From the Associated Press:
Barack Obama urged hundreds of thousands of supporters Monday to donate to the Red Cross to help victims of Hurricane Gustav. The Democratic presidential nominee scaled back Labor Day speeches to unions in an effort to keep the focus on the Gulf Coast. Obama planned to finish his campaign schedule Monday with stops in Michigan and Wisconsin, two battleground states the campaign views as possible wins, before heading home to Chicago to monitor the hurricane situation and decide his schedule for the rest of the week. "Instead of a speech, what I'd like to do is to ask all of us join in some silent prayer for all those Americans who are spending this Labor Day in a shelter waiting for another storm to pass," Obama said at an outdoor rally in the shadow of General Motors' headquarters. … "There's a time for us to argue politics, but there's a time for us to come together as Americans," Obama said. … In his brief remarks in Detroit, Obama praised organized labor, which typically works on behalf of Democratic candidates. "The idea behind the labor movement is that you don't walk alone. You're not by yourself. And each of us are vulnerable by ourselves. Each of us are subject to tragedy and disaster," Obama said. … During an evening labor rally in Milwaukee, he repeated his appeal for Gustav donations through the Red Cross. "What makes us great is that we rise and fall as one nation," Obama said. "The spirit that we extend today and in the days to come ... that's a spirit we've got to carry with us every day."
From Reuters:
Democratic vice presidential nominee Joe Biden told his boyhood companions that Barack Obama would have been one of their friends, if he had been around when they were growing up. “This guy gets it,” Biden, 65, said of his 47-year-old running mate. … Biden made the comments on a campaign visit to his childhood home in Scranton, Pennsylvania, a blue collar city in a state central to his and Obama’s run for the White House. He described his old and predominately white neighborhood, known as Green Ridge, as a patriotic place where a person’s word was his bond and people stood up for what they believed in. “I promise you. If Barack had been born here, he would have been our friend,” said Biden, a U.S. senator from Delaware since 1973. “He’d cover your back.” Under blue skies and a bright sun, Biden sat in the shade of a big tree in his old backyard with his mother, Jean, 90, and scores of old friends and neighbors and supporters. He quoted his late father, Joseph, a former car salesman, as saying, “the measure of success is not whether you get knocked down. It is how quickly you get up.” Biden and his family moved from Scranton to Wilmington, Delaware, in 1953. He is affectionately referred to as “Pennsylvania’s third senator” for repeatedly helping out the state during 35 years in the U.S. Senate. Among those who greeted Biden in Scranton was Jimmy Kennedy, 68, a friend since grade school. “He was a scrappy kid and when he got knocked down he jumped right back up,” recalled Kennedy, who is now a judge. “He was little and scrawny and people would ask when we played football iin the alley, ‘Why would you pick him?’ I told ‘em,’ You’ll soon find out.’ He was the toughest kid out there.”
From the Detroit Free Press:
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama took his Labor Day message this afternoon to a picnic hosted by Plumbers and Pipefitters Local 671 attended by a little more than 200 people. Obama began speaking a little after 1:15 p.m., telling the audience that he was again going to shorten his speech in light of Hurricane Gustav, just as he did earlier in Detroit. He championed the labor movement saying "if it had not been for organized labor America wouldn't have the middle class that we know. " Referring to Hurricane Gustav, Obama said "in times like these it's a reminder that with all our differences, we are one America. " He called the hard economic times in Michigan "a quiet storm ... not all storms get on TV, but they're there. " "This is probably one of the best Labor Days I've had in 20 years," said Rory Gamble, region 1A UAW director, referring to the Detroit turnout earlier today and Obama's stop in Monroe. "His message engages everyone, " said Gamble, who just returned from Denver where he was a superdelegate at the Democratic National Convention. One of the more interesting guests today was James Cline, 21, of Toledo. A registered Republican, Cline is crossing party lines to vote for Obama because he doesn't agree with the way the Republicans have run the country for the last eight years. Obama "offers America the change that we do need. ... Obama, hands down, is the best choice for our nation," Cline said.
From the USA Today:
Barack Obama kept his campaign schedule but limited the political rhetoric Monday, urging audiences at a series of Labor Day festivities to focus on helping Hurricane Gustav's victims. "This is one of those moments where you go above politics," the Democratic presidential nominee told about 300 people picnicking outside the Plumbers and Pipefitters Local 671 union hall here. "For all of our differences, we are one America," he said. Obama consulted with Federal Emergency Management Agency and Louisiana officials about the storm's movements. He also mobilized his volunteers to help with relief operations. The Obama campaign sent e-mails and text messages to supporters urging them to donate to the Red Cross. Obama's Virginia campaign said its 35 offices throughout the state would serve as staging areas for relief supplies. … He managed to get across some political points despite cutting his stump speeches. Obama told crowds in this state with powerful labor unions that "it is important to have a president who doesn't choke on the word 'union,' " and the hurricane assistance effort embodied the sprit of the labor movement. "The idea of the labor movement is that you don't walk alone," Obama said.
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