CHICAGO (FOX 32 News) -
Four years ago, 70,000 Obama supporters packed Grant Park, on an unusually warm November night to celebrate a historic election.
Today, a source close to the Obama campaign confirmed that the election night 2012 rally will be at McCormick place. No reasons were given, but from a security point of view, experts say it makes sense.
"You know what the secret service likes. They like the planning and knowledge of what's going to take place. And they like access control," says Tom Kasza, who once headed Chicago's secret service office and helped protect four presidents.
Kasza says that just like at the NATO summit last May, McCormick place offers behind the scenes meeting rooms and a flexibility not offered by a stage at Grant Park.
"McCormick Place, very well known venue, very big, can be sanctioned off, walled off to different sizes to meet the needs," explains Kasza. "And, it's certainly a known venue to the Secret Service and Chicago police."
As for the president's supporters, their opinions seemed to turn on whether they could count on another warm November night for the rally.
"Mccormick Place would be great in case of bad weather, but you can probably get more people to attend outdoors," says one supporter.
"If it's good weather, why not Grant Park like four years ago?" asks another supporter. "That was a great event and most people were happy. And, we were blessed. We had the good weather, so why not Grant Park?"
