Portland for Obama: 12,800 tickets snatched up "almost instantly"

While the pundits are mumbling about his campaign losing steam, you wouldn't know it by the crowd waiting in the rain yesterday for tickets to his gig tomorrow at the Memorial Coliseum in Portland, Oregon.

From the Oregonian:

Lines for tickets to his Friday morning rally in Portland stretched around the block Wednesday afternoon outside a hastily assembled campaign headquarters on Southeast Division Street. Traffic backed up several blocks as hundreds of people sought a chance to hear the Illinois senator speak.

And those who got tickets early were the lucky ones. The campaign gave away all 12,800 tickets within a few hours Wednesday. The first 11,000 were given away online and went almost instantly. The rest were given to people who waited in line at the Division Street office.

Of particular interest to me was comment of Rep. Earl Blumenauer "who was on hand to watch."

More after the fold:

Supporters may come to be part of the national phenomenon, said U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., who was on hand to watch. "But evidence is that it translates into action."

People who attend his rallies tend to sign up later as volunteers. And they vote for him, Blumenauer said.

[I tried finding a link to an endorsement by Blumenauer to see if he's already announced his preference in the Primary. No luck. But if this isn't an endorsement, I'll eat my hat!]

As an example of how hot these tickets are, Craig's List is buzzing with requests. One enterprising poster offers to contribute $50 to Obama's campaign in exchange for a pair of tickets to get into tomorrow's event.

Obama will speak at Memorial Coliseum in the morning then heads to the Capital in Salem for a town hall meeting at 1 p.m. and will end the day in Eugene at a University of Oregon rally at 9 pm. As of yet, a Saturday event has not been confirmed, but there is a possibility that he'll also visit Medford before leaving the state.

Update: The Medford event has been confirmed for Saturday and it will be a full house. All the tickets are gone.  

There's still room for the rally in Eugene on Friday, March 21.  It's free and open to the public but RSVP is encouraged. Doors open: 7:00 p.m. Program begins: 9:00 p.m