From up in the stands behind home plate in Cheney Stadium in Tacoma, Donna and John Riley of Langley got a taste of big-time politics in 2008.

They were among the estimated 12,000 people who crammed the 9,500-seat stadium to hear Democratic vice-presidential candidate Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware on Sunday.

“He talked about everything in a really hopeful way, in a realistic way,” Donna Riley said of Sen. Barack Obama’s running mate. “They know what an incredible job they’ll have to fix things.”

She said she and her husband caught the 9:30 a.m. ferry for the scheduled

2 p.m. event. Last spring, she said, they arrived in Seattle too late to get in to see Obama at a packed rally at the Seattle Center.

“We didn’t want to miss it this time,” Riley said. “When we got there, the line was still at least an hour long.

“It was cold and cloudy,” she said. “And just about the time the candidate came out, the sun poked through. It was like someone on a movie set had ordered it.

“The mood of the crowd was great,” she continued. “Everybody was very positive, very happy to be there.”

She said the festivities even included the Wave, which at one point made at least a half-a-dozen circuits of the stadium.

“It was interesting to be at a rally and feel the euphoria of the campaign and the election,” Riley added. “Unlike the anger, resentment, fear and negativity you see at McCain-Palin rallies.”

“There were moments when Biden was talking,” Riley added, “When he would lower his voice to a conversational level, and everyone would grow quiet to hear him. That’s how intent everybody was to listen to his words.”

“Everyone was excited and jazzed to be there,” agreed Gus Winkes, 25, an environmental consultant and Democratic activist from Camano Island, who also attended the rally.

“The crowd was very enthusiastic and energetic,” he said. “They came up off their seats clapping and shouting. There were some boos when John McCain was mentioned.”

The crowd heard Biden say that an Obama administration would help the middle class by cutting its taxes, not redistribute wealth.

McCain, the Republican candidate, on Saturday had likened Obama to the socialist leaders of Europe, saying Obama wanted to “convert the IRS into a giant welfare agency, redistributing massive amounts of wealth at the direction of politicians in Washington.”

Biden, in turn, repeatedly tied McCain to President Bush’s tax policies.

“John McCain has been a party to the most significant redistribution of wealth in American history and it has been all the wrong way,” Biden said. “There’s not one fundamental economic issue that John McCain disagrees with George Bush on.”

He said McCain believes in “trickle-down, government-is-bad, markets-are-right” economics.

“I was pleased that he pretty well debunked the notion that both he and Barack Obama are socialists in disguise,” Winkes said.

“He was very dynamic, and laid out a convincing argument why he and Obama should be elected.”

Biden also listed the highlights of Obama’s pledges, including universal healthcare and an emphasis on “green” jobs.

Winkes said he was particularly impressed that Biden mentioned the roles being played in the Middle East by members of the armed forces stationed in the state.

Biden did so when he went after McCain’s running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, for a comment last week in North Carolina that she loved visiting “pro-American” parts of the country.

“One-hundred-and-one of this state’s soldiers have given their lives, have died for their country, so don’t let anyone, not even indirectly, imply that there’s one more patriotic part of the country than another part of the country,” Biden shouted. “It doesn’t matter where you live, it doesn’t matter your color, it doesn’t matter your religion; we’re all Americans.”

“We need to end this war in Iraq,” he said.

Riley and Winkes both said it was amusing when Biden noted the irony of the stadium’s name — the same as Republican Vice President Dick Cheney’s.

“I want to thank you for temporarily changing the name from Cheney Stadium to Obama-Biden stadium,” Biden said.

“Besides,” he added, “if it was Cheney’s stadium, we’d be at an undisclosed location, and you wouldn’t be able to find us.”

The visit was Biden’s first to the state as vice presidential nominee, and was coupled with some stumping on behalf of Democratic Gov. Christine Gregoire, who is in another tight race with Republican Dino Rossi.

Biden was accompanied onstage by Gregoire and Democratic Senators Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell.

Tacoma was a stop on Biden’s West Coast tour. On Saturday, he traveled the San Francisco Bay area to headline fundraisers that brought in $2 million. He also made stops in New Mexico, a battleground state, earlier in the week.

Obama and Biden are leading the polls in Washington, which is seen as a safe state for Democrats.

Biden said the stakes will be high Nov. 4.

“This is the single most consequential election since 1932,” he said.

Donna Riley is a mother of four, a part-time paralegal and a community volunteer. Her husband is a structural engineer. Both are Democratic activists.

“I trust Obama will have the courage to broadly stroke that pen and make some very bold changes,” she said.

“I’m really ready for a win,” she added. “I feel my kids’ futures are at stake.”

Roy Jacobson can be reached at 221-5300 or rjacobson@southwhidbeyrecord.com.