Denver rally all about 'comebacks'

By Lisa Ryckman, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published October 25, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.

Text size

More Elections

When folks started chanting "John! John! John!" at Friday's Republican presidential rally, they actually had their pick of three:

John the candidate. John the Super Bowl-winning quarterback. And John the former Bronco safety.

McCain, Elway and Lynch took the stage at the National Western arena before an adoring audience with white plastic cowboy hats on their heads and miniature American flags in their hands. Families with babes in arms and kids on shoulders packed the hall next to seniors and Joes - lots of Joes, if signs that said "I'm Joe the Plumber" were any indication.

Joe had plenty of friends there, too, holding up their own homemade posters: "Fight for Joe's Dough" and "Joe the Plumber is the Heart and Soul of CO."

The rally was equal parts pro-McCain and anti-Barack Obama. There were a few tense minutes when protesters in wheelchairs disrupted McCain's speech with a chant of "In God's Community, choice!"

The crowd responded with "USA! USA! USA!" to drown them out, then gave up when people realized they were also drowning out McCain. Police escorted the protesters from the hall.

The line for the event began forming before dawn, and groups with differing viewpoints and stuff to sell co-existed peacefully on the sidewalk. "Hockey Mom for Obama" - so said her sign - stood quietly next to a guy handing out a Focus on the Family newsletter, while a vendor did a land office business in T-shirts and $10 decks of McCain-Palin playing cards.

Some of the people in line were far less friendly. "Nobama! Nobama!" one woman yelled at the Obama supporters. Others shouted "Communist!" or "Socialist!"

"There's a lot of animosity," Obama backer Megan Baldwin said, "which is really sad."

Progress Now Action, a politically liberal group, captured video of derogatory and racist comments against Obama by a small group of McCain supporters as they entered the event.

Inside, Denver resident Cathy Hodgson stood at the back of the hall hoping to get a closer look at McCain and a "feel for him you can't get from TV." A self-described independent, Hodgson had kept an open mind throughout the campaign, but she was impressed by McCain's experience - the kind you want in the fourth quarter when your team is down, she said.

Speaking of football - lots of people did. First, Lynch talked about staying in the game to the very end: "It's the fourth quarter and it's crunch time. And we've got to get this thing right."

Then his former teammate expanded on the theme.

"As an NFL quarterback, I learned about pressure under fire," said Elway, who was known for rallying his team in the last minutes of a game.

The quarterback cautioned against counting McCain out.

"I know a thing or two about comebacks," Elway said.

Subscribe to the Rocky Mountain News