Ridenbaugh Press

Obama in Salem/Stapilus

Three Oregon stops for Illinois Senator Barack Obama today and another tomorrow, on what turned out to be his best campaign day in a while. At his first stop in Portland, he got to unveil a substantial endorsement, by New Mexico Governor and former candidate Bill Richardson. The most recent polling indicates a rebound from the Wright debacle, and new headlines indicate financial trouble for his opponent, New York Senator Hillary Clinton. At his appearances in Portland and Salem, he seemed relaxed and in a good mood; so, maybe for some reason.

The Portland event, near the Rose Quarter (which probably was the venue that should have been used there), was swamped with people. Your scribe wanted to catch the activity but (like some other people we encountered) passed on PDX in favor of Salem, where the crowds were smaller and were a close fit to the venue there, the national guard Armory Auditorium by the state fairgrounds, seating somewhat over 3,000 people. Inside, the space was set up somewhat like an oversized high school basketball gym, which had the virtue of giving nearly everyone a good view, and no great distance from the speaker.

A few observations from that scene:

The crowd was mixed, a thorough range of ages and other categories, not overwhelmingly young or old. Signs from outside were not allowed inside, limiting expressions by groups, but t-shirt signage indicated labor unions were well in evidence, to judge from SEIU shirts and red shirts proclaiming “You estoy con la union.”

Security was substantial (and there were plenty of uniforms around), but considering the nature of the event, not overbearing. Cameras and cell phones were allowed in, and were used heavily - seemingly one person in three or four had a camera, a cell or both (or a combination; iPhones were around too).

Scheduled for 1 p.m., the event started an hour late. Obama addressed that, apologizing but noting that the news media at Portland had considerable interest in the Richardson announcement. It seemed a plausible explanation.

A local campaign worker was first up, noting that a Salem Obama office would be opening shortly. Representative Earl Blumenauer did the introduction of Obama in Salem (as he had in Portland), declaring that Oregon could be the state that puts the candidate over the top with delegate votes. (Which theoretically could happen if enough superdelegates broke for him over the next couple of months.)

Obama’s talk was in two parts, about a half hour each. The first was a somewhat abridged version of his current stump speech, very much like the one he delivered in Portland, heavy on rundown of issues but certainly not lacking in applause lines. Which, in Salem as in Portland, got the intended response - despite the delay, the audience was plenty revved for response when the candidate took the riser (a small square area; he was speaking 360 degrees to people all around him). He pulled a strong response with lines on the economy, on veterans care, on energy policy and other matters, but the largest roars were reserved for his promises to withdraw troops from Iraq.

The second part was - in keeping with the “town hall” description of the event - a question and answer period, fielding seven or eight questions (depending on how you count). They covered a range, from immigration to North Korea to offshore jobs to race relations. None seemed to present Obama any difficulty. He sounded as if he was working his way carefully through (or maybe it was just artful delivery) a question from a Salem woman who said she had friends who were supporting Hillary Clinton - how should should she make the case for Obama instead? “Sp you need bullet points,” Obama mused. He wound up with the conclusion that Clinton, while capable and not far from him on many issues, doesn’t have a feel for transparent and interactive government and operates from top-down, meaning that many of the problems about how Washington functions would be left unsolved by her. “It’s not enough to change the political parties,” he concluded. “You have to change the culture.” That, he said, he would do.

He did enter into a line of thought we’ve not heard in his speeches before, and which sounded as if it could be expanded and used more widely. In describing his political beliefs, he said he adhered to a number of specific ideas, such as equality, broad participation in governing, upward mobility, and others. But these constituted goals rather than an ideological construction; he said he is more interested in pragmatism toward solving problems than he is operating within an ideology. That could prove an effective rebuttal to discussion later on of where he fits on a “liberal-conservative” scale - it could have the effect of lifting him above that.

No fainting spells were observed. The crowd did not seem raucous. But it did seem energized.

AND IN CORVALLIS A first-person account posted on Daily Kos from Corvallis, where Obama stopped in at the American Dream pizza place (which we can personally attest makes good pizza).