Here’s how you can tell the campaign is over and the transition has begun: Barack Obama’s aides now wear suits and ties, their desks are in the Federal Building on 6th Street in Washington — and Clintonites are everywhere.

Obama’s victory in the general election produced what his primary campaign couldn’t: A swift merger of the Clinton Wing of the Democratic Party with the Illinois Senator’s self-styled insurgency. The merger began, during the campaign, in the policy apparatus — which is now rapidly becoming the governing apparatus.

And Obama wants to use the power of YouTube for his weekly ‘radio’ address.

I was only slightly worried in the two weeks prior to the weekend after the September 11 shift in poll numbers - Obama was on the back foot for a good two weeks, in polls, and being on the defensive in the media.

On Sep 11 the Obama campaign said they would shift gear up until election day, and that they did. Lipstick on a pig was quickly forgotten and from about September 17 to November 4, McCain was almost entirely on the defensive. He never recovered from it.

The last week was an incredible experience. I watched Obama speak in Virginia Beach, I drove with Conor Ryan from the Irish Examiner, from Washington DC to Cleveland Ohio (video interview of that to be uploaded), where I again got to watch Obama speak, after some songs from Bruce Springsteen.

Two days later and we were in Chicago’s Grant Park to watch history being made, and Oprah use a port-a-loo for the first time in her life. Along the way I went out for some (lots of) beers, and met some really nice people, including Fergal Keane from RTE, Chris Donoghue from Newstalk 106, Lise Hand from the Irish Independent, and two Italian film makers, Fabio and Francesco, who were kind enough to let us shack up with them in Chicago (check out their site, they have some brilliant videos, including many exclusives). There were also the kind ladies from the State Department, Elia and Babs, who could not have been more helpful and friendly.

It was though an incredibly long day, which meant walking around, or standing around in various places, in Chicago for a straight 24 hours. And I have blisters to prove it. I also forgot to eat anything, but I guess it didn’t matter. It was all worth it, and I’m glad I predicted back in April that Obama would win, because that was when I decided to go to the US for the result.

And they say the newspaper industry is dying ;-)

Update: At the Obama press conference today, Chicago Sun-Times reporter Lynn Sweet said she was injured during the rush to get to see his speech. I’m not sure if it was while this video was taken. Her arm is now in a cast apparently.

She actually hung around for a while, which meant a media scrum. I have a video about this also. More once I recover. Here was the view from the main press area:

It’s turrning into a gorgeous evening…

Update: A viewer says it definitely was “Bruce” they were shouting.

LOL. Number 6 on Google for “Obama Cleveland rally”

I’m at the Obama event in Cleveland, and wifi is available, unlike at the Virginia Beach rally. There is a huge crowd here. I tried to take photos of the queues to give some sense of the length… but at ground level you just cannot capture it. One went on for at least 10 blocks, another one went on for another 10. Miles of people waiting to get in.

I see some other journalists from Ireland, one from the Irish Times, and another from Newstalk.

I took these photos a few minutes ago.

Update:

The crowd waits for Obama:

The press wait:

The interval music from the press area:

Obama in his stride despite the rain:

I will update on Twitter, and upload some photos almost as soon as the event is over… hopefully.

Update: You can look at my photos and videos of the event over here.

If we time it right we might make it to Indianapolis for a McCain rally, before making directly for Chicago. Chicago is where the Obama camp is hosting an “historic watching party” for the results. It should be an interesting night.

In this one you can see the start of Obama’s speech, with the press looking on. The BBC was doing a live broadcast while I recorded.

After the event we came across this Pentecostal Christian who was demonstrating against the policies of Obama and preaching his beliefs. The crowd did not receive him well, including two young people play acting around him.

Here he is just before the broadcast;

And the man himself:

And here was a fighter jet passing in the distance, with what looks like a press helicopter hovering.

I have some videos too, will upload them once I get some sleep.