June 5, 2008
Obama Rally + Nissan Pavilion = Huge Mess
The Post makes the right call on today's rally planned for Sen. Barack Obama at Nissan Pavilion is Bristow, Va. It's going to be a traffic nightmare of epic proportions. You thought the Radiohead debacle was bad? Imagine a free 6 p.m. event open to all comers that will kickoff a historic national campaign for president by a candidate with huge support from young, enthusiastic, politically-minded, college-educated Democrats in a metro area that has one of the highest concentrations of same anywhere in the country.
Parking lots at Nissan will open today at 2 p.m., with doors opening at 3. If you were planning to go and haven't left already, you may already be too late. The venue holds 25,000 people, but Democratic organizers are expecting up to 50,000 to show up. There's virtually no way that the portion of I-66 leading to the Nissan Pavilion will not be a parking lot during this evening's commute, so plan accordingly.
Photo by timkelley
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i see the first decision of his 'official' campaign is a winner.
will traffic suck?
yes it will!
Wow - what a traffic clusterfbomb this is going to be.
what. the. hell. doesn't he have some staffers with war stories from the radiohead debacle? if not he needs to hire some to get hip to the terribleness of nissan.
i understand that it would be terrible wherever such a rally was held - but for heaven's sake pick somewhere transit-accessible. and it just makes me feel icky that nissan is continuing to profit from big events.
The Nissan Pavilion is a great venue...for me to poop on!
obama -1
not a good idea to start your campaign in the red. luckily, if he gets a daily double, he can wager up to $1000.
I think this is the first time EVER that I'm excited to get home from work to watch the local 5pm news.
The only thing better would be if this was 50,000 repubs stuck in traffic. Except that if McCain was having an event like this, you'd measure the attendees by the dozen, not by the ten thousand. (that may be a Colbert joke...)
Um wha? Doesn't RFK hold 100k, and isn't it metro accessible? He's already being a BAD environmentalist by having this event where he is. He had 75k show up at a rally in Portland, OR, which is a much smaller city than DC.
if he's really a man of the people, he should drive a 1985 Buick Skylark from downtown DC to the Nissan Poopilian. the vehicle's turn signals would be retrofitted such that when he wanted to switch lanes, the word "CHANGE" would flash on either side of the car. this will be his first taste of how much 'changing' he'll be doing.
I was thinking why not RFK as well, but then I realized since Virginia is a swing state he needs to win, it needed to be across the river. I think the 3 electoral college votes from the District are a lock for him already.
Is there even any place in NoVA that's Metro accessible where he could hold this rally? Keep in mind, the whole point is to strengthen his foothold in Virginia, not to cater to DC or MD voters. They're already in the bag. And it's not like Joe and Jane Suburban are going to take the Metro in to Verizon Center. They heard someone got mugged in DC once.
If only American Apparel were to sponsor this rally with some banner ad skanks, we could call this a "hot tranny mess."
ah... so glad to live in the city and not NOVA
If I can't get in do I get Radiohead tickets in return?
american apparel banner ad skanks wearing borat's unitard as swimwear would be optimal and the ultimate in hot tranny mess.
you're right - i didn't think about the political goals of location, just the scary traffic nightmareness of it all. the night air will be full of angry honking tonight - that is, unless obama unleashes his full yoda calming powers.
I'd like to know where else in Northern VA he could hold an event of this size. Even the Patriot Center wouldn't suffice.
Also, it is unlikely that Obama picked the venue himself.
Why does the Nissan Pavilion even exist?
Boo Hoo I live in a McMansion and need to drive 2 hours to get to work and now their having an event that is going to slow down my commute home so I can spend time with my spawn when they get home from school. Boo Hoo why doesn't everyone just plan everything around my desire to live in an oversized house, drive an oversized vehicle, and have too many kids BOO HOO!!!
It would only be a hot tranny mess if I showed up, sweating, and pissed on myself. Just to be clear.
RFK holds 100,000?? Uh...not quite. Seating is about 55k max. Fill the infield with people and maybe you'd hit 70,000. Anything beyond that, and the Fire Marshall is going to have a thing or two to say.
Come on people -
Obama can heal the sick, end poverty, heal the environment, and bring peace to the world. I'm sure he will make sure there are never any traffic jams too.
old city is a delight!
"ly" words do not take hyphens
I'm a hot tranny mess, and Obama's already got my vote.
"Also, it is unlikely that Obama picked the venue himself."
Ludicrous. Don't you know that Obama makes every single decision related to his campaign? He even picks out the flags on the office wall, according to some.
"Obama can heal the sick, end poverty, heal the environment, and bring peace to the world. I'm sure he will make sure there are never any traffic jams too."
Yet he allows you to post; clearly he works in mysterious ways.
"ly" words do not take hyphens
That ain't what yo momma said!
old city - FYI, the cramped condos of Reston Town Center are filled with lonely Jetta driving legal secretaries desperate for attention. I know. I have three buried in my quicklime pit. NO! WAIT! Two are buried in my quicklime pit. NO! Do not have quicklime pit at all! Is joke!
LOL...heavy thunderstorms predicted in NoVA tonight.
Seriously, if anyone is going - LEAVE NOW!!
Why not do this at the Masonic Temple in Alexandria. It can easily fit 30k+ by filling in the grass on the hill and use the front steps as the stage. Plus you are just feet from Metro and VRE.
Whoever planned this event should be shot. This is going to be a disaster. At least the Radiohead show wasn't at rush hour.
Yeah, but Obama ain't a Mason. I know. I gave him the third-degree handshake and he didn't give me the countersign. He just told me I better go wake up the gimp.
I didn't think this was possible, but the Nissan Pavilion, Route 66, and the weather are all worse than Hitler.
Finally, I have a chance to invoke Godwin3.
Have it on the tarmac at DCA. What better place to kick off Obama's HISTORIC campaign and make every Republican cry than at a site named after Reagan?!?
"RFK holds 100,000?? Uh...not quite. Seating is about 55k max. Fill the infield with people and maybe you'd hit 70,000. Anything beyond that, and the Fire Marshall is going to have a thing or two to say."
It doesn't even hold 55,000 anymore. They tore out around 9,000 seats to make room for the Nats, and those seats are now gone, daddy, gone. New capacity is 46,000 and change.
Still better than Nissan, but as others have noted, DC isn't exactly a swing state...
I sense epic failure. Time to map another route home.
Can we get an all caps bulletin on this one? TOR-BAMA WARNING TAKE COVER NOW!
"Nissan Pavilion, Route 66, and the weather are all worse than Hitler." Oh how I laughed.
I wonder how many voters he will lose because they are so pissed off after sitting in traffic that they rear end the SUV in front of them, knocking off the magnetic yellow ribbon, which shorts out the TV in their dash. Oh right, he won't lose any votes out there, those people west of the beltway already have McCain finger puppets on their bed pillows.
(Just thought I would jump into old_city's generalizations, they are so much fun)
The O should just throw a match and burn Nissan Pavilion down for theatrical finish when he walks off the stage.
Well, I wasn't going to go anyway. Happy hour?
LOVE the dc/nova rivalry that goes on here. as if where you live determines how much of an asshole you are*.
(*statement not valid in texas)
That is to say, I don't live in VA, wasn't going to get into a car, and had other plans. I'll catch the sound bytes on TV, do we really have to b*tch about it if it's not going to affect us directly? ...oh wait, that's what al gore invented the internet for... ;)
The Newly Annointed One need only exit the Pavilion and walk across the rainswept waves of Route 66 and there shall be a great parting of the honkies. Yea, and the Escalades shall know no gridlock on their way to Haymarket. For he is truly his brother's keeper, and the finder of lost children, and throughout the land, there shall be a great rubbing of parts. For as the book of Maccabee said "Yea, as the flea is like unto an oxen, so is the privet hedge liken unto a botanist, black in thy sight, O Lord!" Yea, and as Raymond Chandler said, "it was one of those days when Los Angeles felt like a rock-hard fig."
And how is this possible? For he is the Quisatz Haderach!
Whoa. He know's kung fu...
This is exactly the sort of transit problem that the Silver Line would solve. Yet the nimby crowd continues to lobby against constructing the Flaming Gaylord Poop Chute Line (West Branch).
I hope it rains.
"And how is this possible? For he is the Quisatz Haderach!"
noo nooo its
And how can this be? For he is the Quisatz Haderach!
cant believe that chick ended up on law & order
How to piss off potential swing voters in a key state? Wreck their commute.
"How to piss off potential swing voters in a key state? Wreck their commute."
That made me laugh. Good times.
I'm lucky enough that I live about 2 miles from Nissan. We got there around noon and were about 180th in line, which was better than I expected. It wasn't as insane as I would have imagined (I didn't see the traffic on 66 at any point though) but it was still a big giant mess getting out...which is always the case with Nissan.
"I'm lucky enough that I live about 2 miles from Nissan."
Wow, that IS lucky.
score:
nightmare on 66 prognosticators - 0
Quisatz Haderach - 1
so... how'd it go?
Pretty sweet. Obama left the pavillion riding a sand worm and blasting Republicans with his weirding module. He's got my vote.
I missed this post yesterday due to a lack of internet, so I would like to belatedly take a moment to point out the quote by Rob Muller, director of marketing for Nissan Pavilion, or possibly now former director of marketing there:
"I understand what you're going after. You want to write another story about traffic at Nissan and Radiohead, and we're not going to comment," said Rob Muller, the pavilion's director of marketing.Well done, Mr. Muller.
"LOVE the dc/nova rivalry that goes on here. as if where you live determines how much of an asshole you are"
There are multiple reasons why I can't stand Virginia, but DC and VA are pretty much neck-and-neck as far as the number of assholes goes.
Dammit, my blockquote tags got messed up somehow, but you get the idea...
HCE - I take it the words "Chevy Chase" mean nothing to you? Both the person and the place: biggest buttholes of all time.
Of course where you live does not determine what kind of asshole you are. Everyone knows that is determined by the size of your mothers birth canal silly!
Everyone knows that where you live determines your level of "dickness" (and overall cultural sensitivities) and while DC has VA beat in the liberal douchebag department, VA is miles ahead in the conservative dickwads- thus the 10k turnout on opening night of the "I am the democratic demigod" tour in Bristol (listen to the banjos play) VA.
best graffiti artist ever - whoever changed the va sign by the key bridge to "Virginia is for LoSers"
That still doesn't beat "Surrender Dorothy" on the railroad bridge near the Mormon Temple.
Or even the "Cool 'Disco' Dan" on yo momma's booty.