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I went to the event. They encouraged us to park our cars 30 minutes away and take the shuttle school busses they provided for us... this was fine for the way in to the event. They told us not to drive to Unity itself.
On the way out tho, they closed the gates and didn't allow us to leave... the shuttle bus people. The people that drove to the Unity event could leave immediately.
They had, maybe 4 (6?), school busses to shuttle the 2500 people back to their cars at the remote locations 30 minutes away. We stood there, all stuffed up against the gates, in the baking sun for 2 1/2 hours while the 4 school busses did their magic. After an hour and a half some more school busses showed up, and I was able to get away in another hour. I have no idea how long it took for them to get everyone out after I left. A school bus holds 52 people... you do the math.
We begged for someone in charge to organize a line down the town green for us all, in the shade. The mob wouldn't back up 'cuz everyone wanted to be next on the 52 person bus every time it showed up. The volunteers kept pleading ignorance, no one was in charge, and offered up cups of water.
It was a shame, 'cuz at the end of the speeches the crowd was happy and inspired, & we busted our humps to get out to west bo-fo New Hampshire... and we ended up leaving miserable, hungry, headaches, thirsty. Unbelievable.
It's the NH Obama campaign that's probably at fault, 'cuz they should have known that 4 school busses weren't going to be able to transport 2500 people. Someone with event experience should have thought it through. 'cuz after all this time in a crowd in the baking sun people started _joking_ about voting for McCain.
