The doors opened at the WaMu Theater and thousands of people rushed the stage. Really. There wasn't anyone on the stage, but everybody wanted to get as close as they could. The pitch for the fundraiser said the more you pay the closer you can get to the stage and it seems areas were roped off. I don't want to be ageist and assume the old folks had the money, but from stage right came the younger crowd, from stage left were the boomers -- and they were in a roped off area that got them closer to the stage.

Congressman Adam Smith and former Mayor Norm Rice will be part of the warmup to Obama. The News Tribune doesn't like the Seattle-centric tone of the event. So says the Nose today:

His campaign has chosen to call it his "Seattle kickoff." Which tells you something about how the rest of the state rates.

Can we have the Audacity to Hope the junior senator from Illinois will grace us with a "Tacoma kickoff"?

This strikes me as a little odd. The first speaker is Christine Chen, who introduced herself as host of KCTS' show, About the Money. She thanked everyone for their support of public television. She's also a marketing consultant and, obviously, an Obama supporter.

Obama hasn't spoken yet, but state Republican Party Chairman Luke Esser has already issued his criticism of the candidate. Esser focuses on Obama's recent announcement of his health care plan, which would be funded in part by ending some existing tax breaks. Said Esser in the statement just e-mailed reporters:

"Barack Obama used his first big policy speech to call for a massive tax increase and a brand new tax on small businesses. It's nothing but the same old tax-and-spend politics we've seen from liberal presidential candidates for decades. It's pretty ironic that the candidate whose allies spoofed the famous 1984 Apple ad is reviving his party's 1984 pledge to raise taxes."

MORE: What's really notable about the crowd is that they all had to pay to get in the door ...quot; at least $25. Howard Dean had more people at Westlake Center and Bill Clinton had more at Pike Place. But those crowds didn't have to pay. And this crowd is young.

I just talked to Jarred Lathrop. He's a 25-year-old grad student and social worker. He was a Dean supporter in 2004.

"There was a strong energy around Dean. But there is a different aura around Obama. I'm only 25. But I've never seen anything like this."

It's not all youngsters, though. Pam Tufts, 59, and Don Morgan, 63, are standing nearby. Tufts told me:

"I'm so excited about Barack. History is going to be made here tonight. I want to say I was here tonight."

She's read Obama's book and "I think there is a lot of hope here. And by God we need it."

But she and Morgan aren't committed to voting for Obama. Morgan called himself a supporter, but said he's excited by other Democratic candidates, too, and will be interested to see how the primary campaign plays out.

The crowd has been warmed up by an African dance troupe, a young singer-songwriter from Tacoma with a bit of Lou Reed in his voice, and now some recorded Bob Marley, "Get up, Stand up." You know:

Most people think, Great God will come from the skies, Take away everything And make everybody feel high. But if you know what life is worth, You will look for yours on earth: And now you see the light, You stand up for your rights. jah!

MORE: Obama is speaking after an introduction from Adam Smith. Everyone talks of him having rock star appeal. It's not be accident. He comes in like a rock star, sounds like a rock star as he greets the crowd.

"I have to say that sometimes I have to ask myself, how in the heck did I get here? How did I come to be standing in front of these crowds that are so representative of America, that draw from every walk of life. And I wish I could take credit. But I have to tell you it has to do with more than me. It has to do with this hunger, all across the country, this palpable energy everywhere we go. ... Everyone is clamoring for change."

And with that Obama began listing all the "folks" he said wanted change, including black folks, white folks, Asians, gays, straights, old and young, and he said to a big ovation, "especially young people."

"We want a new America, an America that reflects our values and our ideas."

MORE: Obama said that people have become too cynical about politics. "So many of us understand that politics has become a business instead of a mission."

"As we've become cynical you've seen the void filled by lobbyists and special interests s and narrow agendas. ... And we've had a government that basically has an attitude of can't do, won't do and won't even try."

He said that America needs to remember that "we've got mutual obligations toward each other."

"That idea has to express itself not just in our churches and mosques and synagogues, not, just in our families. It's got to express itself through our government because our government allows us to do things together that we cannot do on our own."

His speech can be summed up in this line he just delivered:

"People are ready to turn that page on that old outdated politics."

He said universal health care could be a reality by the end of his first term.

MORE: Obama outlined what he wants to do with education, health care and the environment. But that brought him to the subject of the war, which brought the loudest ovations yet.

"Some of these things are going to cost money and we cannot do a lot of these things if we keep on spending on $275 million a day on a war that is not making us safer in this world. It is time to bring our troops out of Iraq.

"It is time to match the might of our military with the strength of our diplomacy and the power of our alliances and the wisdom of our strategy. I am proud that I was against this war from the beginning because I knew it was going to cost us billions of dollars and thousands of lives and it wouldn't make us safer."

He said that in withdrawing troops "we have to be as careful getting out as we were careless getting in." He said Democrats needs a veto-proof majority in Congress in order to bring the troops home.

"But I will tell you this Seattle: If Congress doesn't do it before George Bush is out of office I will do it when I am in office. You can take that to the bank."