Obama rallies for Wisconsin votes
By Robby Douthitt
| |
|
- Obama rallied in Madison Tuesday
- 17,000 attended
- Obama: In this election your voices will be heard
As polls in Virginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C. closed—all showing victories for presidential hopeful Barack Obama—a crowd of 17,000 in Madison braved the cold Tuesday night for a chance to hear the Democratic Senator from Illinois give his victory speech.
Obama's speech, given in the Kohl Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, was an effort to build momentum and local support going into Wisconsin's primary Feb. 19.
"This is the new American majority," Obama told the crowd. "This is what change looks like when it hap pens from the bottom up.
And in this election, your voices will be heard."
Throughout the speech, Obama tried to assert himself as a better presidential choice than Republican candidate Sen. John McCain of Arizona.
"We honor his service," Obama said of McCain. "But his priorities don't address the real problems of the American people because they are bound to the failed policies of the past."
Obama first discussed the war in Iraq, citing his opposition from its beginning and took issue with McCain's plan to stay in the conflict for an undetermined length of time. Obama said the Bush administration should have invested more resources into catching Osama bin Laden and finishing the job in Afghanistan, instead of spending billions of dollars in Iraq.
Obama said money spent in Iraq could have gone to building new roads, bridges, hospitals and schools in America.
"It's time to stand up and reach for what's possible because together, people who love their country can change it," Obama said.
After Tuesday night's primaries, the Associated Press' projected delegate count, which includes both pledged and super delegates, gave Obama the lead with 1,223 delegates. Sen. Hilary Clinton (D-N.Y.) is nipping at his heels, only 25 delegates behind.
In such a historically close race, the Wisconsin Democratic primary, with 92 delegates up for grabs, has become all the more important for both Clinton and Obama.
"Where better to affirm our ideals than here in Wisconsin, where a century ago the progressive movement was born?" Obama said Tuesday.
Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle, who endorsed Obama in January, introduced the candidate.
"I've been waiting a long time for this moment," Doyle said. "A long time for a leader to step up who isn't trying to divide us."
Madison Mayor Dave Cieslewicz, who had just endorsed Obama earlier Tuesday, and Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett were both there in support.
"Tonight we're on our way, but we know how much further we have to go," Obama said. "We know it takes more than one night or even one election to overcome decades of money and the influence, the bitter partisanship and petty bickering that shut you out, let you down, told you to settle."
Obama accused the federal government in Washington, D.C. of letting checks from lobbyists set the legislative agenda.
"We can't keep playing the same Washington game with the same Washington players and somehow expect a different result, because it's a game that ordinary Americans are losing," Obama said.
Andrew Witkins, a 24-year-old education major at UW-Madison came to the event hoping to witness a powerful moment in American history.
"I'm really sick of hating Republicans for the last eight years," Witkins said. "Obama is a change of pace from that. He's a moderator between opposing sides."
Nicole Neis, a 19-year-old sophomore biology major at UW-Madison said she wasn't sure whether to support Obama or Clinton before Tuesday night. After the speech however, she said she is definitely leaning toward Obama.
Published: 2/14/08 Section: News
Be the first to comment on this story