People no longer need a ticket for Sunday's Barack Obama-Oprah Winfrey rally in Columbia, but they may need binoculars.
The Democratic presidential contender's event has been moved to Williams-Brice Stadium. One day after Obama's campaign suspended distribution of free tickets, it announced that the rally would be moved from the Colonial Center, which seats about 18,000, to the football stadium that seats four times as many.
It could be the largest political gathering in South Carolina since 1976, when Jimmy Carter captured the Democratic nomination and spoke to tens of thousands from the Statehouse steps, said Alex Sanders, who introduced Carter at the time.
Obama steering committee member and former S.C. Education Superintendent Inez Tenenbaum said the Obama-Oprah event has injected "incredible enthusiasm" into the race, including among those who haven't paid much attention so far.
"When we saw folks had lined up in the early morning hours outside of our Columbia office when seats became available, and thousands signed up within hours, we recognized that the Colonial Center was going to fill quickly," she said.
Winfrey plans to join Obama and his wife, Michelle, for a New Hampshire rally, then travel to Columbia. While tickets are no longer needed, the campaign is asking people to RSVP at sc.barackobama.com/oprah_sc. Williams-Brice's doors will open at 12:30 p.m.; the event will start at 2:30 p.m.
