Over 20,000 Gather For Barack Obama in Austin,TX

[carpe diem]

(CBS 42) AUSTIN If Friday's turnout is any indication, Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama is gaining huge momentum.

Austin was one of the stops on his presidential announcement tour.

More than 20,000 supporters filled Auditorium Shores to hear him speak. The crowd shows Obama’s appeal crosses boundaries of age, race and gender.

Long lines and rainy weather didn't keep supporters of the Democratic party's fastest rising star away.

"He's not just a young persons person, but middle age and older people too,” Dorothy Johson said.

Obama is re-energizing voters.

http://keyetv.com/topstories/local_story_054223608.html
..........................................................................................................................

Great group photo at: http://texansforobama.typepad.com/blog/

[Hekate]

1. kick this

:-)

:kick:

Hekate

[IndianaGreen]

27. Tell Momma I'm for Obama

This is this century's New Frontier! Off with the politics of the past!

:kick:

[anitar1]

2. Dang, this makes me proud of all of us. I am not

comitted to any one candidate yet, but I sure like Obama and am proud to see that color does not make a difference.

[illinoisprogressive]

3. Man, those guys in Texas outdid us in Illinois for the announcement. 17,000 here.

[snowbear]

4. I LOVE these photos that a news station in Dallas/Ft. Worth put up!!

They won't allow you to copy & paste the photos.. but they're easy to click thru' ~~

http://www.wfaa.com/sharedcontent/dws/pt/slideshows/2007/02/022307obama/

I love the one of Senator Obama on stage with the rain in the background and the dark clouds rolling in.. also the one of State Rep. Norma Chavez up on a ladder with a cell phone in one hand and her Obama sign in the other..

One of the last photos reminds me of people at a rock concert! One lady in the front row is crying, while others are reaching their arms out towards Barack.

Wow.. Would've been an incredible event to attend.

Awesome crowd -- Awesome candidate!

[jaysunb]

5. Some great photograpy here !

That, may just be some prize winning stuff !

[flpoljunkie]

19. The group photo from TexansforObama is worth posting by itself.

[flpoljunkie]

20. Great photography. Thanks for the link.

[flpoljunkie]

22. Obama made appeal to the crowd to send his campaign small amounts-$5, $10 so that he would not have

to rely on Hollywood--hoping for a repeat of the Howard Dean online fundraising phenomenon. I would have preferrred he used the term "big special interests" rather than just Hollywood where he recently raised $1.3M--although he has, to his credit and like John Kerry--said he would accept no money from PACs or lobbyists, unlike Hillary Clinton's campaign.

If only a candidate could be funded by small donations from the people and augmented by public financing--and not have to rely on the lobbyists and big special interests to bankroll their campaigns.

It could be done if Congress passed a law demanding the television networks provide free or reduced air time so that candidates could introduce themselves to the American people. And 527's need to be regulated, so that Texas builder Robert Perry won't be able to donate $100,000 seed money to fund the Swift Boat tv ad smears.

These ads have undue influence on elections by a small group and these 527's ought to be heavily regulated--i.e.,limited to small, hard donations. They have no place in our democracy, as they are currently allowed--for either party.

[Clarkie1]

6. Some great photos! I don't see how Edwards can compete with this.

Obama is the clear challenger to Hillary. Of course, in politics a month is what....5 years?

[Colobo]

11. Well

What matters is that people don't chicken out and think, just a second before casting their vote: "This black man can't really win...", and wind up voting for Clinton or Edwards just because of that...

That is, honestly, my biggest fear.

[Clarkie1]

12. That's not going to happen.

I fully expect Obama to be either the nominee or offered VP.

[Clarkie1]

23. Video link of entire speech.

http://www.kxan.com/global/video/popup/pop_player.asp?ClipID1=1258969&h1=Raw%20Video%3A%20Barack%20Obama%27s%20Speech%20At%20Auditorium%20Shores&vt1=v&at1=News&d1=2488500&LaunchPageAdTag=News&activePane=info&playerVersion=1&hostPageUrl=http%3A//www.kxan.com/global/story.asp%3Fs%3D6130030&rnd=7117070

[DeepModem Mom]

7. Wonderful news -- beautiful photos! Thank you! nt

[ripple]

8. K & R

Incredible photos, thanks for posting them!!! :hi:

[Ninja Jordan]

9. A year before the Iowa caucus and Obama is attracting 20,000 person crowds

[Colobo]

10. Great stuff!

I wish he could come to Tampa!

[caledesi]

18. Me too. Keep checking his site for Tampa Event. Not so far.

[ariesgem]

13. My favorite photo from the event...

[snowbear]

14. Oh yeah.. I like that too...

"This campaign's only big enough for one sheriff"

~~~

[bklyncowgirl]

21. Barack can sure wear a cowboy hat, can't he. I wonder if he can ride a horse?

Reminds me of some Black cowboys I know.

I wonder if he can ride a horse? With his long legs and slender body he'd probably look pretty damn good.

[Olney Blue]

25. Our present fake cowboy prezident is afraid of horses.

Let's get a picture of Obama on a horse, if he does indeed ride them.

He would look great!

[durtee librul]

30. Blazing Saddles anyone?

Remember how Cleavon came into town and battled the bad guys? LOL!!!

Dang he looks good in that hat! LOL!!!

[Hekate]

32. Yummy! LOL

Yes indeedy, Blazing Saddles...

Hekate

[Arugula Latte]

38. I posted a sweeping generalization on another thread that

white guys usually look dorky in cowboy hats but black guys usually look great.

Obama looks GREAT. :wow:

[Arugula Latte]

37. I love the first one on this slide show:

http://www.wfaa.com/sharedcontent/dws/pt/slideshows/2007/02/022307obama/

[Clarkie1]

15. "Unbelievable, look at this...the longhorn state."

Just watched a "sneak preview" of the rally on Obama's website.

Coincidentally, I just finished this evening reading the first chapter of "Dreams from my Father" (Obama's first book). In a segment of chapter one, Obama recollects stories of his grandparents moving to Texas with his mother, and coming home one day to see a bunch of kids in the yard yelling "nigger lover" while his mother (then about 12 I believe he said) and a friend she brought home from school were sitting under a tree reading a book together.

His grandmother went over to them, and invited the girl to come inside, but she ran away terrified with tears streaming down her face. A boy threw a rock at them. Obama's grandfather went to the school the next day, talked to the principal, and then got phone numbers and started calling the parents. All the parents told him to tell his daughter to stay away from the "coloreds."


Can't help but wonder if Obama might have been thinking about that incident before or when he took the stage....

[Leilani]

16. Great for Obama!

He gives people hope, & after the last 6 years, we sure can use it.

[Ethelk2044]

17. This is Great!

It is good for his campaign.   All those people and it was
raining.  That says a lot.

[Clarkie1]

24. Video of entire speech.

http://www.kxan.com/global/video/popup/pop_player.asp?ClipID1=1258969&h1=Raw%20Video%3A%20Barack%20Obama%27s%20Speech%20At%20Auditorium%20Shores&vt1=v&at1=News&d1=2488500&LaunchPageAdTag=News&activePane=info&playerVersion=1&hostPageUrl=http%3A//www.kxan.com/global/story.asp%3Fs%3D6130030&rnd=7117070

[Honeycombe8]

26. I like Obama, but why Texas?

Don't get me wrong. I like Obama. So far, I like him best. But why is he spending time in Texas? It's a red state, and it doesn't have an early primary. What's up with that deal?

Also, I looked at the pics of that rally on his site. What a turnout. I'm impressed. But there are a lot of young faces in that crowd. It reminds me of the crowds that turned out for Dean. Young people, when push comes to shove, don't seem to get the vote out like older people do.

I'm middle aged. And I'm an independent. So I know Obama must have broad appeal, but if he's banking on the young vote, this worries me. And why spend precious time in Texas? A general southwest rally tour, maybe? It's close to New Mexico, so maybe that's it. Or...the southwest generally has a lot of hispanics. So would that be it?

[snowbear]

31. Why not Texas?

"why spend precious time in Texas?

Remember the outcome of Governor Dean's "50 State Strategy?":



~~~~~~~~~~

[Honeycombe8]

35. Yes, I thought of that.

So is that it? My question was because Texas will not be involved at all in deciding who wins the primary, since its primary comes too late. And since Obama has less $$$ than Hillary. I was wondering why he'd spend the money and time at this stage going to Texas, when other places would pay off more, I would think. I'm sure there's a reason, but I don't know what it is. Maybe the hispanic vote, since hispanics have big numbers in the southwest, but Obama doesn't want to go into New Mexico yet?

But that's why not...the cost in time and money, for a primary. Now, for the general election, I can see it'd be worthwhile. Sort of. But TX is a heavy red state, not even close to voting for a Democrat for a general election.

BTW, I'm in TX, so I'm glad to see any and all of them come here. Just wondering why, for the primary.

[marmar]

28. I just checked out Obama's website....

It's awesome.

[AtomicKitten]

29. Tried to see him here in SF

and failed; this guy is on fire and everybody wants to bask in his presence. I hope to be able to see him speak at some point during the election cycle, although California is pretty much a pit stop for fundraising rather than campaigning.

[fuzzyball]

33. Wow, that's almost 3% of Austin's population!

Time to get excited for Obama!!

[Imagevision]

34. I pray that Obama allows Hillary to keep her day job...

[Colobo]

36. LOL, me too!

[opihimoimoi]

39. Looks, sounds, walks, talks, thinks, writes, like a WINNAH

Can he pull it off? I think so.

:toast: