CHESAPEAKE
Sen. Barack Obama brought a boisterous crowd of Hampton Roads supporters to its feet Thursday night by ridiculing his opponent's seeming inability to remember how many homes he owns.
Days before he is to be nominated for president, Obama said the incident shows that Sen. John McCain is out of touch with ordinary Americans.
In an interview this week, the Republican was asked how many homes he and his wife own. McCain said he wasn't sure and would have his staff check. "It turned out to be seven or maybe eight," Obama said, adding that McCain has called the U.S. economy "fundamentally sound."
"I suppose if you've got seven, maybe eight houses, the economy looks fundamentally sound to you," Obama said.
The Democrat then asked: "Are you better off now than you were when George Bush took office? If you are, then you should vote for John McCain. But if you think we can create a better future for ourselves and our children, then I ask you to get out and work for me."
His Chesapeake appearance capped a two-day campaign swing in which Obama vigorously courted Virginia voters but - at least to all outward appearances - he left the state without proposing to Gov. Timothy M. Kaine.
In lavishing so much attention on Virginia, Obama signaled that he intends an all-out battle with McCain for the state's 13 electoral votes despite its 40-year history of supporting Republicans.
But if Obama intends to enlist Kaine's help in delivering the state as his vice presidential running mate, he missed the perfect opportunity Thursday. Kaine, reputed to be on Obama's short list of prospects, appeared with the candidate at a morning campaign stop outside Richmond, but there were no public signs that the two were about to become a team.
The campaign did confirm that Obama and Kaine met privately at the downtown Richmond hotel where Obama stayed Wednesday night.
Many expect Obama's vice presidential pick to join him Saturday at a rally in Springfield, Ill., where the Illinois senator announced his run for the presidency in February 2007.
Thursday night's event in the Oscar Smith High School gym was open to the public, but tickets were snapped up quickly. About half of the gym was reserved for dozens of reporters and photographers. Some 3,000 people were in the audience, and about 500 more were sent to the school auditorium to watch the speech on a monitor after a brief in-person greeting by Obama.
"People were so mad," said Steve Evans, who got a ticket in advance. "It's kind of like going to a rock concert and then they cancel on you. It was a total disappointment."
Clark Stevens, a campaign worker, said the local fire marshal determines how many people can be seated in each venue.
At the outset of his remarks, Obama took off his jacket and rolled up his shirt sleeves. He paced around a small stage, using a hand-held microphone. At the end, he fielded a half-dozen questions from the audience on a variety of topics, from the opium trade in Afghanistan to No Child Left Behind.
In answer to a woman concerned about what she described as an erosion of civil liberties in the Bush administration, Obama promised that within the first 100 days of his administration he will review every Bush executive order and rescind any that are judged to be unconstitutional.
Two hours before Obama was set to speak, Yvonne Leonard of Virginia Beach toted a bag of books by or about the presidential candidate, wishing for a chance at an autograph.
"We'll probably never get this close again," she said, although she plans to try. She's going to Denver next week - without tickets to the Democratic National Convention.
Her red T-shirt read, "I'm fired up." And she was quick to offer reasons why. "What do you want me to talk about first? The price of gas? The price of food? Or my daughter living in Las Vegas where the housing market is in the toilet and about to be flushed? There are some suffering people," she said.
Bernice Weinstein, a 71-year-old retired computer software engineer from Norfolk, strolled into the gymnasium sweating after standing for two hours in the sun.
"I never believed I'd ever hear him in person," said Weinstein, a campaign volunteer. "I believe this country is going to go downhill, downhill, downhill unless Obama is elected. He's made us feel that our government will listen to us. That we will be a part of all the changes. He seriously cares about people, the environment. He will do something to help the economy and stop the war in Iraq. He will do something for wages. He's an honest, decent person who believes in governing by consensus.... This is the most excited I've ever been."
Yardan Shabazz, an English teacher at Indian River High School in Chesapeake and father of two, said he believes Obama will direct more money to education.
Shabazz said above all else, he sees the senator as a man of integrity who will help pull U.S. troops out of Iraq.
Rhonda T. Smith, a planner in Chesapeake, said Obama has a passion that excites her.
"He can relate to ordinary people," she said just after Obama finished speaking. "He is the first politician to really touch me mentally, intellectually, emotionally, and I've been a voter since 1972. His opponent just doesn't know us."
Pilot writers Julian Walker and Warren Fiske contributed to this report.
Bill Sizemore, (757) 446-2276, bill.sizemore@pilotonline.com
Kristin Davis, (757) 222-5208, kristin.davis@pilotonline.com
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One Can Only Laugh
At some of the drivel, words of vitriol & hatred, written by some posters; especially when there is no basis in fact for much of the sludge being passed off as well thought out discourse. You posters accusing Obama of being an intellectual lightweight, have got to be, at the very least, Rhodes Scholars. You that accuse Obama & McCain of not having knowledge of the Constitution; well, there's no reasoning with such an outlandish idea. Obama, being an honor graduate of Harvard Law, had to study, in detail, all of the Constitution. McCain, as a Naval Academy grad, had to do the same. This nation grants free speech. We all can express our opinions, regardless of how smart, stupid, vitriolic, irrelevant or inane they may be. What a great place.
Ok, ok
While I understand I am "nobody" I can still offer you a hand. What I am telling you is that the writers of the article have no hand in censoring your comments.
I think he has the "Obama ear."
Sorry...I couldn't help it.
I did write to Fred
I wrote to Fred S. not to have you blocked but to find out why Bill Sizemore and Kristina Davis have my commets delayed all day. There is no excuse.
ira
"Perhaps you should add some ideas to the thread instead of your posts just telling us who your voting for?"
I owe you nothing. It has been difficut to make my decision, and now that I have I posted the "why" on this blog. If you don't understand that 'why' then that is your problem not mine. To me you are a nobody. Plane and simple!
Thanks
I will check out the links when I get time TR.
Gertz, Fred S. is the main editor if you want ot have me blocked. He actually has a blog requesting info on how to maintain the boards. You can access this blog at:
http://hamptonroads.com/blogs/ask-hr-editors
For the record, I have attacked no one, not even Obama. I have spelled out the "why" in my thinking. Shouting over me and attempting to have me censored is not the most democratic thinking. Perhaps you should add some ideas to the thread instead of your posts just telling us who your voting for? You do it over and over again. Debating ideas will make a difference, not attacking the opposition. This would be politics as usual which I thought we are all sick of hearing. Squashing ideas through censorship is about the most un-American path one could take; don't you think so?
Mary
Mary I respect your opinion, I really do, but I hate being mis-quoted, and I hate verbal attacks. We are all entitled to our opinions, but we don't have to sit here and read how wrong we are because of them. My opinion or anyone else's is just as valid as anyone else's. Just because someone disagree, doesn't make them right and me/us wrong.
I hope you are doing well, Gertz
Ira, Gertz Point, everybody!
You're entitled to your views. I think you should keep on posting them. If anyone doesn't want to read, they can scroll past. They're entitled to that choice.
I thank God we live in a country where we have the right to post on here without fearing a knock at the door! Cheers, MGM, who thinks voters won't be much swayed by rants anyways, so pls try to make your discourse as lucid as possible, realizing some of us are having chemotherapy or something that makes it necessary to read everything twice!!! Smile.
bill sizermore & Kristin Davis
How long are you going to allow the constant posting by Ira Tateu which goes on and on and on with one insult after another attacking everyone on here? Yet, you keep delaying my comments, which are no violation of your guidelines. Dont' you think enough is enough?
enough ira
"My last girlfriend was blonde and my new one is brunette."
If that made sense it would have been worth posting.
You are all over this board, with comment after comment with your rantings of Obama and your praise of McCain. At one point I did consider McCain, but I made my decision to not go for 4 more years of Bush politics. Please keep up your good work, because you are turning people off for their potential vote of McCain. People are getting sick of listening to it.
elections
The upcoming elections are so easy to figure out!
Other than choice for prez., simply vote against all incumbents! Doesn’t make any difference whether you are R/or D. It is the only way” we the people” can put in term limits (which is sorely needed).
here are the benefits:
1. instead of being elected to office and immediately working on their re-election, maybe those elected might actually try to do something for the country the short time they are in office.
2.with just a few years in office, the special interests groups might not feel it is worth all of the big$$$ they can give to a candidate and have he/she obligated to them.
3.this might eliminate the $million plus campaigns knowing they can’t become a life long politician.
4. I am sure there are other benefits and would like to hear other responses
Level the field many ways
Education is this country is, at best, a very uneven proposition and it should be the one place where everyone has a fair shot. Rich communities have great schools and poor communities have bad schools. We either decide to commit to the best educated workforce in the world or we will, as Ira suggests, lose in the global economy. Vouchers are a band aid for a terrible wound. As a country, we need to realize the benefit of a functioning public education system that provides equal educational opportunities across the income spectrum. Similarly, higher education needs to available not only through athletic prowess, charity or debt, but also for all qualified students from across the income spectrum. Median income families cannot afford higher education unless the get scholarships or heavy debt, payable over decades. We need to spread the cost and responsibility of educating our young among all of our citizens. Upfront costs may be high, but the payback will be huge.
Who will judge?
"In answer to a woman concerned about what she described as an erosion of civil liberties in the Bush administration, Obama promised that within the first 100 days of his administration he will review every Bush executive order and rescind any that are judged to be unconstitutional."
This one sentence scares me. I don't pretend to know everything about how our government works. I would hope that only the Supreme Court can decide what's unconstitutional, not Obama.
Ira
"My last girlfriend was blonde and my new one is brunette."
If that made sense it would have been worth posting.
You are all over this board, with comment after comment with your rantings of Obama and your praise of McCain. At one point I did consider McCain, but I made my decision to not go for 4 more years of Bush politics. Please keep up your good work, because you are turning people off for their potential vote of McCain. People are getting sick of listening to it.
Mr. Asner
Can *anyone* fully explain a position in these few lines?
That is why I love it when you guys give us websites to peruse for ourselves. Cheers, MGM
IRA EXPLAN HOW OBAMA IS GOING TO WORSE FOR MIDDLE CLASS
I'm so tired of you not fully explaining a position and then claiming Obama is not articulating substantive issues. Obama is laying out a full position on every issue confronting this nation. A poster has to be right, this McCain surge is based on xenophobic fear and not the issues, otherwise people such as yourself who are chiming in on the polls which are not based on the issues but a racist, classis conditioning would not be affecting the extent to this. I agree with you sir, you are among those who would like to keep true change from happening. If you have your way, nothing will change, Feds can continue to cut interest rates until the pesos is worth more then the dollar, China can own our country and our children are outfitted from birth,with breathing masks to wear around due to an environment that is so toxic that you cannot see in front of you face because we just would not beleive there is anything but fossil fuels to powr our need for energy. Meanwhile, Israel is wiped off the face of the earth because so much power has shifted over to the middle-east that oil barons control our existance.
No worries
Obama, since he is a Democrat and therefore not a Republican, will save us from ourselves and 8yrs of GWB. He is the messiah. Prepare for the coronation.
Lowell "The Hammer" Stanley has more integrity than McCain.
I kid!
Sure
"so if there is a chance, even a small chance, we can get this country turned around, then I am willing to give him my vote. No one, and I mean no one, can be any worse than George Bush. My decision as finally been made."
My last girlfriend was blonde and my new one is brunette.
"At least Obama is a constitutional scholar, that leaves me with some hope the the people may have some stake in their future."
So is Lowell "The Hammer" Stanley
"service workers who can't afford to live in the city where they work."
I think your wish for a level playing field is going to be tough. We taught them the game abroad and they are winning.
At least we can all say we are concerned w/ the outcome. Can't ask for more than that.
You're all screwed up
Why the heated press about these guys?!
How about directing all these points/counter-points, hate and discontent, and I can pee higher than you can attitudes towards the 435 Reps, 100 Senators?
I, for one will be glad come midNovember. The political commercials will be done, I can plug my phone back in.
Middle class woes
Of course tough questions need to be asked. Unfortunately our political selection system has gotten so sanitized because the candidates are afraid to say anything of substance lest it be used as a club on them later. Remember Bush's handpicked crowds…dissenters were physically removed.
But history also tells us to beware of a small or weak middle class. We are heading to a 3 tiered society: the very wealthy, the professional class and service workers who can't afford to live in the city where they work.
That is why my concerns are about what we need to do to protect ourselves in a global economy when the labor costs are so skewed worldwide. Protectionism is problematic, but we should consider incentives to corporations to stay within our borders and push harder for fair labor laws abroad to level the playing field…and not at the lowest common denominator. I don't see Republicans addressing this at all.