The day America met Barack Obama
It was going to be a big day for the Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate from Illinois.
In a few hours, on that night, July 27, 2004, he was to give the keynote address to the Democratic National Convention at the Fleet Center about a mile away. But as he gave a lunchtime speech on environmental policy to a leisurely crowd of about 100 people at the green space on Boston Harbor, he was relaxed and loose, seemingly unconcerned about what was ahead.
Taking notes amid the crowd, I hoped to get a few minutes with the candidate.
I'd been told about his vaunted charisma -- my two brothers, both of whom live in Chicago, had mentioned his oratorical gifts -- but in person Obama seemed familiar, even a touch wonky, as he talked about asthma rates and the Bush administration's environmental record.
I chatted with Obama's press attaché and with a Chicago Tribune reporter, David Mendell, as the speech wound down, and was offered a ride in a nondescript minivan back to the Fleet Center.
Even then Obama was attracting attention; several members of the audience gave him enthusiastic greetings as he left the scene to get in the van.
In the front passenger seat of van, the rail-thin Obama, obviously hungry (he later told me he'd lost eight pounds since the beginning of the campaign), chewed on a sandwich and joked with the other passengers as I peppered him with questions during the 20-minute ride.
He answered with deliberate thoughtfulness, though he'd probably heard at least a few of them dozens of times already.
Was he worried about the speech, the kind of spotlight that had made political leaders including William Jennings Bryan, Mario Cuomo and Ann Richards national figures?
"There's going to be some adrenaline," he said, after taking off his tie and unbuttoning his white dress shirt. "But the pressure I'm experiencing is nothing compared to folks I'm meeting getting laid off. ... That's real pressure."
And what about the Senate race? Illinois Republicans were in disarray and better-known, better-funded candidates had fallen by the wayside, with Obama seemingly now a sure thing for the seat.
"Three months is a lifetime in politics," Obama replied.
BARACK THE VOTE! ELECTION DAY IS TOMORROW
Don't forget to vote! Polls are open nationwide from 6am to 6pm. If it goes past 6pm and you are already in line PLEASE STAY IN LINE, you are still allowed to vote as long as you were in line prior to 6pm."Plumber Joe" stands up McCain
(CNN) — Joe Wurzelbacher, aka Joe the Plumber, has become an integral part of John McCain's presidential bid, but it appears the Arizona senator's campaign and the now-famous Toledo plumber need to work on their communication skills.
McCain aides told CNN's Dana Bash Wurzelbacher would appear with the Republican presidential candidate at his first campaign event in Defiance, Ohio. But in what was a slightly awkward moment for McCain, Wurzelbacher was nowhere to be seen when the Arizona senator called out for him.
A campaign aide later said Wurzelbacher had "decided not to come" and may join McCain later in the day.
But reached at his home by CNN's Mary Snow, Wurzelbacher said it was "news to him" that he was supposed to be at the McCain rally. Wurzelbacher said nobody from the McCain campaign confirmed he was attending the event and called the incident a "miscommunication."
Wurzelbacher also said he is headed to Philadelphia for a charity event unrelated to the campaign and has no plans to meet up with McCain today.
UPDATE: Contacted by CNN a second time, Wurzelbacher said the campaign only called him to confirm after the event in question already took place. He will now try to meet up with McCain later in the day.
Wurzelbacher also said he had gotten an initial call about coming to the morning rally, "but no one called back to confirm," and was "not happy" that McCain had called out his name and he wasn't there.
Obama Holds Leads in Key Swing States as Election Nears
Obama leads McCain among likely voters by 51% to 47% in Ohio, a 4-point margin that has not budged since last week's TIME's survey. But he now leads McCain by 52% to 45% in Nevada and by 52% to 46% in North Carolina, margins which are both slightly larger than those reported by TIME in its surveys a week earlier.
The new statewide surveys also show Obama leading McCain in Pennsylvania, the key blue state in which McCain is making a last-ditch, major push to score an upset, by a comfortable 12-point margin of 55% to 43%. But Obama still trails his Republican rival in McCain's home state of Arizona by a 7-point margin of 46% to 53%.
Obama makes final case in supersize ad
By CARRIE BUDOFF BROWN | 10/29/08 11:04 PM EDTThe 30-minute broadcast weaved together American iconography — images of amber waves of grain, pickup trucks and American flags — with portraits of iconic voters, testimonials from politicians and one business figure, footage of Obama speeches and direct appeals from the candidate.
The ad cut to a live shot of Obama at a rally here for the last two minutes, where he told an arena packed to the rafters that “the time for change has come.”
“In six days, we can choose to invest in health care for our families, and education for our kids, and renewable energy for our future,” Obama said with his vice presidential nominee, Joe Biden, at his side. “In six days, we can choose hope over fear, unity over division, the promise of change over the power of the status quo. In six days, we can come together as one nation, and one people, and once more choose our better history."
What not to wear to the polls on Election Day
ARLINGTON, Virginia (CNN) — Campaign paraphernalia is everywhere nowadays. People are sporting T-shirts, hats and pins touting their candidate of choice. But wearing your political allegiances can cause a problem at the polls.
In some states, what you wear to the voting booth could determine whether you are allowed to vote or be sent home to change.
Thousands of flagged voters can vote, court rules
(CNN) — Georgia must allow thousands of people whose citizenship was questioned by the state's new voter verification system to vote in the upcoming election, a panel of federal judges ruled Monday.
The court ruling will affect about 4,500 people in Georgia who had been "flagged" by the new voter verification system and faced being denied a chance to vote Nov. 4 because their citizenship was questioned.
It could also affect more than 50,000 other registered Georgia voters also flagged by the new system because of mismatches in their personal identification information, such as discrepancies in addresses.
The three-judge panel also ordered Georgia Secretary of State Karen Handel to inform all the flagged voters that they can vote.
"We are very pleased that the court agreed with our legal position that the state violated the Voting Rights Act," said Elise Shore, a lawyer with one of the civil right groups who brought the lawsuit.
Shore said the ruling applies to the 4,500 Georgians that were flagged for citizenship reasons and she was uncertain whether it applied to the some 50,000 others that were flagged for other reasons.
The issue was raised in a lawsuit filed on behalf of a Georgia college student who claimed that the secretary of state's voter verification system violated the Voting Rights Act and the National Voter Registration Act and caused an illegal purge of voters in the weeks before the election.
