Third Presidential Debate

by Nick Coons
Oct 13, 2004

I spent this evening at the George W. Bush post-debate rally at Bank One Ballpark. It was the first real political event I have been to, so I don't have a frame of reference for comparison. But from I heard, the number of people broke some records for attendance.

I didn't have my camera with me, so I didn't get to take any photos. But after waiting in line for over an hour just to make it through security, I made it to my seat just in time to watch the last 20 minutes of the debate.

Luckily, the debate was replayed later that evening on television, so I was able to catch the portions I had missed. Bush didn't do too well in the first debate, he came back strong in the second, and he pretty much mopped the floor with Kerry in the third and final debate at ASU.

About half an hour after the debate, Senators Kyl and McCain along with President Bush made their way to the ballpark to give additional speeches at the rally. These were all very interesting to listen to. Once everything was finished up, we went out to dinner to discuss the event.

I know this for sure -- They severely underestimated the number of people that were going to show up. Originally the doors would be locked and people would be settled in at 6:00pm. This didn't actually end up happening until about 7:45pm. And with those thousands of people there, you'd think that they would have been able to open a few more concession stands.