UPDATE: Got an email from Tysalpha who was at the event in St. Louis today:
Just got home a while ago. It was a crazy amount of people. We arrived about 10:30 and parked south of Busch Stadium, a fair ways away from the Arch so that getting out would be easy. The line of people was several city blocks long.. we walked from the south end of the arch up to Washington avenue, thinking that would be the beginning of the line, but turned the corner and realized it went all the way to the riverfront. Then when we got to the riverfront, the line was about another 5 blocks north. It was an exercise in patience, knowing how far the walk was and how thick the crowd was, but everyone was very happy. As we got closer, about where the Metro stops at the Arch, the police had cleared the street and the motorcade came through. This really excited the crowd. We got inside the grounds just as Senator McCaskill began speaking. A great time, and I’m so happy that the turnout here in my home town was so large.Check out this picture from CNN. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch photos are here.
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Obama is in St. Louis at the Gateway Arch. MSNBC just reported that "police in St. Louis say the crowd is estimated at about 100,000:
Here's an excerpt from today's speech:
My opponent's been talking a lot about taxes in his campaign. But here's the truth Missouri – we are both offering tax cuts. The difference is who we're cutting taxes for.
It comes down to values – in America, do we simply value wealth, or do we value the work that creates it? For eight years, we've seen what happens when we put the extremely wealthy and well-connected ahead of working people. Now, John McCain thinks that the way to rebuild this economy is to double down on George Bush's policy of giving more and more tax breaks to those at the very top in the false hope that it will all trickle down. I think it's time to rebuild the middle class in this country, and that is the choice in this election.
Senator McCain wants to give the average Fortune 500 CEO a $700,000 tax cut but absolutely nothing at all to over 100 million Americans. I want to cut taxes – cut taxes – for 95 percent of all workers. And under my plan, if you make less than $250,000 a year – which includes 98 percent of small business owners – you won't see your taxes increase one single dime. Not your payroll taxes, not your income taxes, not your capital gains taxes – nothing. It' time to give the middle class a break, and that's what I'll do as President of the United States.
Lately, Senator McCain has been attacking my middle class tax cut. He actually said it goes to, "those who don't pay taxes," even though it only goes to working people who are already getting taxed on their paycheck. That's right, Missouri – John McCain is so out of touch with the struggles you are facing that he must be the first politician in history to call a tax cut for working people "welfare."
The only "welfare" in this campaign is John McCain's plan to give another $200 billion in tax cuts to the wealthiest corporations in America – including $4 billion in tax breaks to big oil companies that ran up record profits under George Bush. That's who John McCain is fighting for. But we can't afford four more years like the last eight. George Bush and John McCain are out of ideas, they are out of touch, and if you stand with me in 17 days they will be out of time.
We need new priorities in Washington. I think it's time to give a tax cut to the teachers and janitors who work in our schools; to the cops and firefighters who keep us safe; to the waitresses working double shifts, the nurses in the ER, and the plumbers fighting for their American Dream. These workers are the backbone of our country. They are the ones that Washington has forgotten. They're the ones I'll fight for. And while Senator McCain ignores the payroll taxes you pay to score a few political points, I'll put a tax cut into the pockets of working people so you can pay the bills, put away some savings, and pass on a brighter future to your children.
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