From the Billings Gazette:

[Barack Obama] told the packed venue of 3,000 that he was running for what Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. called "the fierce urgency of the now."

"We're at a defining moment of history, at two wars, one against al-Qaida in Afghanistan. We're also involved in a war that I believe should have never been authorized and never been waged, the war in Iraq."

The crowd, which had formed a line for entry more than two hours before Obama spoke, roared with agreement.

The first presidential candidate of either party to visit Billings this year, Obama spent half of his hourlong appearance answering questions from onlookers such as 13-year-old Damus Ard, who wanted to know what Obama would do as president to boost the economy on American Indian reservations.

Recognizing the sensitive politics of tribal sovereignty, Obama prefaced his answer by saying that any federal help offered to the tribes would have to be negotiated between governments. He then said the Bureau of Indian Affairs needed to work with other federal government agencies to provide high-quality housing on American Indian reservations. The candidate also tackled Indian health care, which he said was terrible and increasingly underfunded.

Health care in general was a recurring theme of the Obama event. When one local business owner said she now paid $1,700 a month insuring herself and three employees, Obama said he planned to lower premiums by shifting the burden of catastrophic illness coverage onto the government. But he also called for insurance industry reforms to be made by Congress, openly, on C-SPAN, so Americans could scrutinize any deals brokered between their lawmakers and the health insurance lobby.

"The health insurance system will bankrupt America if we don't get a handle on the costs," Obama said.

But the candidate's call for "doing the public's business in public" didn't end with televised health care reform. Obama said he would put an end to presidential signing statements. The statements are something like a footnote by the president expressing his intention not to enforce legislation signed by Congress. President Bush has issued more than 150 signing statements in nearly eight years.

The candidate also said he would not allow members of his staff to lobby for past employers or to return to the White House as lobbyists after leaving his staff.

... With just four primary races left, including Montana's on June 3, Obama zeroed in on Arizona Sen. John McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.

... "Whatever happens in November, the name George Bush isn't going to be on the ballot, and that means we've got to make sure Mr. Bush's policies aren't on the ballot," Obama said. "I respect and honor John McCain's service to our country. He's a respected war hero, but John McCain has decided to run for George Bush's third term." 

From the Los Angeles Times:

Sen. Barack Obama, campaigning on an Indian reservation in Montana today for the Big Sky State's June 3 Democratic primary, got a new name and necklaces for each of his wives.

Stopping at a park in Crow Agency, Mont., he became the first presidential candidate to visit and address the tribe, which adopted him as an honorary member. As drums drummed and tribal members ululated, the Illinois senator was guided by his new tribal "parents" and named "One who helps people throughout the land."

With The Times' Nicholas Riccardi watching, the tribal chairman gave Obama several beaded necklaces "for your wives."

“I only have one wife,” the candidate hastened to add. “I don’t want to get in trouble when I get home. I can have new parents, but no new wives.”

... Obama pledged to appoint a senior advisor on Indian affairs and hold an annual meeting with tribal leaders. Audience members in tribal headdresses, robes, jeans and cowboy hats cheered wildly as he also promised to improve services from the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

He ended his short talk with on an unusual personal note, speaking of growing up as one of the few black youths in Hawaii. “I was looked at as something of an outsider," Obama recalled. "So I know what it’s like to be on the outside. I know what it's like to not always be respected or be ignored.

“A lot of the times you feel like you've been forgotten, like African Americans have been forgotten or other groups in this country feel forgotten,” Obama told the crowd.

“I want you to know: I will never forget you….That’s the commitment we’re making to you and now that I’m a member of the family, you know I won't break my commitment to my brothers and sisters.”