Barack Obama came to Boston Common this evening to bring his platform of hopefulness abroad and hopefulness at home to the people he needs to win over the most...overprivileged college kids?

Wait, no, that's not it. Maybe he was trying to court the rabid Ron Paul supporters in the crowd? (Unless he had methadone, that's unlikely.)

Oh, I know - it's all those potential voters in the crucial...errr...Massachusetts primary?

"Excuse me, do you know what's going on here?" a passerby asked me, surprised by the presence of, you know, non-crack addicts at the Common after dark.

Pointing to the glow of television lights, the choir practicing behind us and the "Got Hope?" t-shirt booth, what could I say? "Looks like Democracy. Or maybe Woodstock without the music and the drugs. Tough to judge from here."