Morning News: Obama

[Life Long Dem]

Morning News
by Christopher Hass
Monday, April 21, 2008 at 09:53 AM

From the Pittsbrugh Post-Gazette:





More than 2,600 people packed the Reading High School gym today as it reverberated with screams of, "Yes, we can! Yes we can!" That was followed by loud chants, "O-bam-a! O-bam-a," as the faithful supporters of Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama urged him on for Tuesday's Primary.

"Berks County, are you fired up?" yelled Eileen Prussman, leader of the local Obama for President effort. "We want to win this county and win Pennsylvania for Barack."

... "This is a feisty crowd," Mr. Obama said. "Whatever you had for breakfast, I want."

He spoke for 35 minutes and then answered questions for another 40 minutes.

... One of those present, Liz Dunbar, 30, a Reading business woman, says this will be the first election she's voted in.

"He has inspired me to vote," she said. "I always feel I am being lied to by politicians. But Barack makes me feel like there is hope."

From the Philadelphia Inquirer:



On Saturday morning, with cameras in tow, Barack Obama was canvassing the streets of Mayfair. At a lot of the houses, no one answered.

"This reminds me of my days campaigning to be a state senator," Obama told his companions. "Only there was no media, and there were more slammed doors."

In this presidential campaign, few doors have been slammed in the face of the Illinois senator. And he has kicked in some on his own, putting himself in a strong position to win the Democratic presidential nomination over Hillary Rodham Clinton.

... "I don't get too high when things are high. I don't get too low when things are low," he told the editorial boards of The Inquirer and Daily News last week.

"I've gotten my share of knocks and made some mistakes during the campaign, and I think I've held pretty steady throughout."

... His supporters remain enthralled, with many of them expressing both admiration for the way he has handled his difficulties and agreement with him in calling them mere "distractions."

... "They're manufactured problems," said Ruth Martelli, 63, of Reading. "I'm supporting him because he represents for me what this country should be."

"When somebody turns something negative against him, he addresses it, explains it and moves on - I like that," said Cate Kager, 49, a resident of Erie who changed her registration from Republican to Democrat for Obama. "I've hated politics. Now, I've got bumper stickers on my car, and I'm working phone banks for him."

"No one is perfect; imagine if Thomas Jefferson or Abraham Lincoln had microphones under their mouths all the time," Rita Tarves, 56, of Havertown, said of his difficulties. "I've been a pretty staunch Hillary supporter. But he's been pulling at my heels the whole time."

From the Politico:



An historic spike in Democratic voter registrations in Pennsylvania could help Barack Obama cut into Hillary Clinton's vote in Tuesday's primary, robbing her of the big victory margin she needs ...

The changing party demographics also are contributing to an overall bluing of the Keystone State that could dim Republican John McCain's hopes of competing there in the fall.

A county-by-county analysis by Politico suggests that the hard-fought primary between Obama and Clinton has accelerated an ongoing partisan shift in Pennsylvania that could soon move it out of the battleground presidential states and ripple across congressional races this fall, as well.

From the Philadelphia Inquirer:



A tidal wave of people in the five-county Philadelphia region -- former Republicans, former independents, former nonvoters -- have registered as Democrats to vote in Tuesday's primary. And the majority of these newly registered voters appear to support Sen. Barack Obama, according to a recent poll.

For the first time in decades, Democrats outnumber Republicans in Pennsylvania's Montgomery and Bucks counties. And Democrats and independents, grouped together, now outnumber Republicans in the two remaining suburban counties of the Philadelphia region: Chester and Delaware.

... Democrats increased their party enrollment in 99 percent of the zip codes in the region, while the number of Republicans declined in 92 percent.

... Both Clinton and Obama worked hard before the primary registration deadline on March 24 to sign up voters apt to favor them.

A recent Keystone Poll of Pennsylvania voters, conducted by Franklin and Marshall College, found that 62 percent of Democrats who registered statewide within the last three months planned to vote for Obama.

From the Pocono Record:



Barack Obama . . . is rockin' the youth vote.

It's not only that young voters like Obama; they are actively involved in his campaign.

Meet Ryan Jameson, a senior at Delaware Valley High School and the 18-year-old chairman of Pike for Obama.

Jameson took it seriously when one of his teachers encouraged the class to look carefully at the candidates. He read up on the issues, watched the debates, traveled to hear Obama and worked with Obama volunteers.

Jameson's efforts were noticed and the state party chose him to head the Pike County office.

... Pike for Obama started a few months ago in a supporter's house with about eight people. Now, days before the primary, it has a headquarters in Milford, about 100 volunteers and roughly $1,000 in the bank. And lots of campaign material that Jameson found on obamacycle.com, a site devoted to recycling campaign staples from previous primaries.

... Still, some people view his efforts as naive, "For those people, I just smile and try to prove them wrong," he said. "The youth shouldn't be taken lightly; they know what's happening and are more educated than people give them credit for."

From the Times Leader:



The more than 2,000 supporters inside the Riverfront Sports Complex in Scranton were getting impatient waiting for their candidate Sunday evening.

But when Sen. Barack Obama finally made his way to the stage, they gave him a resounding welcome.

With hundreds of signs that read "Change We Can Believe In" waving before him and with chants of "O-bam-a" echoing through the building, the delegate leader in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination made his third stop in Northeastern Pennsylvania just two days before the Pennsylvania primary.

As he started his speech, Obama was interrupted by shouts of "We want change," and he gave them what they wanted.

"I know you want change," Obama said. "We want change; we're working for it. I'm comin'."

Caroline Kennedy, daughter of President John F. Kennedy, introduced Obama and compared him to her father.

"Barack Obama instills the same hope and inspiration that my father did to so many Americans," Kennedy said. "Together we can make great things happen for the country."

... "Just the other night I was in Philadelphia with 35,000 of my closest friends," Obama said, referring to his rally in the city in front of Independence Hall. "I thought of the Founding Fathers and how they stood up to the British. They fought for equality, liberty and opportunity.

"You have to decide on Tuesday – do you want the same old politics or do you want to try something else? We have to take back our country – block by block, county by county, state by state. Scranton, this is our time. If we win in Pennsylvania, we will win this nomination and we will win the election and we will change the world."

http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/hqblog

[liberaldem4ever]

1. Great post-happy to K&R

:bounce: :kick:

[thereismore]

2. "I know you want change," Obama said. "We want change; we're working for it. I'm comin'."

:bounce:

[WA98070]

3. Are all of these today's?

[Life Long Dem]

7. Posted this morning on Obama's site

http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/hqblog

[book_worm]

4. more good news: Obama beats McCain by 13-pts in Washington State 53-40

meanwhile Hillary manages to stay just ahead of McCain 48-45.

http://www.surveyusa.com/index.php/2008/04/18/washington-state-obama-leads-mccain-by-13-clinton-leads-mccain-by-3/

[AtomicKitten]

5. "block by block, county by county, state by state"

:thumbsup:

[Scurrilous]

6. K & R

:thumbsup:

[Life Long Dem]

8. Kick

[Bucky]

9. I'd like it to be so, but I dunno. Hasn't Clinton brought out just as many "returning" voters?

I have yet to see a big state where Obama's huge "new voter" outreaches hasn't been countered or even outdone by Clinton's divisive tactics & smear campaign.