It was a windy night as a crowd of around 5,000 people gathered to listen to Senator Hillary Clinton speak tonight at Pier 30 in Seattle. Despite the chilly and windy weather, men, women, and children, started to arrive around 6:30 p.m., according to a Seattle police officer. And inside, as the venue became more packed, it grew quite warm as I waited for Hillary, who was introduced by Ron Sims, Jay Inslee, and Gary Locke, who got the crowd cheering, “Hillary Clinton, Hillary Clinton.”

And it was just then, about 9:35 p.m., when she took the stage:

Fire Alarms were sounding, but there was no fire of any kind. It didn’t seem to bother anyone. Hillary got the loudest cheers of the night from the crowd when she spoke of her health-care plan. She explained, “health care is a right, not a privilege.” She talked about taxes and the middle class, and the war in Iraq and her plan to bring the troops home within six months. She mentioned renewable energy and spoke of education too.

When she referred to Bush and the War in Iraq, Hillary said: “the era of power-boy diplomacy is over,” which got big cheers too. Her Seattle stop ended with her reminder to the crowd to caucus on Saturday, and said: “Stand up for me for a couple hours on Saturday, and I will stand up for you, and together we’ll make history.” Here is some audio and photos…

Cathy Allen of Seattle and Judith Lonnquist of Seattle, described themselves “political war horses.” Allen, who works all over the world training women in leadership said she has been a Hillary fan for 18 years. Lonnquist, a lifelong Hillary supporter, and a civil rights attorney, said “I admire her for her dedication to working families and children, and standing up for womens rights.”

Here is some audio too:

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