Ok, so it's obvious that I like Barack Obama, and this past weekend was particularly Obama-filled for me. I promise this will be my last post about my recent Obama experiences.

If you're interested in reading UW students' continuing coverage of the primaries, caucuses and election in general, check out SeattlePoliticore.org. My posts are the ones that say "By Devon," because... well, that's my name.

Before I wrap up the Obama-fest, I want to share something interesting I read today. It's a diary on liberal blog site Daily Kos called "Why candidates can't talk more about global warming."

Some excerpts:

No candidate, even if he or she truly understands the urgency of dealing with the climate crisis, is going to say what really needs to be said about global warming until after they are elected. The reason: if they do they won't get elected.

So, those of us who consider global warming to be the defining issue of our time, must try to elect a candidate that shares our understanding and sense of urgency about the problem, even though he or she can't tell us that they do. We must try to elect a candidate who once he or she is safely elected will have the vision, knowledge and courage (because it's still not going to be easy) to level with the American people.

If we do not get strong leadership on global warming during the next presidents term of office we are likely doomed to some degree of catastrophic climate change. It's only going to get harder the longer we wait. The idea that we can solve the problem through individual action is blind folly. It is libertarian nonsense. I don't think that such an approach is possible in the US and I'm certain that it's not in dictatorial societies like China and Russia. Individual action is good. I've taken action in my own life and encourage others to do the same, but it won't be enough.

The new president will have to educate us, persuade us and inspire us if he or she is to have a snowflake's chance in hell of getting from us what is necessary to halt global warming. The new president will have to do this because, while we can't do this on our own, he or she can't do it without us. The new president will need us not only to clean up our own act, but to support him or her internationally as the US begins to exercise, at last, the leadership that we owe the world in resolving the climate crisis, quickly, effectively and fairly.

I don't agree with every single assertion in this diary - for example, I don't consider global warming to be the defining issue of our time, although it is certainly a defining issue - but the message as a whole resonates with me.

I agree that global warming is controversial, and more so than I initially thought. We do need a president who realizes how real it is and will take aggressive action to combat it once he or she is in office. It saddens me to consider the idea that presidential candidates cannot fully express their plans to fight global warming because it might hurt their chances of winning, but then again, there are a lot of things presidential candidates have to tread lightly on while they're campaigning...

On to the conclusion of the Obama-fest: here is my final video from the rally, which includes some Seattle voters explaining their support for Obama and clips from Obama's speech in which he explains why he is running for president...

"A lot of people ask me, 'Why are you running this time? Why are you running so soon? You're a relatively young man; you can afford to wait ... In such a situation, we cannot afford to wait. We can't wait to fix our schools, we can't wait to fix our health care system, we can't wait to bring an end to global warming, we cannot wait to bring an end to this war in Iraq. We cannot wait."

The song is U2's "City of Blinding Lights" because that's the song that played as Obama made his big entrance on stage.

I talked to tons of people standing in line outside of Key Arena to find out why they supported Obama. The greatest part about this was that I didn't have to actually stand in line because I was able to go in the press entrance, where there was no line. The worst part about this was that is was super windy and since I was constantly taking pictures and video without gloves on, my hands got incredibly cold, numb and chapped. I had to have one of my classmates sign my name on the press sign-in sheet because I literally could not grip the pen!

And the last thing I'll share about the Obama event was a really embarrassing moment. After Obama finished speaking, he stepped off the stage and began greeting people as the crowd and press swarmed around him. Of course, I ran up there, too!

As he made his way toward an exit, I noticed one of my classmates was standing on a chair to try to get a better picture of him from above. I thought this was a good idea and followed suit. Unfortunately, the chair was a folding chair, and when I stepped on the wrong part of the seat, the chair folded up and snapped shut on my leg like a mouse trap.

So imagine me, in Key Arena with somewhere between 18,000-20,000 people, standing about seven feet away from Barack Obama, with my leg completely trapped in a folding chair. I tried to open the chair, but my leg was, of course, wedged in it. I eventually had to take off my shoe to wiggle my leg out. I was left with an extremely bruised ego and a laceration right below my knee that later swelled up and hurt like a mother.

All for you, Barack. Much love.