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From the Flathead Beacon:
Gov. Brian Schweitzer enthusiastically welcomed Barack Obama to Montana for a parade and "family" picnic on Friday, and predicted the Democratic presidential candidate will carry the state in November.
Obama watched Butte's Fourth of July parade with his family, before hosting a free picnic for supporters. Obama is making history by waging a fight with Republican John McCain for Montana's three electoral votes. The state has mostly been ignored in past presidential contests.
Obama pitched a message of independence — including freedom from oil companies and drug companies — to the crowd. Because of security concerns he did not walk in the Butte parade, a traditional stop for state Democrats.
...Obama's appearance Friday in Montana marked his fourth visit to the state during his campaign. Schweitzer said that alone probably is enough to push him over McCain, who has not set up a campaign operation in the state.
Schweitzer and Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., stood on stage at a picnic of some 2,000 and introduced Obama.
"He is going to win in Montana because he has already been in Montana more than anybody who has run for president in 50 years," Schweitzer told reporters.
Montana is tough territory for Democratic presidential candidates. Only two have carried the state since 1948.
But Schweitzer said Montanans are libertarian thinkers and Obama has a chance to sway them.
"We don't like the Republican version of telling us what to do, we don't like the Democratic version of telling us what to do," Schweitzer said.
Obama gave a...speech before a crowd that gathered at Montana Tech to eat hamburgers and hot dogs with him.
"I don't want to spoil a good July Fourth picnic with a long speech," he said.
Obama decried the country's reliance on foreign oil and said the current energy policy hampers families confronted with high fuel prices. He criticized health-care systems and pitched his message of change.
"That's the kind of independence we need to declare today," Obama said. "Most of all we need to declare independence from a foreign policy that has not made us safer, but has diminished our standing around the world."
Butte, a Democratic stronghold in Montana, ate up its chance to see a presidential candidate at the city's parade. A Republican float was met with a chant of "Obama."
Officials estimated a crowd perhaps twice the usual size.
Sharon Chebul of Butte said she had never seen anything like it.
"It's telling us that even our little towns like Butte mean something," she said. "We can make a difference."
Obama planned to spend Friday night in Montana, after a stay Thursday night in a Butte hotel. He was scheduled to leave the state on Saturday.
Schweitzer said he does not expect Obama to return — even though Democrats would love to see him at the party's summer convention in Miles City — because the presidential candidates will have to visit other places.
"How hard do you work for three" electoral votes? Schweitzer asked. "He's probably overspent his time in Montana."
From the Helena Independent Record:
Sabrina Holland, 25, isn’t typically an early riser.
“I am today,” said Holland, who at 5:10 a.m. Thursday was the first person in line for tickets to an Independ-ence Day picnic with Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama.
“I’m a Republican,” Holland said. “I’m here (to get tickets) for friends and to see what we’re up against.”
This week, Montana’s Obama for America cam-paign announced not only that the candidate would spend the Fourth of July in Butte, but also that he’d be the featured guest at a public picnic Friday at the practice field south of the Montana Tech HPER Complex.
News spread throughout the community Wednesday night and Thursday morning that a limited number of tickets to the picnic would be available at the Venus Rising Espresso House at 124 S. Main St. beginning at 7:30 a.m.
Behind Holland, Democrat Rob Fleming, 40, was second in line.
“I was here at four and nobody was here so I went home,” he said. When he came back a little after 5 a.m. and saw Holland at the door, he got in line.
Like Fleming, Ken Devine, 59, was driving through uptown Butte in the wee hours of the morning, not wanting to miss another chance to see Obama.
“I came by at quarter to three because when they had (the tickets) at the Civic Center I didn’t get any,” he said.
Devine, a self-proclaimed Union Democrat said that he circled back several times before seeing Holland and Fleming and joining them in line shortly after 5 a.m.
Number seven in line was Wende Dwyer, who arrived at 6 a.m. Dwyer is a Butte native who said that she was back in Butte from Fort Worth, Texas for the holiday.
“My boys are 13 and 10 and when you have an opportunity to be part of a move-ment in America that’s so exciting and optimistic I think parents have an obligation to expose (their children) to what’s happening,” she said.
By 7 a.m. the line had extended down to the corner of Mercury Street and for another block and a half. Glenn Bodish, Butte Silver Bow Arts Foundation director, opened the doors to the Venus Rising Espresso House and was busy taking coffee orders from those waiting in line. Bodish said that the Obama campaign had approached the BSBAF about renting the space.
“I think it’s exciting,” he said. “You couldn’t have a better opportunity for the arts foundation.”
Retired teachers Janice and Don Plessas arrived at 7:26 a.m. and took a place at the end of the line. The two had read about the tickets to the picnic in the morning newspaper, put their dogs in the car and drove to the Venus.
“I think it’s remarkable to have a presidential candidate come to Butte,” Don said. The couple said that they had wavered between Obama and Clinton early in the campaign, but agreed that they would be supporting Obama in November.
“I want him as our next president,” Janice said.
The 2,000 available tickets were limited to four per person and scheduled to be available through noon Thursday, but were gone between 10 and 10:15 a.m., said Caleb Weaver, communications director for the Obama campaign in Montana.
“On such short notice, we were thrilled to see such a response,” he said.
From the Missoulian:
The biggest Fourth of July party in Montana was in the Mining City on Friday morning.
Before sunrise, hundreds of people had lined Butte’s Harrison Avenue with folding chairs, determined to claim their spot hours before the city’s most historic parade in recent memory.
U.S. Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama chose to celebrate the national holiday here, with his family. And it was indeed a special day, not only for the nation and Butte, but for Obama’s oldest daughter, Malia, born on the Fourth of July and celebrating her 10th birthday on Friday.
By the parade’s start, thousands of people were on hand for the festivities - and to catch a glimpse of the visiting politician and his family.
Secret Service agents closed the three-block area around Butte’s Civic Center to foot traffic only. That’s where the parade route began, and where Barack and Michelle Obama and their two daughters took in the show, presiding over the grandstands.
Bystanders who wanted to be near the presumptive Democratic nominee and the start of the massive 160-entry parade had to pass through a security check, much like that endured by air travelers.
When Obama arrived and stepped out of an enormous bus, he was greeted with a rowdy “O-BAM-A” chant from the crowd, which quickly provided a hearty rendition of “Happy Birthday” for Malia.
Obama took the offered microphone and, as he walked to the intersection of Civic Center Road and Harrison Avenue, boomed “Hello Butte!”
The candidate, who represents Illinois in the U.S. Senate, didn’t use the opportunity to push his political agenda. Rather, he reminded the crowd that what makes America great isn’t the size of the military, or the size of the economy, or the size of a city’s buildings.
“What makes this country great is the people,” Obama said.
...Said Obama: “I just want to thank you for your great welcome. Happy Fourth of July. Thank you.”
In the area closest to the Obama family, the crowd lining the parade route stood four- to seven-people deep.
Bob and Marlys Krause of Victor spurned Hamilton’s Independence Day parade and woke at 5 a.m. so they could reach Butte by 8 a.m. and catch of glimpse of Obama.
“We really like him,” Marlys Krause said.
“He’s our only hope,” added Bob Krause, a 70-year-old who retired from the log home industry. “We just wanted to see him - and to let him know he has our support.”
Butte-Silver Bow County Attorney Bob McCarthy was in the crowd, with a front-row vantage of the day’s twin celebrities: the annual parade and Obama’s visit.
Said McCarthy: “This is terrific. I’m an Obama supporter. I saw him in April when he was here last and shook his hand. He’s a great man, he’s very perceptive and really concerned about things that are of interest to our country.”
Although Obama’s competition, Hillary Clinton, received Butte’s Democratic primary vote in June, McCarthy is confident the Mining City will turn out in support of Obama in November.
“He’ll do fine here,” McCarthy explained. “He’s a Democrat and this is a Democratic town.”
From the New York Daily News:
On a day pledged to the red, white and blue, Democrat Barack Obama Friday chose to focus on the red.
A red state, that is: Montana.
Obama, with his wife and two daughters, attended an Independence Day parade and picnic in Butte - and celebrated daughter Malia's 10th birthday.
The holiday sojourn in the Western outpost is part of the Obama campaign's avowed strategy of taking the fight to traditionally red states.
Obama has said he doesn't buy that states like Montana and North Dakota, where he also spent time on Thursday, cannot go blue. And his advisers have said that even if Obama cannot ultimately capture such states, he can force Republican John McCain to expend time, energy and money to defend them.
"I think it's a smart move," said David Birdsell of the Baruch College School of Public Affairs, noting that states like Montana have trended Democrat in recent years.
"There's at least an argument to be made that a Democrat who doesn't sound too much like a traditional East Coast liberal...has a shot at one or more of the traditionally Republican Western states," Birdsell said.
Obama's upcoming campaign itinerary includes a number of states where a Democratic victory is hardly guaranteed....
Stops are also planned in North Carolina, Virginia, Missouri, Ohio and Colorado - all states captured by President Bush in 2004.
From the CBS News:
With his family in tow, Barack Obama kicked off the Fourth of July holiday at a parade in downtown Butte. As his black campaign bus rolled up to the site, the crowd cheered and then sang "Happy Birthday" to his eldest daughter, Malia, who turns ten today. The family jumped out of the bus, one by one, including Obama's half sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng. Michelle Obama and the girls were all sporting chic leggings.
...The Obamas later attended a picnic, where Michelle passionately spoke about her husband’s candidacy.
“He is consistent, he is honest, he exactly who he appears to be, he adores his children,” she said, “and the one thing I know, the reason why I’m standing here today is that if he cares have as much for his country as he does about his own children, we’re gonna be just fine.”
With the mountains and American flags has his backdrop, Obama said his candidacy may have been unlikely in any other country.
“I know that there is no other country on earth where I could be standing before you, as somebody who could potentially be the next president of the United States of America.”
He asked the crowd for their support and said, “I promise you that just about four months from now, just about four months from now we will have won Montana, we will have won the general election, and you and I together we are gonna change this country and we are gonna change the world.”
From Reuters:
Democrat Barack Obama mixed presidential politics with parades and barbecue on U.S. Independence Day on Friday, celebrating his daughter's birthday with a picnic and fireworks in Montana.
Obama, concluding a week-long campaign tour focused on values and patriotism, was cheered by crowds as he watched a holiday parade and threw a picnic for supporters in Butte -- a Democratic bastion in a state that normally votes Republican in White House races.
Obama was joined by his wife Michelle and daughters Sasha and Malia, who was celebrating her 10th birthday.
"I finally told her the truth that all these fireworks and stuff are not just for her," Obama said of Malia, who was serenaded with "Happy Birthday" by crowds at the parade and the picnic.
Obama and his family sat in bleachers and watched passing floats and trucks for about an hour in the broiling sun. He apologized for not walking in the parade, a tradition for most U.S. politicians, and blamed his Secret Service protection.
"This is the first parade where I haven't walked. The problem is if we start walking the Secret Service was going to have everybody put their hands up the whole parade route," he said. "We decided that wasn't gonna be much fun for everybody."
Obama later walked along the parade route for about 25 minutes anyway, shaking hands, holding babies -- at one point he took two at a time -- and wishing supporters a happy 4th of July.
"Can't wait for the inaugural parade," Linda Beischel of Helena, who drove to Butte to see Obama, told the Illinois senator.
"It will be fun," Obama replied.
...Obama told supporters at a picnic hosted by his campaign later in the day that battling special interests, forging a policy of energy independence and revitalizing the economy were patriotic endeavors.
He praised the U.S. military for its work in Iraq and Afghanistan and said improving treatment for veterans would be a priority.
"That's how we show, on this 4th of July, our patriotism," he said.