By Denise Ross

A friend from Deadwood, to whom I owe more than a few favors, asked that I pick up a few tickets for Barack Obama’s Saturday appearance in Rapid City. Media outlets had reported that office doors would open at 8 am Friday, and people could pick up free tickets.

This was the scene at about 8:40 am, as nobody was home at Obama’s campaign office on Haines Ave.  

(Photos by David Larson)

It looked to me like a few volunteers were on the scene, as one thoughtful young man offered those in line sunscreen, and another encouraged blaming media outlets for reporting a wrong time - but I’ve got the e-mail from the Obama campaign, and it did indeed say that the office doors would open at 8 am.

The doors opened a few minutes before 9 am, and then things moved quickly. While this sort of thing isn’t the end of the world, more than a few people left before the doors opened. I knew tempers were drawing short when the cell phones started coming out, thus allowing those in line to report their misfortune to friends and family.

I was reminded of problems that beset John Thune’s Senate campaign in 2002 during President Bush’s successive visits to SD. One appearance in Aberdeen, in particular, was problematic, as Thune’s office had distributed free tickets to a Bush event. But when ticket-holders showed up, many were refused entry. They were literally left out in the cold, and the cold in Aberdeen would compound anybody’s anger. That situation was cited as a factor in Thune’s 524-vote loss to Tim Johnson.

What happened Friday at Obama’s office doesn’t approach that level of mishap, but those little details can cost votes. Had the doors opened just 20 minutes later, it was my sense that the crowd’s mood would have turned, and no fancy speech the next day would have turned it back.

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