8A NEWS
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THE UNIVERSITY HAIRY KANSAN
》 POLITICS
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 30, 2008
Obama visits El Dorado, KC to prepare for caucus
BY FRANCESCA CHAMBERS
fchambers@kansan.com
Presidential candidate Barak Obama speaks to a crowd of supports yesterday in Kansas City, Mo. Obama reached out specifically to area college students by offering $4,000 per year in tuition in exchange for community service hours.
The crowd cheered loudly and
Barack Obama's speech in Kansas City, Mo., lasted less than an hour yesterday evening, but the crowd was clearly not disappointed with his performance.
Obama
shouted Obama's slogan, "Yes we can!" while the campaign's theme song, "Signed, Sealed, Delivered" by Stevie Wonder, blared as Obama walked off the stage.
Jon Goering/KANSAN
"He has a sincerity in his voice that's really refreshing," said Ryan Hand, Lee Summit, Mo., junior. "He just has a command in his voice that can encourage people to start stepping forward and to change things."
Obama visited his mother's hometown, El Dorado, yesterday afternoon before stopping off at the Municipal Auditorium Exhibition Hall in Kansas City, Mo. College students, children and baby boomers joined forces at the hall to show their support for the presidential hopeful. Obama, a senator from Illinois, used the opportunity to discuss his platform and to reach out specifically to the area's college students.
Obama said he would give college students $4,000 a year for tuition, but students would have to do an unnamed amount of community service in return. Obama said students could complete their community service through long-term commitments like the Peace Corps or through commitments such as serving food at a soup kitchen.
"We will invest in you, and you will invest in America," Obama said.
Gov. Kathleen Sebelius openly supported Obama for the first time at yesterday's events. She said she supported Obama because of his effort to get more students involved with politics.
"It's not only good for the campaign, it's good for America," Sebelius said.
In his speech, Obama also denied allegations that he had Islamic extremist connections.
"I've been a member of the same church for 20 years," Obama said. "I've been praising Jesus in that church. When I open up the Senate I pledge allegiance to the flag, and to the Republic, for which it stands, one nation under God."
He also said he was not running for president because of a long-held ambition, but because the American dream was slowly slipping away and he hoped to restore it.
Obama also did not waste the opportunity to remind voters that he opposed the war in Iraq from the start.
"I will end this war," Obama said.
"It not only want to end this mindset,
I want to end the mindset that got us in the war."
Obama said that unlike the Bush administration, he would lead the United States with diplomacy.
"I want to go before the world community and say, 'America is back." Obama said.
No matter what happened in the elections, Obama said, he could promise voters that no one from the
kansan.com
Bush administration would be on the ballot.
Read reporter Francesca Chambers' blog on covering Obama's speech and view Jon Goering's photo gallery of the event online.
"My cousin Dick Cheney's name will not be on the ballot," Obama said jokingly about the recent discovery that he and Cheney are eight cousins. "When they do these genealogical surveys you are hoping you are related to somebody cool, like Paul Revere. But Cheney? That's just embarrassed."
Many KU students, including Hand, skipped class to attend Obama's "Stand for Change" event. Tyler Anderson, New York senior, said he and Hand waited outside for about two hours before they were admitted into the hall. He said the wait to see Obama was worth it, though.
He sent a message to people who
Hand said he was unsure whether he would vote for Obama in the election, but that Obama made some compelling statements.
called him a hope peddler or naive. He said he knew it was going to be hard to provide health care to every person in America, but that hope is what ended slavery and earned women the right to vote.
speech confirmed her vote. She said his dedication to the genocide in Darfur was moving.
"That's a really big issue for me because I have some family that lives over there," Arthur said. "It's so heartbreaking. When he said something about helping out Darfur and AIDS, that was pretty great."
Katie Arthur, Owasso, Okla,
freshman, said she had already
considered voting for Obama, but his
Megan Do, Wichita freshman, said she had been an Obama supporter since 2004 when Obama was elected to the Senate. Do was standing in the front row at the rally and shook Obama's hand.
"It was amazing." Do said. "I honestly thought, 'This is going to be the next president of the United States.'"
Edited by Matt Hirschfeld
POLITICS
endorses Barack Obama
EL DORADO — Democrat Barack Obama intensified a serious effort Tuesday to win what has been a safe Republican state and picked up Gov. Kathleen Sebelius' endorsement for his White House bid.
Hundreds of cheering supporters braved blowing snow and frigid temperatures to crowd into a gymnasium at Butler Community College to see Obama, one week before Kansas' presidential caucuses. The city fire marshal estimated 1,900 people were in the gym and about 400 more were in overflow areas in other buildings.
He began his speech by declaring: "We're among friends here. We're family."
He said he could talk about making politics less divisive because of his personal experiences. "It's a story that began here in El Dorado," he said.
Democratic presidential candidates long had sought Sebelius' backing in a state that George W. Bush carried by large margins in the 2000 and 2004 elections. No Democratic nominee for the White House has won Kansas' electoral votes since 1964, but Sebelius has won two terms and prospered politically.
Associated Press
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Obama chats with Gov. Kathleen Sebelius during his rally in Kansas City, Mo. Tuesday night.
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