An imposing stage will magnify Obama's speech tonight
DENVER - Barack Obama will enter onto a stage bordered by Greek columns and walk down a runway that dead-ends at a lectern on an island. There, alone at the center of Colorado's biggest stadium, he will stare out at 2,000 lawn chairs pressed toward the stage, 80,000 people crammed into three levels of seats and 450 stadium spotlights pointed directly at him.
DENVER - Barack Obama will enter onto a stage bordered by Greek columns and walk down a runway that dead-ends at a lectern on an island. There, alone at the center of Colorado's biggest stadium, he will stare out at 2,000 lawn chairs pressed toward the stage, 80,000 people crammed into three levels of seats and 450 stadium spotlights pointed directly at him.
Even for Obama, a veteran speechmaker, the set-up at Invesco Field makes for the most intimidating venue of his career.
His campaign has gambled on the historic moment of his his acceptance speech by crafting a stage that will magnify Obama's performance.
Obama wrote the speech last week in the manner that has become his custom, crafting a first draft by hand on yellow legal paper. Then he sequestered himself in a Chicago hotel room, preferring it to the chaos of his house or campaign headquarters.
His speechwriters have traveled with him, helping to trim and edit - a process that continued yesterday afternoon as Obama flew to Denver.
Public tickets to the speech, given away online, disappeared in just more than a day. Chairs are reserved for all convention delegates, but more than half of the seats went to Colorado residents who signed up Aug. 6. Some scalpers now sell single tickets for more than $1,000.
At 5 p.m. today, convention officials will close down the Pepsi Center, and the assembled delegates and media will migrate one mile west to the football stadium.
On the final day of preparation, dozens of workers hurried around Invesco Field to finish the stage. One woman scrubbed dirt off the hollow Greek columns. Another cleaned the wooden lectern. Obama's image will be beamed onto the stadium scoreboard and two other screens behind him, officials said, but vendors also plan to make binoculars available for rent to those in the upper deck.