Politics News | New West Network

Analysis, Weekend Wrap up

In Montana, Obama, Clinton Give Stage for Western Issues

By Matthew Frank, 4-06-08

	Barack Obama rallies the crowd of 8,000 at the University of Montana's Adams Center in Missoula Saturday morning. "Look at this incredible landscape around you. We've got to pass that on," he said. Photo by Emily Haas

Click here for a slideshow from the Obama rally.

Click here for more photos from Clinton's event.

In the Democratic Party's neck-and-neck nomination battle between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, no state is free from the candidates' courtship.

This weekend Clinton and Obama brought their political celebrity to Montana, a state with a measly 17 delegates at play in its June 3 primary, the country's last.

As Obama said Saturday night, "Every state counts." Whether or not that's actually true of Montana in this race to 2,024 delegates is moot: It was an historic two-day stop by the leaders of a resurgent Democratic Party, one of whom may be the next president of the United States, in a state and in a region in the midst of its own Democratic resurgence.

Both candidates took the opportunity Saturday night in Butte to get into some specific Western topics and throughout the weekend, a few were -- just as many in the region have hoped -- thrust into the national spotlight as defining issues for Westerners: Energy, specifically "clean"coal; Education, especially the No Child Left Behind Act; The environment, including global warming; Indian issues, including education and health; Civil liberties; and labor and the economy.

Beyond that, it was just plain fun to have the circus in town.

The line to get into the University of Montana's Adams Center in Missoula started to form around midnight, and by 8:00 a.m. Saturday the line snaked the width of campus. Shortly after 10:00, after about 8,000 ralliers had packed in, Obama took the stage to a raucous rock-star ovation.

"Some people say I'm too idealistic," Obama said, adding that some say he's too naive. " ... but the odds of me standing here are so slim."

"Nothing ever happened in this country unless somebody was willing to hope," he said. "That's how this country was founded."

It was his signature, well-rehearsed speech, tailored to Montanans -- as all the weekend's speeches would be -- with mentions of fly-fishing, "clean coal," and the "incredible landscape around you." "We've got to pass that on," he said.

	Obama speaks at Saturday night's Mansfield-Metcalf Dinner in Butte. "I know people in Montana -- people out West -- value their civil liberties," he said. Photo by Anne Medley

"There hasn't been anyone like Obama since JFK or Robert Kennedy," said Bob Ogg of Missoula, who woke up at 6:30 a.m. and waited in line with his family wearing a red, white and blue boa. "He's a charismatic speaker and, of course, he represents my views as a Democrat."

Missoula Mayor John Engen, who introduced and endorsed Obama, said with Obama's intelligence, honesty, toughness, wisdom, humility and more, "He could be a Missoulian."

The road to Butte was dotted with Obama and Clinton signs stuck to bumpers and car windows. Outside the Butte Civic Center a group of girls on the street corner held out Hillary signs and screamed her name to passing cars.

The Montana Democratic Party's annual Mansfield-Metcalf Dinner at the Butte Civic Center Saturday night was the weekend's main event. It typically draws about 600 people, but Saturday night 4,000 people -- who snatched up the tickets to the event in 15 minutes -- filled the Butte Civic Center to the rafters for a chance to see Clinton and Obama.

"Tonight we'll hear from two of the most exciting speakers to have been in this building since Lee Metcalf and Mike Mansfield last crossed this threshold," party Chairman Dennis McDonald said. "Thanks for coming and welcome to the richest hill on earth -- not because of the minerals underground but the people on the ground and here tonight."

Butte was the appropriate locale, a mining town with a strong union tradition, perhaps the place where Democratic ideals first took root in the West, as Clinton would say later in the evening.

Sen. Obama spoke first, greeted again by deafening cheers. He said Montanans showed wisdom when they sent Max Baucus to the Senate. He made fun of Sen. Jon Tester's flattop. He said Gov. Brian Schweitzer should have his own talk show. And he launched into a condensed version of the speech he had given in Missoula, including a broad criticism of the Bush administration.

"We have real enemies out there, but we need to break this fever of fear," Obama said. "We have to stop using terrorism as an excuse to undermine the Constitution. I know people in Montana -- people out West -- value their civil liberties."

	Hillary Clinton speaks at the Mansfield-Metcalf Dinner in Butte Saturday night. "Who said there aren't a lot of Democrats in Montana?" she said. Photo by Anne Medley

Obama mentioned his victories in earlier primaries and caucuses in the Mountain West states of Idaho, Colorado, Wyoming, and Utah, and surely expects, and rightly, a similar outcome in Montana.

At one point the crowd burst into an "O-Bam-A" chant. And toward the end of his speech the boisterous crowd drowned out even Obama's booming crescendos.

"Boy-howdy, we're having fun tonight in Butte, right?" Gov. Brian Schweitzer, known well for his down-home Montana shtick, said after Obama's speech. "The eyes of the world are on Montana…Butte America will choose the next president of the United States!"

Sen. Clinton took the stage a bit after 9:00 p.m. "Who said there aren't a lot of Democrats in Montana?" she said. "The only party in Butte that's better than St. Patrick's Day is the Democratic Party."

It was a solemn, sincere speech that focused on Americans' innate-turned-latent strengths. "There isn't any problem America can't solve…so long as we start acting like Americans again, rolling up our sleeves and working together," instead of falling for Bush's use of "fear to divide us and fatalism to discourage us."

But Clinton proved that it's not just Obama who can rile a crowd when she stated with gusto her vow to "end the unfunded mandate of No Child Left Behind."

It was this sort of crowd reaction that gave insight into what the hot-button issues are for Montanans and Westerners. Obama appeared to hit on one too when he broached Bush's tightening of civil liberties. Both candidates roused the crowds with mentions of Iraq, support for veterans, Native American issues, higher education, America's damaged world reputation.

Obama left Montana Saturday night after the Mansfield-Metcalf Dinner. Clinton traveled to Missoula for a private, high-priced fundraiser Sunday morning and after, a "town hall" meeting at a Missoula airport hangar.

	In a hangar at the Missoula International Airport Sunday, Clinton said, "I'm offering myself as a fighter for America, because I think America is worth fighting for." Photo by Emily Haas

Clinton spoke to a crowd of about 1,800 intent on listening to her nuanced policy recommendations. The intimate setting clearly caters to her strengths, just as the arena rallies play to Obama's.

"I'm offering myself as a fighter for America, because I think America is worth fighting for," she said, with a shiny airplane and two helicopters as her backdrop.

Cindy Wilcox, a retired elementary school teacher, clapped and stood on her tip-toes as Clinton walked to the stage in her red high heels.

"I really appreciate the fact that [Clinton] and her husband brought attention to children's issues," Wilcox said. "Education seems to be on the backburner for those other two candidates, but Clinton really seems to care about it."

Clinton said she's committed to helping students pay for higher education. "Students can't afford to start, continue or complete their education," she said. "It used to be that you invested in young people."

On Iraq, Clinton said, "Our men and women in uniform did everything they were asked to do…That's why it's time to bring our sons and daughters home." Taking care of veterans once they return home is just as important, she said.

And on the economy Clinton urged middle class tax breaks. During the campaign some have criticized policies of the 1990s, and she asked, "Which part of the '90s didn't they like, the peace or the prosperity?"

After fielding a few questions from the audience, Clinton said farewell to Missoula, to Montana, and was ushered out, marking the end of our unlikely hour in the limelight -- for now.

With the race being this close, and Montana's primary still a long eight weeks away, one wonders if either or both candidates will come back to woo more voters in the Big Sky State.

"We may have to come back to Missoula, there's no doubt about it," Obama said Saturday.

And Clinton agreed: "I've been here many times before and it's never enough."


Dillon Tabish contributed reporting

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