The rumour mill has been hot this week about the possibility that presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama may visit our fair city this afternoon following a town hall meeting at St. Petersburg’s Gibbs High School earlier in the day. (BTW: Don’t bother looking for tickets to this event in the 1,000 seat venue…they were gone in less than 20 minutes)
Billy Townsend noted on the talk around town earlier in the week on the Lakeland Local blog. The visit would come during First Friday, a monthly gathering sponsored by the Downtown Lakeland Partnership. Although Townsend’s wife, Julie, organizes the First Friday event, she reportedly has heard nothing from the Obama campaign.
Other local Democratic activists, including the county’s state committeewoman, have also been left in the dark about a possible visit. One item that may lead people to believe that it may happen is that according to Lakeland Ledger political reporter Bill Rufty in his blog Thursday afternoon, city police information officer Jack Gillen told a reporter that he could not comment when asked if the Obama campaign had contacted LPD regarding a possible local stop.
While I’ve never been to First Friday before, this will give me the perfect excuse to do so today. After all, as Rufty mentioned in his posting, the Obama campaign is known for spontaneous campaign stops not listed on his official schedule. I’m sure today will feature the largest crowd in the history of the monthly downtown event. Hopefully the restaurants along Kentucky Avenue will be ready.
Bio: Robert is a former radio personality, which ended with five years at Winter Haven station WHNR where he eventually rose to become Assistant Operations Manager. For the past decade he has continued to make a living running his mouth, working in the call center industry. Currently he is working as a Customer Services Professional at a local facility representing one of North America's major heating & air conditioning sales and repair companies.
