Obama Camp Eyeing Downtown Chicago for Election Night

Barack Obama’s campaign is eying either Chicago’s Grant Park or Millenium Park as the likely site for its Election Night gathering, and potential victory party.

For the Illinois Democrat, the site would mark yet another outdoor venue chosen for a momentous occasion, with Obama having announced his candidacy on the steps of Illinois’s state capitol, and his speech accepting the Democratic nomination at Denver’s Invesco Field in August.

The site is not a stranger to political history, though. The violent demonstrations during the 1968 Democratic National Convention took place in the park. It has also been host to the alternative Lollapalooza music festival during the summer since 2005.

Millenium Park was an extension of the original Grant Park, situated closer to downtown Chicago’s “loop.” The park’s Buckingham Fountain was featured in the opening to the 1990s television show “Married…With Children.”

–Michael O’Brien