Goose bumps, tears as historic day arrives

Either way, Washington, today you make history.

It could be the history that led dozens of moms to drag their elementary-age daughters out onto a blustery waterfront pier Thursday night to see Hillary Rodham Clinton."Because this nation needs a mother as commander-in-chief," said one, when I asked why she was there.

Or it could be the history that compelled Gina Nelson to pull her 14-year-old son, DaShawn Vinson, out of high-school classes Friday to hear Barack Obama.

"My son's barely even had any black teachers, and now he might have a black president," said Nelson, 34, of Kent. "I never thought I'd be alive to see this day. A woman and a black man. You could knock me over right now."

I glanced at Nelson when Obama started speaking. There were tears in her eyes.

Yes, there's a high-stakes political campaign on, with all its spinning and jockeying and bickering. It's worth setting that aside, though, to revel in these past two days. Nobody here has ever seen a political moment like this.

Seattle got up close and personal with three presidential candidates, all with extraordinary life stories (the other was Republican front-runner John McCain, who appears to have his race all but sewn up).

McCain is unusual in his own right -- how many presidents have we had who survived years of torture as a prisoner of war?

Yet Clinton and Obama each represent a huge shift from the status quo simply because of who they are.

"America is changing, you can just feel it buzzing around in all these young people," marveled Pat Pedersen, 65, a community-college instructor I met at the Obama rally at KeyArena. (The Key, by the way, hasn't been that jammed -- or electric -- since Michael Jordan and the Bulls were there for the NBA Finals in '96.)

"People are so ready for a new world, without all those tired racial and gender rules and categories," she said. "I think this is history happening."

The Clinton rally Thursday night was the smaller and more traditional of the two. Some there said they feel her bid for the White House isn't being recognized as the pathbreaking event it really is.

That's true. It feels overshadowed. But her campaign is a watershed. And she was impressive Thursday night, with a speech packed with policy specifics and a certain intangible steeliness that signals she's got what it takes to be president.

The Obamapalooza, though, is a once-in-a-lifetime spectacle. He can command an arena of 18,000 like it's a living room. And it's not that he's all good feelings and fluff. When he spoke of tuition credits for college students, or, earlier in the day, of the price-per-BTU of his plan to curb greenhouse gases, he was far more the professor than preacher.

No, the Obama phenomenon isn't even him. It's the goodness he somehow seems to bring out in people.

I ran into Eddie Rye Jr. there. He's the Seattle civil-rights pioneer who went on his first march for equality way back in 1954. He's been in movement politics ever since, from John F. Kennedy to Martin Luther King to serving as local manager for Jesse Jackson's presidential campaign in 1984.

"All that, and I've still never seen a movement like this," he said. "Look at this crowd -- black, white, men, women, young people. It gives me goose bumps."

Later, when Obama started speaking, Rye, too, had tears on his cheeks.

OK, these are heady times.

Time to come down to earth and wonder: Will any of these candidates make a good president?

Who knows, but I can't recall a more talented, compelling group. Such as McCain, who is a national hero for his military career and an independent-minded senator. Every day that Rush Limbaugh attacks him proves what a decent man he is.

Nelson, who brought her son to see Obama, says her choice between Clinton and Obama came hard.

"I struggled," she said. "I like Hillary, and I'm mindful how long we women have waited. I'm going to caucus for Obama, but you know what? I'll be proud if either one wins."

She should be. Either way, it'll make history.

Danny Westneat's column appears Wednesday and Sunday. Reach him at 206-464-2086 or dwestneat@seattletimes.com.