Presidential Candidate Sen. John McCain and his running mate, Gov. Sarah Palin will be speaking to a crowd of thousands today at Van Dyck Park. Mason Votes is embedding a Live Feed of the event on the front page. You can also see a larger version of the live feed at the McCain campaign website. The event is scheduled to begin at 11:00 p.m.

EDIT: Dignitaries at the McCain event are rumored to include Speaker of the House Bill Howell, Circuit Court Clerk John Frey, and 8th District Congressional Candidate Mark Ellmore. 10th District Congressman Frank Wolf and Senate candidate Jim Gilmore are also reported to be attending.

The Republican candidate was originally going to speak at Fairfax High School, however a lack of space and controversy over perceived partisanship forced the campaign to move the event last afternoon.

Though school policy states that “school buildings and grounds may not be used for campaign activities during school hours” Jack Dale, Fairfax County Public Schools superintendent, stated that he had planned the event due to its educational value.

School Board member Stuart D. Gibson was organizing an emergency meeting of the School Board to overturn Dale’s decision when the campaign announced the change in location.

“Due to the overwhelming response from voters in Virginia, the space at field house at Fairfax High School will no longer hold everyone who wants to attend this rally. We have had double the amount of people respond than we originally expected. In order to accommodate everyone, we need to move the event,” the campaign stated in a news release.

You can also see Mason Votes coverage of the event on Twitter.

EDIT: According to City of Fairfax Mayor Lederer, this is the largest turnout for a McCain rally so far.

Posted on September 10th, 2008 by Aram Zucker-Scharff
Filed under: Top Stories