At this point in the evening, everyone in the crowd had the Virginia Tech tragedy fresh on their minds, and rumor spread that the event had nearly been canceled. Originally the event was to be a high-energy affair, with music, balloons, and a motivating and pulse-pounding speech to be delivered by one of the great orators in America.

This is what I had expected the day before, but appropriately it was announced that the Senator would instead deliver more of a conversational speech, focusing on violence in America.

I have to admit now that this was only the second political event that I've ever been to. The last one was in June of 1988, at the end of the primary season for that election. I was only 10 years old, but I got to see Jesse Jackson come to my hometown of Eugene, Oregon, where he drew at least 10,000 people.

Back then, I didn't know why anyone would want to see anyone that didn't talk about things that seemed interesting to me. I wasn't really awed by Jackson's presence.

Well, Obama left me in awe. I was about 5 rows from the front, for someone that hasn't had any contact at all with people in public life, I'll have to say that it was pretty freakin' cool.

The man came out to a thunderous applause as always, having been introduced by an early supporter, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett. Right away, Obama launched into heartfelt condolences to anyone affected by the events at Virginia Tech, and began to speak of the culture of violence in America.

It wasn't the red-meat discussion that a lot of people want from him, and I doubt that the first time it happens it was going to happen here, after what had happened in Virginia.

From what I gathered from the crowd, there was a relatively equal mix of hardcore supporters, people choosing between he or Edwards, and Independents who just want to hear what he's all about. It was really a collection of America, and Obama mentioned this early. I had been led to believe that the people really interested were of the younger variety, but I can tell you that there was a serious mix of college-aged, seniors, black, white, rich, poor, hispanic, etc. People from all walks of life.

The speech lasted about 20-25 minutes. Obama spoke in even, measured tones as he is prone to doing. He spoke totally off the cuff, in a toned-down manner that didn't generate a lot of applause lines and not one standing ovation. It wasn't that type of speech.

While he focused on violence, he used the talk of violence against Americans as a segue into a discussion about the other ways that we can look at violence. This was a transition that probably only he could pull off, but he went into some stump-speech items by discussing how issues like health care and the War in Iraq can have the same kind of impact on families.

There was a bit of handshaking at the front after the speech and I was poised to get up there and shake the Senator's hand, but the Senator's staff blocked me JUST as I got to the front, citing the limited time the Senator has(not mentioning that he has to go to a high-dollar fundraiser at a rich guy's house right afterward). Lifetime memory: denied. Its all good though.

Impressions I got: Obama is a gifted speaker. To be able to give that kind of speech without any notes is truly amazing. To captivate an audience with a highly improvised speech is also amazing. My wife, who was a Deaniac in the last election, and until recently had been resigned to a Hillary candidacy, is now sold and is rapidly working to convert her family members into Obama supporters as well.

And the sun actually shined in Milwaukee...this was the first visit to that city I actually left for my home in Madison thinking that I might actually not mind going back someday.