Barack Obama attracted 100,000 people at a Saturday rally here, his biggest crowd ever at a U.S. event.
The crowd assembled under the Gateway Arch on a sunny Saturday afternoon to hear Obama speak about taxes and slam the Republicans on economic issues.
Lt. Samuel Dotson of the St. Louis Police Department confirmed the number of attendees piled into the grassy lawn by the Mississippi River.
To be sure, big crowds don’t always signal a big turnout on Election Day. But Obama’s ability to draw his largest audience yet in a typically red state that just weeks ago looked out of reach, could signal a changing electoral map.
For months Missouri polls put Obama as much as ten percentage points behind Republican John McCain. It was widely believed that McCain’s pick of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate would have won over the state’s conservatives and boosted his chances there. So far, that hasn’t happened.
A Rasmussen poll released on Friday shows Obama leading in Missouri 52% to 46% for McCain.
Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill had harsh words for Palin when she introduced Obama on Saturday. Referring to comments Palin made earlier this week in North Carolina about “pro-America” states, McCaskill said “We have reached a new low in America politics when a candidate dares to say that one part of America is pro-America and another part is anti-America.”
She also took a dig at McCain for selecting a vice presidential nominee with limited experience. “One [candidate] picked one of the strongest candidates for vice president he could’ve picked in the United States and well, the other didn’t.”
Recognizing that big rallies don’t always result in cast ballots, the Obama campaign has dispatched thousands of field organizers and volunteers to Missouri to knock on doors in a statewide get out the vote effort.
So Lets Get Out There And Get The People To The Polls...
I would just like to congratulate Sen. Barack Obama on his victory in clinching the Democratic Presidential Nominee. It was a long hard fight but I knew Sen. Obama would be the victor in the competition. I have not seen a presidential hopeful that I am willing to support 100% like him. Sen. Obama has the most sensible solutions and plans to fix the problems that face America today. Because of his charisma, honesty, dignity, integrity and willingness to listen to the American people, he has earned my undivided attention and great respect. I have not seen the qualities, I see in Sen. Obama, in any other presidential hopefuls in any 2 of the elections I have been able to vote in since I have been the legal age to vote. I didn't used to get too involved in politics until I enlisted in the Air Force and even after that I didn't get too involved until now. Sen. Obama has drawn me closer to politics and has made me want to get more involved in his campaign for the White House. Being a disabled veteran is also another reason I support Sen. Obama. His record for his work for veterans is very impressive and gains my support even more.
All around I side with Sen. Obama on his outlooks and views with just about everything. There has been no other Presidential hopeful in this primary season that I agree with, or respect, more than Sen. Obama. There are a few issues I would like to discuss with Sen. Obama but I do support him 100%.
CHANGE WE CAN BELIEVE IN!!! Go PRESIDENT Obama!!!
Friday 16 May 2008
Watertown, South Dakota - Senator Barack Obama on Friday criticized Senator John McCain, his potential rival for the presidency, and President George W. Bush for what he called "dishonest and divisive" attacks in hinting that he would appease terrorists.
Obama responded strongly Friday to the comments Bush made in Israel on Thursday and to McCain's subsequent words. At a town hall meeting here, Obama said: "That's the kind of hypocrisy that we've been seeing in our foreign policy, the kind of fear-peddling, fear-mongering that has prevented us from actually making us safer."
Obama said McCain had a "naïve and irresponsible belief that tough talk from Washington will somehow cause Iran to give up its nuclear program and support for terrorism."
Other Democrats also accused McCain of hypocrisy, saying the presumptive Republican nominee had previously been willing to negotiate with the militant Palestinian group Hamas.
In an op-ed published Friday in The Washington Post, James Rubin, a former State Department official from the Clinton administration, said McCain, responding to a question in a television interview two years ago about whether U.S. diplomats should be working with the Hamas government in Gaza, said:
"They're the government; sooner or later we are going to have to deal with them, one way or another, and I understand why this administration and previous administrations had such antipathy toward Hamas because of their dedication to violence and the things that they not only espouse but practice." He added: "But it's a new reality in the Middle East. I think the lesson is people want security and a decent life and decent future, that they want democracy. Fatah was not giving them that."
Rubin, who interviewed McCain for the British network Sky News, said McCain was "guilty of hypocrisy" and accused him of "smearing" Obama. On Thursday, McCain suggested that Obama was naïve and inexperienced for expressing a willingness to meet with leaders like President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran.
In Charleston, West Virginia, speaking before Obama's speech, McCain said Friday, "I made it very clear, at that time, before and after, that we will not negotiate with terrorist organizations, that Hamas would have to abandon their terrorism, their advocacy to the extermination of the state of Israel, and be willing to negotiate in a way that recognizes the right of the state of Israel and abandons their terrorist position and advocacy."
He then contended that Obama wanted to "sit down and negotiate with a government exporting most lethal devices used against soldiers."
McCain continued: "He wants to sit down face to face with a government that is very clear about developing nuclear weapons. They are sponsors of terrorist organizations. That's a huge difference in my opinion. And I'll let the American people decide whether that's a significant difference or not. I believe it is."
The chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Joseph Biden, Democrat of Delaware, said in an interview with CNN on Friday that the Bush administration had negotiated with North Korea and Libya.
"This is pure hypocrisy," Biden said. "But the worst part about it is, think how it falls on the ears in capitals of Europe and the rest of the world and Toyko when the president of the United States says under no condition will we talk to anybody like that, and John McCain, the nominee for the Republican Party, who may very well be president of the United States, is saying the same thing."
Watertown, South Dakota - Democratic presidential front-runner Barack Obama said on Friday President George W. Bush's "failed policies" had strengthened U.S. enemies like Iran and Hamas.
Responding to Bush's comment on Thursday that those who want to talk to Iran were like Nazi appeasers before the Second World War, Obama accused Bush of "exactly the kind of appalling attack that's divided the country and that alienates us from the world."
Obama also challenged Bush and Republican presidential rival John McCain to a debate on foreign policy issues, a day after Bush caused outrage among Democrats with his remarks on appeasement before the Israeli parliament.
McCain, who has clinched his party's presidential nomination, did not repeat the word "appeasement" on Thursday. But he did criticize Obama's pledge to speak directly to U.S. foes, particularly Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. He said Obama needs to explain why he would talk to him.
"If George Bush and John McCain want to have a debate about protecting the United States of America, that is a debate that I'm happy to have any time, any place, and that is a debate that I will win because George Bush and John McCain have a lot to answer for," Obama said in a campaign speech in South Dakota.
"They've got to answer for the fact that Iran is the greatest strategic beneficiary of our invasion of Iraq. It made Iran stronger, George Bush's policies," he said.
"They're going to have to explain why Hamas now controls Gaza, Hamas that was strengthened because the United States insisted that we should have democratic elections in the Palestinian Authority."
"That's the Bush-McCain record on protecting this country," he added. "Those are the failed policies that John McCain wants to double down on."
A cousin of mine in the St. Louis area just forwarded me this link to a January article in the St. Petersburg Times online. It contains a table comparing Senator Obama's experience with that of other previous presidents. It compares Sen. Obama with the top 10 and bottom 10 former presidents, relative to experience. Senator Obama fares rather well in the lineup.
As another tool for use in our talking points, I offer it below. (Click the link to view the table.):
Politics
Presidential experience
By TIMES STAFF Published January 17, 2007
Voters say they want experienced presidents, but it’s a difficult thing to quantify. Here are the top 10 and bottom 10 presidents by years of experience as a governor, in Congress, in a state legislature or as vice president when first elected. Nineteen of the 43 presidents had more experience than Barack Obama would have if he were elected in 2008. This chart does not include other elected offices or military experience.
http://www.sptimes.com/2007/01/17/Worldandnation/Presidential_experien.shtml Source: Facts about the Presidents, sixth edition, by Joseph Kane Compiled by Times researcher Angie Drobnic Holan
[Last modified January 18, 2007, 13:06:59]
http://www.sptimes.com/2007/01/17/Worldandnation/Presidential_experien.shtml
Voters say they want experienced presidents, but it’s a difficult thing to quantify. Here are the top 10 and bottom 10 presidents by years of experience as a governor, in Congress, in a state legislature or as vice president when first elected. Nineteen of the 43 presidents had more experience than Barack Obama would have if he were elected in 2008. This chart does not include other elected offices or military experience.Source: Facts about the Presidents, sixth edition, by Joseph Kane Compiled by Times researcher Angie Drobnic Holan
A longtime friend of mine in Wisconsin shared the following with me. The online publication "The Slate" (2008 Washington Post. Newsweek Interactive Co. LLC) published an article on Saturday 1/26 regarding Sen. Obama's trouncing of Sen. Hillary Clinton in South Carolina. Take a look, as it's worth a read:
http://www.slate.com/id/2182902
John Dickerson is Slate's chief political correspondent and author of On Her Trail. He can be reached at slatepolitics@gmail.com.
Democratic presidential candidate, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., right, responds to a question as Mimi Vitello listens Wednesday, Jan. 16, 2008, in the Van Nuys section of Los Angeles. Obama, who is campaigning in California Wednesday and Thursday, was at the home of Vitello to hold a roundtable discussion on economic opportunity. (AP Photo/Ric Francis) Related News * America’s elections II: The polls and the pundits were all wrong Manila Bulletin - Jan 16, 2008 * Will Democracy Survive the Pundits? Yahoo! News - Jan 15, 2008 * Another Take ABC News - Jan 15, 2008 Full coverage »
This New York Post Jan. 15 piece, written by Dick Morris & Eileen McGann, speaks for itself ...
Andrew Sullivan's well-written analysis of Why Sen. Obama is the Ronald Reagan for Democrats ...
The media is finally recognizing what I've known all along: Authenticity Matters.
Watch this video clip of undecided N.H. voters, the majority which felt Obama was stronger in the N.H. presidential debate than Clinton
Seventy percent of Iowa Democrats vote against Sen. Clinton, while Sen. Obama wins Iowa ...
I will simply let it speak for itself and bold portions I find particularly poignant ...
One of the great things about the Barack Obama campaign experience has been the huge outpouring of grassroots support. One would be challenged to recall a political environment so exciting, so early, in a presidential election race that is more vibrant than what we have all seen associated with Obama supporters.
I was contacted this afternoon requesting that I broadcast some information of another grassroots organization that will be making a special trip to Iowa to canvass strategic neighborhoods. While I was not aware that the official Obama for America team was working in any conjuction with an official "Kansas City for Obama Executive Committee," we are all in this for the same mission.
Kansas City for Obama is organizing a trip to Iowa the weekend of July 28th. With Iowa being one of the most important states before Super Tuesday (February 5, 2008), we need to make sure that there is a strong Missouri and Kansas presence in Iowa for Senator Obama. We are taking volunteers to Iowa to canvass neighborhoods for the weekend. Kansas City for Obama is working directly with Obama for America. Organizing trips to Iowa is what the national campaign headquarters has asked Missouri and Kansas to focus on, and they have provided us with critical communities that we will visit over the July 28th, 2007 weekend. The Plan: We will leave here on Friday night in personal vehicles and meet up with certain campaign staff and other volunteers in Iowa. They will provide us with local information, volunteer training, and other things we should be aware of before we go out canvassing. Then on Saturday and Sunday we will canvass, canvass, canvass. We will return to Kansas City on Sunday evening. While in Iowa, Kansas City for Obama will make arrangements for modest lodging. If you can go on this mission: Please reply back to this email with the following information before Friday, July 20, 2007… 1) The first and last name(s) of those who can attend 2) Please indicate how much experience you have canvassing When we go canvassing, we will try to pair up those who have canvassing experience with those who do not. If you cannot go on this mission, but would like to financially assist someone else: Please reply back to this email with the following information… 1) Your first and last name 2) How much you can contribute to help out with gasoline, food, and possible lodging expenses
Kansas City for Obama is organizing a trip to Iowa the weekend of July 28th. With Iowa being one of the most important states before Super Tuesday (February 5, 2008), we need to make sure that there is a strong Missouri and Kansas presence in Iowa for Senator Obama.
We are taking volunteers to Iowa to canvass neighborhoods for the weekend. Kansas City for Obama is working directly with Obama for America. Organizing trips to Iowa is what the national campaign headquarters has asked Missouri and Kansas to focus on, and they have provided us with critical communities that we will visit over the July 28th, 2007 weekend.
The Plan: We will leave here on Friday night in personal vehicles and meet up with certain campaign staff and other volunteers in Iowa. They will provide us with local information, volunteer training, and other things we should be aware of before we go out canvassing. Then on Saturday and Sunday we will canvass, canvass, canvass. We will return to Kansas City on Sunday evening. While in Iowa, Kansas City for Obama will make arrangements for modest lodging.
If you can go on this mission: Please reply back to this email with the following information before Friday, July 20, 2007… 1) The first and last name(s) of those who can attend 2) Please indicate how much experience you have canvassing When we go canvassing, we will try to pair up those who have canvassing experience with those who do not.
If you cannot go on this mission, but would like to financially assist someone else: Please reply back to this email with the following information… 1) Your first and last name 2) How much you can contribute to help out with gasoline, food, and possible lodging expenses
Again, if you're interested...please email kansascityforobama@yahoo.com
