Obama 30, McCain 0

The Kent County Democrats and the Obama campaign participated in Kentwood's Fourth of July parade this morning. I had hoped for a good turnout, but as often happens with Obama events, things turned out better than expected.

In fact, we had about 30 people there! I would tell you how many people were in the McCain contingent at the parade, but McCain's campaign didn't even show up! Keep in mind, Bush won Kentwood 56-43% in 2004.

We decorated my family's UAW-made Taurus for the occasion:

I didn't get the best pictures of the car, but the signs on this side of the car said "Liberty and Justice for All" and "Vote Democratic." the signs on the other side read "Security, Prosperity, Community" (a quick and catchy slogan I thought of last night) and "Vote Democratic."

Here are just some of the 30 people there:

As I saw that the parade was getting going, I asked everyone: "Are you ready? Are you fired up? Are you ready to go? Are you ready to show everyone that Kentwood is Obama Country?"

"Yes!"

Moments later, we began our 2.7-mile journey. Every couple of minutes we would engage the crowd in a cheer. "Yes We Can!" "We Want Change!" "O-ba-ma!" As one might expect in West Michigan, we did get the occasional less-than-positive response - a few people said "Go McCain!" and we did get a thumbs-down or two - but far more people cheered. Mom told me that of all the political participants in the parade, we were the only ones who garnered cheers.

It was an exciting morning here in Kentwood. If people in this suburb in conservative West Michigan can get enthusiastic about Obama, politics in West Michigan will continue to shift to the left, costing Republicans key support in this part of one of the nation's biggest battleground states.