Quick Update on First Event of the Weekend
Obama Packs Missoula Stadium, Calls for “Profound Change”
By Courtney Lowery, 4-05-08
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| Photo by Emily Haas. Click here or on the photo above for more images from the rally. | |
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UPDATE: Click here for a fuller report from the rally and here for a slideshow of photos before, during and after the rally.
More than 8,000 turned out this morning at the University of Montana in Missoula to see Sen. Barack Obama—the first event of a packed weekend of presidential campaigning in Montana.
Hundreds (best estimate) of the people who didn’t get into the Adams Center were taken to the football stadium, where they got a video feed from the rally and a quick stop from Obama after his Adams Center appearance. When we arrived at 7:30 a.m. or so, the line into the stadium zig-zagged the entire width of the south end of campus.
While rally-goers were supposed to have print-outs of email tickets from an online RSVP for the event, some of the “tickets” were just print outs of forwarded emails and ticket takers were not checking IDs at the door, so there’s no telling who got in with one of the some 7,700 legitimate tickets “sold” Thursday morning and who got in with other tickets.
Most of the stadium was filled in by 9:30 a.m., and Obama took the stage a few minutes after 10. He finished almost exactly an hour later. In between, he brought the Missoula crowd (he said he liked saying “Missoula") to its feet several times—the biggest applauses coming at his comments on his stance against lobbying and his take on the economy, labor and education. By my internal “applause-o-meter” he got the biggest reaction when he said, obviously pointed at opponent Hillary Clinton, that America didn’t need someone in the White House who knew how to play the games in Washington. “We need to put an end to the game playing in Washington,” he said to a boisterous crowd.
He also got a big reaction when talking about labor and the economy and his plans to begin building up the nation’s infrastructure again, saying if the U.S. can spend billions of dollars in Baghdad, “we can spend a little bit of money right here in Missoula.”
He mostly hit on his main talking points, including health care, education, the economy, global warming, foreign policy and energy, but threw in a few somewhat token Montana-specific references along with way. He mentioned the regulars: Fly-fishing, coal, education on the reservations and of course, the scenery.
“We may have to come back to Missoula,” he said.
Toward the end of his speech, Obama took aim at his opponents, Sen. John McCain and Clinton, again boasting that he, and he alone, opposed the “unwise” war in Iraq.
“They had their chance and they made the wrong choice,” he said.
Change, he said, needs to come to Washington and while he promised come November, despite the back and forth between him and Hillary, Democrats will be united, he said he doesn’t think Clinton “knows how profound we have to change Washington.”
We’ll have a full report on the rally from Dillon Tabish shortly and a full photo gallery soon from Emily Haas and Photo Editor Anne Medley. And stay tuned tonight for live blogging and lots of photos from Obama’s appearance with Hillary Clinton in Butte at the state Democrats’ annual Mansfield-Metcalf dinner.
Update: The Bresnan Cable Network will be airing the Mansfield-Metcalf Dinner live in 4 Montana markets:
Billings - Chanel 70
Bozeman - Chanel 63
Helena - Chanel 19
Missoula - Chanel 67
The event will be begin at 6 p.m.
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Comments
The youth are sick and tired of racism, sexism, and WAR on one hand and no good jobs, too costly colleges and books and health care on the other hand. Mr.Obama’s leadership skills are making the youth feel apart of the future of America. Join the campaign for change because it can go far beyond Mr. Obama. Do not let old fashion biases about people looks, how they pray, their heritage and all the useless gossip drive our future back into despair. CHANGE with Obama and our youth!
It's one of the greatest I have ever heard! Worth a listen.
OBAMA & His Cousin President Odinga of Kenya
I would like to know when the msm is going to address of OBAMA's involvement and support of RAILA ODINGA -the co-President of Kenya?
ODINGA was set up in the oil business by Muammar Quaddafi (no, I'm not kidding), was educated in Communist East Germany, named his first child "Fidel" (yeah, really) and when he and his followers disputed the election they torched a church with 100 christian woman & children inside--burning them alive. Odinga's followers continued to engage in "clear ethnic cleansing" according to US Envoy Jendayi Frazer. Perhaps most troubling is Odinga's links to Islamic extremists. On 8/29/07 Odinga signed a secret agreement (exposed 11/27) with Sheikh Abdullah Abdi in which he agreed to institute Islamic law in exchange for Abdi's support--thereby potentially enslaving millions of Kenyan women.
OBAMA campaigned for ODINGA ("your agent for change"-sound familiar) in August 2006--to such a degree that the Opposition called him Odinga's "stooge"
Read for yourself:
http://eakenya.org/newsevents/article.htm?id=8
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7176683.stm
http://www.thestar.com/News/World/article/290390
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=57363
http://africanpress.wordpress.com/2007/04/26/how-rich-is-raila-the-odm-kenya-presidential-aspirant/
WONDER WHAT THE REPUBLICANS WILL MAKE OUT OF THAT?
SURELY THAT"s BETTER THAN NOT WEARING A LAPEL PIN?
YA THINK?
Odinga's an al Qaeda oil billionaire
How Raila Made His Billions: The New York Sun http://www.nysun.com/comments/54865
, as well as raking in half a million Shillings via Qadaffi.
Odinga says he's Obama's cousin as per the BBC. But it doesn't matter: WHY WOULD OBAMA CAMPAIGN FOR THUG MURDERER TERRORIST ODINGA especially on a taxpayer paid trip to Kenya?
Tom Dashle is on the board of BP and is also on the board of Obama's campaign.
Since Obama's cousin is a billionaire do you think he will give us gas for 30 cents a gallon if he becomes President? It's the least he can do due to the price gouging we have been taking for the last seven years.