Tribune/Debra Reid - A crowd estimated at 11,000 by campus police greeted Senator Barack Obama at the University of Nevada, Reno on Saturday.
Tribune/Debra Reid - Secret service agents stood guard as Senator Barack Obama greeted supporters at the University of Nevada, Reno baseball field on Saturday.
Tribune/Debra Reid - Senator Barack Obama waves farewell to supporters after his campaign speech at the University of Nevada, Reno.
And as the baseball stadium filled up with Obama signs and banners, crowd members from all parts of the country and even the Republican party showed up to cheer.
“I’m tired of what the Republican party has done all this time,” said Monica Brown, a registered nurse from Reno and registered Republican. “Whoever wins this next election inherits one of the biggest messes. He (Obama) has new ideas.”
Other crowd members, hailing all the way from Alaska, admitted to standing behind Obama and feeling opposed to their governor and Republican vice-presidential candidate, Sarah Palin.
“He (Obama) will be the transformation we need,” said Joy Morrison, a professor at the University of Alaska and member of the group Alaskan Women for Obama. “I am ready for him to be a two-term president.”
Issues were also on the minds of many in the crowd. and Susie and John Young, both registered Republicans from Sparks, said they felt Obama had the best policies concerning foreign policy and specifically the war in Iraq.
“He will be good with the economy right now, too” Susie said.
The crowd’s general disgust with President Bush and his administration was met well with Obama’s opening marks about his opponent, in which he mentioned Sen. McCain’s recent comments tying the Democratic nominee to being a socialist and furthering Bush’s policies of the past eight years.
“He said that I was like George W. Bush,” Obama said, highlighting his familiar line that Sen. McCain has voted with Bush 90 percent of the time. “You can’t make this stuff up, folks. In what may be the strangest twist of all, Sen. McCain said that I would somehow continue the Bush economic policies – and that he, John McCain, would change them.”
Obama moved on to talk about his plan to not give tax breaks to companies that ship jobs overseas to help grow America’s job base, give tax cuts for 95 percent of the American taxpayers and improve the health care system.
Obama denounced McCain’s plans to tax health care policies and privatize Social Security. Obama followed this by adding that his plans include improving education and “growing the economy from the bottom up.”
“We all rise and fall as one nation, one people,” Obama said, adding “There are no real or fake parts of Amerca.” He urged everyone to vote early but also to continue campaigning through Election Day.
Crowd reactions included many yelling “Thank you, Obama!” and “I love you, Obama!”
“I believe his words,” said Elizabeth Galantuomini, a small-business owner from Reno who switched from the Independent party to the Democratic party. “The change he is trying to make in Washington will affect me. “
Pat Hanbury, a mother struggling to put two sons through college, said she feels strongly that Obama’s plan to award college grants in exchange for community service is monumental.
“I believe in him wanting to help my kids,” Hanbury said. “He is a very inspiring guy and he’s going to change the world.”
With the election just 10 days away, the margin of registered Democrats has made Washoe County a swing county.
According to the Washoe County Registrar of Voters Office, the rise in total registered voters from 200,762 in January to the current 231,437 is primarily attributable to an increase in Democrats.
Registered Washoe County Democrats in January totaled 72,380. Today, Democrats number 92,188, whereas registered Republicans experienced a much smaller jump, from 87,872 to 90,910.
“Washoe County seems to be the one swing county (in Nevada)” said Daniel Burk, Registrar of Voters for Washoe County. “With such a close difference, Washoe County will decide how the state of Nevada goes for the presidential election. And there has been a significant growth in those who call themselves Democrats.”
For a complete list of early voting locations, visit the Washoe County Registrar of Voters Web site at www.washoecounty.us/voters.
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Good bye George and Richard. We will miss you both a great deal because of your sound judgment in committing our country to the invasion and very expensive protracted war in Iraq. And thanks so much for also establishing reasonable regulatory oversight of Wall Street and of our mortgage lending and financial system during your 8 year watch.
Sorry Bill and Hillary. Of course we really wanted to have you back again in order to give Bill another shot at finding some more action with interns in the oval office; and we will certainly miss not being able to hear all the details of such encounters.
John, we will always respect you for putting the needs of our country above petty politics in choosing your running mate; but Sarah, unfortunately it looks like we may never get the chance to fulfill our wildest dream: to someday have President Palin lead the free world.
But what about Barack Obama? The New York Times in its endorsement of Barack Obama said: “Mr. Obama has met challenge after challenge, growing as a leader and putting real flesh on his early promises of hope and change. He has shown a cool head and sound judgment. We believe he has the will and the ability to forge the broad political consensus that is essential to finding solutions to this nation’s problems.”
“In the same time, Senator John McCain of Arizona has retreated farther and farther to the fringe of American politics, running a campaign on partisan division, class warfare and even hints of racism. His policies and worldview are mired in the past. His choice of a running mate so evidently unfit for the office was a final act of opportunism and bad judgment that eclipsed the accomplishments of 26 years in Congress.”
Senator John McCain is a respected 72 year old American warrior, but he is on a path whose slope, however gentle, is downward. On the contrary Senator Barack Obama is an intelligent, articulate, and insightful 47 year old American whose best years lie ahead of him; a man who graduated near the top of his class at Harvard Law School and was president of its Law Review; a man who understands and respects the American constitution because he was an instructor of constitutional law for 12 years at the University of Chicago Law School; a man familiar with the American legislative process because he served 3 terms as an Illinois State Senator and for the past 4 years as a US Senator; a man acquainted with Washington but one who also brings fresh ideas and a passion for bringing about important and necessary changes in Washington. Senator Barack Obama is a man of equanimity, keen intellect, clear vision, sound judgment, and steadfast determination. He is the man America needs today, and also the man who can lead America tomorrow. It is time for Americans everywhere to cast their ballots for Barack Obama. It is time for Barack Obama to become America’s 44th president.