An Outsider's View (no, really) of Romney's Arbutus Visit

by Laura Vazquez

My significant other and I drove to Arbutus to watch Mitt Romney speak today. It was apparent the Romney fire had struck as we were approaching the Dewey Lowman Post. We saw tons of cars parked on the side of various roads. I also spotted news reporters and of course, police cars stationed outside the Post and directing traffic. We were very lucky to find parking in a shopping center about a quarter of a mile away. Multiple Romney signs lined the streets as we walked to the building. As we were waiting in line to get inside, volunteers approached us with sign-up sheets to volunteer.

After more waiting, we were told that the building was at its capacity. At capacity?! I was a little sad since we were only about 20 people away from entering. Then we were told that Romney was coming to speak outside, so we rushed to the little gated area where he would speak. Being 5'2", I was very happy to get a spot right on the side of the gate. We waited for over half an hour for his apperance. A bodyguard came into the area and told us not to shove cameras or pens in his face and to keep our hands out when Romney was there.

As 4 p.m. (the starting time for the event) neared, more and more supporters came and the area was very crowded. Finally, Romney came out with his bodyguards and the chants of "Mitt! Mitt!" quickly rose in volume as he neared the microphone stand. He walked onto the stand, thanked us for coming and started voicing his concerns about Obama and his Keystone pipeline plan. Romney then proceeded to talk about the need for economic change in America, and the crowd replied with massive cheers. After what felt like only a few minutes, he finished speaking and came down and shook as many hands as possible (mine included) before going inside. 

It was a very exciting event that I'm glad I attended. I highly encourage anyone to attend a political rally of any sort. It's a good experience and you see firsthand what other people are so passionate about. Even though I only got to see him for a few minutes, it felt great to be apart of something (to simply put it) big.