More than 5,000 people showed up at Pier 30 with just under a day’s notice to see Hillary Clinton, but there was no surprise endorsement by Christine Gregoire {update: she’s endorsing Obama today [slog]}. I couldn’t tell if everyone was able to get inside, but at some doors, they seemed to be turning people away. Nevertheless, the auditorium certainly felt packed and the crowd — an impressive cross section, demographically — was generally enthusiastic both in anticipation of her delayed arrival and in response to her speech, which focused heavily on environmentalism, green collar jobs, universal healthcare, veterans, and ending the war in Iraq.

More photos being uploaded now [flickr], stay tuned for a more thorough recap in the morning. recap posted below, will likely be edited this afternoon.

While waiting for Clinton arrival, the carefully selected demographically diverse background gaggle do their best to stay enthusiastic. “Life is a Highway” gives way to “Suddenly I See” which transitions into the Dixie Chicks’s “Ready to Run”. I didn’t notice even a note of Celine Dion; so it seems that clearer heads have prevailed and discarded last summer’s website victor in the campaign themesong nomniating process. As the music continues and the arrival becomes more delayed, the crew on the risers attempts to convince the rest of the auditorium to start the Wave. They are only mildly successful.
Excitement levels in the crowded hall seem high. There are a surprising number of children — young girls, in particular — scattered throughout. Parents with babies, a more than fair share of college age “kids”, and at least one older woman wearing a fuzzy chicken hat and a kid in a Clinton emblazoned yarmulke. Floating around, Clinton volunteers hold impromptu training sessions on the mechanics of caucusing, all the while trying to recruit precinct capatains. As people were turned away, there was a tense exchange near the press entrance about the fire marshall and scheduling. At one point the sirens started to throb and an announcement that there was no emergency was met with a round of applause. Temperatures were warm, and an ambulance crew had to cut through the crowd to evacuate a person who had lost consciousness.

Ron Sims, Gary Locke, and Jay Inslee each took a turn at warming up the crowd. Locke said that there was an emergency (Bush in the White House) and it was time or change. Some students in the audience gave high fives all around for Locke’s excitement of taxing the hell out of the rich. Sims mostly spent his time onstage reminding the audience of how to chant to welcome Hillary Clinton. Inslee said something about how if America can elect the single most incompetent president of all time, then surely we are ready to elect a woman. I wonder if this is really the best selling point, but the crowd didn’t seem to mind.

(Eli Sanders posted the full audio of the event [elisanders]; so below is a general outline with some highlights for the biggest applause lines.)
When she finally cut through the crowd and onto the stage, Clinton launched her speech with a long section about innovation in Washington and the way that so many local companies are creating environmentally friendly technologies. It seemed that someone on the flight over had been doing their homework, as Clinton referred to her notes and cited efforts at Boeing, as well as local entrepreneurs developing clean coal, carbon sequestration, photovoltaic cells, and biodiesel technologies. The section on clean, renewable, energy and a green collar jobs revolution to rival the space race consumed approximately the first third of the speech, with plenty of digs at the president (”none of this can happen until the oilmen are out of the white house”, “it is time to end George Bush’s war on Science” both got huge audience reactions).
Her most direct swipe at Obama came during the Health Care portion of her talk when she reinforced her commitment to mandating that every American have health coverage, framing this as a moral responsibility and not wanting to leave out millions and saying that her opponent had given up on that prospect. As Democrats, she asserted that we should be committed (”now and forever” to covering every single person.

The Iraq portion was anchored by a moving story of a captain who lost and arm and a finger (from a melting wedding band) in an explosion, who still suffers from traumatic brain injuries. Clinton proceeded to discuss the importance of thorough planning of the exit strategy to keep the civilians and “Iraqis who sided with us” safe as we withdraw now that “George Bush’s blank check is no longer valid” and rounded out the section by mentioning veterans — a “new GI bill” for new veterans, taking care of the people from her generation who fought in Vietnam, and of course making sure that “the Greatest Generation” is well cared for.
The event ended with Clinton talking about standing her ground, and aiming for unity not just for its own sake but for a purpose. She humorously expressed her dislike of caucuses [where she hasn't done as well, saying that they limit participation], expressing confusion over our meaningless primary, and pleading for support on Saturday saying “if you stand up for me on Saturday … I will stand up for you throughout this campaign … I will be a winning candidate in November, and together we will change our country and make history.”

Most of the crowd filtered as “American Girl” and “9 to 5″ were piped through the sound system; but more than a few swarmed to the front, hoping to get signatures or photos as Clinton stayed up front well after the conclusion of the rally.