Obama Strolls through Portsmouth

[illinoisprogressive]

A smiling Barack Obama surprised people spending lunchtime downtown on Saturday as he walked to the Portsmouth Brewery from his local campaign headquarters on Fleet Street.

The Illinois senator and Democratic presidential hopeful shook many hands as he made his way up Congress Street with an entourage of campaign staffers and Secret Service agents, asking each person's name, signing autographs and posing for pictures

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On the way out, general manager Brennen Rumble gave Obama a T-shirt that read "Make Beer Not Bombs," which the senator said he liked.

Morgan Crowley, a 16-year old student at Winnacunnet High School in Hampton, said she was drawn to Obama because she feels he's really paying attention to her generation.

Ashlee Peek, a 15-year old sophomore at Spaulding High School in Rochester, got teary-eyed as he spoke and was overjoyed to receive a hug from him.

"I find him very inspiring," Peek said. "I love his speeches and ideas on how to try and make this a better country."

She said she thinks it is important for students her age to know about and be involved in the political process and is working to encourage her peers to volunteer.

Obama encouraged supporters not to lose heart and to have fun.

"We are the underdogs, so we have to work harder, but it makes it more fun," Obama said.

Earlier in Concord, Obama said his public service experience trumps Clinton's. He said his background as a community organizer, lawyer, professor and state senator is more valuable than Clinton's experience "working the system" as first lady and in other roles.

Obama quoted comments Bill Clinton made in a 1992 debate with the first President Bush to make his point.

"The same old experience is not relevant. ... And you can have the right kind of experience and the wrong kind of experience," Clinton said at the time.

"He's exactly right," Obama said at the rally. "What we need to do is put an end to the wrong kind of experience."

He cited his success in helping enact campaign finance reform as an Illinois legislator and an ethics overhaul while in the U.S. Senate. He said the nation does not need "the kind of experience that tinkers around the edges instead of doing something fundamental about how lobbyists operate in Washington."

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