Late in the 2008 election year, once it had narrowed down to two candidates, Senator John McCain, Republican candidate, and Senator Barack Obama, candidate for the Democratic Party. I became intrigued with learning about the individual candidates and their entirely diverse and firm stances on issues. Although I was not old enough to vote, I understood the importance of educating myself on government issues and that being able to vote or not I could still participate in the election process. At some point I came to the realization that it was possible to actually meet or go to see the candidates in person and I decided to take advantage of that opportunity. Attending the rallies became my favorite aspect of the campaign so I decided to write a paper about them.

This year on October 23rd, I attended my first political rally, featuring Republican Vice-presidential nominee Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska, with my sister and our friend. Our friend gave us her two extra tickets to the rally. So we drove up together in her car to Beaver, PA where the rally was to take place. Upon arriving 45 minutes early, there were hundreds of people already lined up waiting for the gates to open to let them into the football stadium where Governor Palin was to make her speech. We parked and hurriedly slipped into the long line. I could immediately feel the excitement in the air. All these people gathered together, some out of simple curiosity, but many just to show their support for their candidate and the country's well-being.

After around 15 minutes of standing in line, we reached the entrance to the stadium where everyone went through metal detectors and all bags were searched. Security was everywhere. My sister had a mini Swiss army knife on her key chain that was swiftly taken away from her. After making it through security we made our way to the far end of the field where the speech was to take place. We found an open spot to stand about 30 feet from the stage.

Soon after, they had the first of a few bands start to play and a young singer, Sarah Maurice sang. Later the bands took a short break from playing to allow the local officials to give very brief speeches. After that one of the bands started to play again and volunteers began handing out pom-poms to the crowd. After The Beaver Falls High School Football team was briefly introduced on-stage along with the cheerleaders, everyone waited for what we all came for, to see the Republican Vice-Presidential Nominee Sarah Palin give her speech.

When she appeared on the stage the crowd roared so loudly it hurt my ears just as it would in the following rallies I was to attend. After the crowd had let out some of their extra energy and excitement and had calmed down a bit, we said the Pledge of Allegiance. Governor Sarah Palin then began her speech with her husband, Todd and two of her daughters, Willow and Piper, standing beside her. She spoke about leadership needed in this economic crisis, the energy issues, and taxes.

After her speech was over she came off stage to shake hands with her supporters. Unfortunately we weren't close enough to shake hands with her but I did get some pictures of her. I later looked online to see how many people attended this rally and found numbers from 1,000 to 10,000 on three different websites.

After attending my first political event for Sarah Palin only days before and thoroughly enjoying the experience, I decided to attend Democrat Barrack Obama?s rally with my mom, despite disagreeing with many of his views. I was hoping I would get the chance to meet him but I didn't. The rally was to be held in Pittsburgh, PA at the Mellon Arena. Once my mother and I arrived in Pittsburgh it took us a while to find a parking spot. Once parked, we made our way to the arena on foot. Despite being one and a half hours early, before people were admitted to enter the building, there were hundreds of people already lined up at the doors. After finding and getting into the very long line we watched the line grow behind us from only a few people to hundreds. We ended up standing in line for over two hours before we reached the entrance of the building. In that time span many volunteers alerted us of the rules, such as no signs and no food. I saw a policeman walking a bomb dog around cars and having the dog sniff in the many trash cans that surrounded the arena.

Once inside, we went through metal detectors and our bags were searched. Once through security we made our way to two of the seventeen thousand seats in the huge arena and discovered why we weren't allowed to bring food into the arena. It was because food vendors inside wanted to sell their stuff for outrageous prices. We then said the Pledge of Allegiance, and after that everyone waited impatiently for Democrat Barack Obama to make his appearance. While waiting for him the whole crowd did "The Wave" and made plenty of noise. A prayer was said, local officials and Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell spoke briefly.

The owner of the Pittsburgh Steelers, Dan Rooney, was brought on-stage to make a short speech and then he introduced Barack Obama. After the crowd was done cheering Rooney gave Obama a Steeler's Jersey to demonstrate Pittsburgh's support of Obama. Obama then began his speech and I was able to take pictures of him. He spoke deliberately and passionately on education, the economy, and unity for at least 30 minutes.

After his speech was over he shook hands for a while and then left the arena. Most of the people had rushed out hoping to get home to eat. However, my mother and I stayed seated to avoid getting caught in the mass of people all hoping to get out at once. While we waited for the crowd to clear, I walked around through the seats to see what people had left behind, hoping I might find a souvenir or something of the sort. People had left all of their garbage from food to shirts and everything in-between. I collected an Obama Button, an Obama sign, a brand new shirt, and a bunch of Obama stickers, all of which were abandoned by their owners. After the rush had gone, we left the building and found the same scene of garbage that the people in line left scattered about in piles along the sidewalk. It made me feel so disappointed to think that none of these people cared or were embarrassed to not only leave all of their junk lying around, but that money was wasted just to pay other people to clean it all up for them. It showed how irresponsible and inconsiderate people can be.

During the following month the day before the election, I had the opportunity to go and see Senator John McCain make his final rally speech in Moon Township PA with my sister. My sister and I got there early enough to be the 10th and 11th people in line! Time went by and after waiting in line for around two hours and getting two free Clean Coal T-shirts, Clean Coal baseball caps, and some bumper stickers, staff finally opened the doors so people could enter the building. We noticed that we were now 12th and 14th in line as four people felt obliged to cut in front of us.

Once in the building bags were searched and we went through metal detectors.

After that the line exited the back of the building and came to a big open airport landing, Staff opened two huge sliding doors that opened up to a huge hanger. Everyone rushed in and unfairly cut in front of one another. Luckily my sister and I managed to get in a fairly good spot only about two feet back from the front of the stage. While Local officials were invited to speak briefly and then Sarah Maurice, the same singer that was at Sarah Palin's rally, who had been traveling with Sarah and John all across the country, sang a few songs. Staff handed out pom-poms just as they did for Sarah Palin's rally.

Everyone was pleasantly surprised to see John McCain's personal jet coast in for a landing and taxi over to a raised walkway. Minutes later the jet door opened and Senator John McCain, his wife, and the secret service escorted them along the walkway. Once the procession reached the raised platform a man welcomed Senator McCain to the podium. Once everyone had settled down to listen he began his speech.

He covered some of the critical issues of tax relief, clean coal, offshore drilling, and encouraged people to get out and vote. After that he left the same way he came, and shortly after the crowd watched his plane take off for another speech in another state.

Election Day was the next day, and by 12:00a.m. that night we found out who the next president would be to lead our country for the next four years: President Elect Barack Obama. Now that I have actually attended several political rallies I am much more interested in politics, getting involved, and trying to make a difference in America, People need to set aside pride for their parties and open up to other new, fresh ideas that other candidates may have to offer that could in return lead America in a better direction. I believe Americas number one problem is too much pride, especially when it comes to politics. In my opinion, Americans, even kids like myself, need to not only participate in voting when eligable but educate themselves on the issues, by attending political events, and doing their own research on all of the parties, with the many resources available both on and offline instead of believing what the media says.