work to make it happen, that’s really something else. I think I’ll go over to the local office and do some grunt work for them, in addition to already signing up to be a poll worker on November 4.

Cross-posted at my Obama Journal.