Photos: Barack Obama delivers a speech at a campaign stop today in Lexington, KY

[flpoljunkie]

Sen. Barack Obama,D-Ill, delivers a speech at a campaign stop in Lexington, Ky., Sunday, Aug. 26, 2007. (AP Photos/Ed Reinke)

[patrioticintellect]

1. Dennis Kucinich fires back

[Darth_Ole]

2. I was there!!!

I went with a couple friends and got back home about an hour ago... There were about 500 to 1,000 folks there, I'd say, and his speech was electrifying...

[alteredstate]

3. The reaction of the crowd when Obama enters a room

is unbelievable. It reminds me of videos I've seen of the Beatles arriving in the New York on their first trip to the US.

[Colobo]

8. That's the energy of HOPE!

[patrioticintellect]

11. HOPE

For what? What does your man bring to the White House? Come on, he's dressed himself up really nice and pretty so the media and a majority of Americans buy him. But really, he could be tossed with the snap of a finger because all that he claims to be for is a scam, a lie...

His voting record...enough to make me sick.

[never cry wolf]

12. His voting record

http://nationaljournal.com/voteratings/sen/lib.htm

Ranked the 10th most liberal in the Senate.

[LittleClarkie]

13. Well, there you go

Why isn't he number one, the fascist! :sarcasm:

I'd say he stands for a few things, among them non-partisanship, which is hard for some to swallow, but it would indeed be nice if the country wasn't so divided.

One thing that impressed me about him was the issue papers on his website. I've printed out info from the four main candidates, and by far Obama's looked the most detailed. He says exactly what he will do and exactly how he will do it. I found that interesting.

[never cry wolf]

16. Inre: non-partisanship

check out this blog post from a self admitted policy wonk:

http://obsidianwings.blogs.com/obsidian_wings/2006/10/barack_obama.html

------------------

But I do follow legislation, at least on some issues, and I have been surprised by how often Senator Obama turns up, sponsoring or co-sponsoring really good legislation on some topic that isn't wildly sexy, but does matter. His bills tend to have the following features: they are good and thoughtful bills that try to solve real problems; they are in general not terribly flashy; and they tend to focus on achieving solutions acceptable to all concerned, not by compromising on principle, but by genuinely trying to craft a solution that everyone can get behind.

His legislation is often proposed with Republican co-sponsorship, which brings me to another point: he is bipartisan in a good way. According to me, bad bipartisanship is the kind practiced by Joe Lieberman. Bad bipartisans are so eager to establish credentials for moderation and reasonableness that they go out of their way to criticize their (supposed) ideological allies and praise their (supposed) opponents. They also compromise on principle, and when their opponents don't reciprocate, they compromise some more, until over time their positions become indistinguishable from those on the other side.

This isn't what Obama does. Obama tries to find people, both Democrats and Republicans, who actually care about a particular issue enough to try to get the policy right, and then he works with them. This does not involve compromising on principle. It does, however, involve preferring getting legislation passed to having a spectacular battle. (This is especially true when one is in the minority party, especially in this Senate: the chances that Obama's bills will actually become law increase dramatically when he has Republican co-sponsors.)

So my little data point is: while Obama has not proposed his Cosmic Plan for World Peace, he has proposed a lot of interesting legislation on important but undercovered topics. I can't remember another freshman Senator who so routinely pops up when I'm doing research on some non-sexy but important topic, and pops up because he has proposed something genuinely good. Since I think that American politics doesn't do nearly enough to reward people who take a patient, craftsmanlike attitude towards legislation, caring as much about fixing the parts that no one will notice until they go wrong as about the flashy parts, I wanted to say this. Specifics below the fold.

--------------

[LittleClarkie]

18. Reminds me of Kerry

Kerry also wanted to heal the country.

Kerry also works on non-sexy, but helpful, legislation.

That's a good thing, by the way. Brings me one step closer to picking Obama.

[patrioticintellect]

14. Great

Did National Journal do a House ratings to rate liberals in the House?

And a year later, how far towards the center has Obama gone? That rating is about one year old. And was probably taken before a serious campaign for the presidency began.

[never cry wolf]

15. If you checked out the link, yes, they did the house too

Dennis was #50 in the house, out of 435 that puts him in the top 18.4% in the house, his rating was 87%, Obama's was 86%, in the top 10% in the Senate.

http://nationaljournal.com/voteratings/house/lib_cons.htm?o1=lib_composite&o2=desc

Also, this was published less than 6 months ago for the year 2006, the last full year available. (National Journal does this annually.)

edited to add link to hose ratings

[patrioticintellect]

21. Thank you

Okay, I get why it reads for 2006.

[never cry wolf]

22. I Love Dennis

If I could snap my fingers and pick a prez, Dennis is closest to my way of thinking in many ways...

However, as much as I wish it weren't so, he has no realistic chance....

peace

[patrioticintellect]

23. He has a chance

Quit thinking in a defeatist way. That's why things are so bad. The Media and the Corporations and our Elected Officials started telling us only certain candidates can be elected. We believed them. We still believe them. We forget this is a democracy and we have the power.

We've got the power. All we have to do is talk to people all over who know nothing about Kucinich. Show them this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRxZ64Z7poE

I just showed this to my uncle. He is now for Kucinich. He will tell the people he works with why he supports Kucinich. They will tell their friends why they support Kucinich. The name Dennis Kucinich will spread faster than Barack Obama because people already know who he is and well, he didn't strike them so much but hey, they'll vote for him if they have to. Dennis is the solution. Hillary Rodham Clinton...people are saying, "Didn't we see this before?" Yeah, it was in Bill Clinton. Now you get Hillary. It's more corporate and more special interest. But people say she's got so much money. How could she lose?

Well, if you don't vote for her, that's how. Duh! Vote for who you like. And then when the polls register who they like, we'll see whose "electable".

[BluegrassDem]

4. The TV stations say 1,600 people showed up

I wanted to go, but I was ill all weekend, so I was pretty upset. I hope he comes back again! :)

[Ethelk2044]

24. He is still pulling large crowds

[illinoisprogressive]

9. you must write about it. I read there were 2,200 there.

[flpoljunkie]

20. Lexington Herald Leader: Obama Fires Up Crowd in Lexington

Posted on Mon, Aug. 27, 2007
Obama fires up crowd in Lexington
CONVINCES MANY HE'S THE REAL DEAL
By Ryan Alessi

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama wrapped his message for change in his signature high-octane style yesterday, delighting those in the overflow crowd, many of whom came to see whether the Illinois senator is the real deal.

By the end of his 30-minute speech at the Lexington Center, Obama had the nearly 2,000 people chanting "fired up" and "ready to go" -- two of his campaign's rally cries, which he said he borrowed from a city councilwoman in South Carolina.

At several points Obama, who last night ended his 12-day U.S. tour through 60 cities, reiterated that the run for the White House is more than just disagreeing with what's been done in the past.

"The reason you're here, I'm willing to bet, is not just because you're against something. It's easy to be against something," he said. "But the reason you're here and the reason why I think we're attracting these tremendous crowds is people want to be for something."

more...

http://www.kentucky.com/211/story/160475.html

[zulchzulu]

5. Good stuff!

Thanks for the pics. K&R...

[AtomicKitten]

6. Really terrific reporting and thanks for bringing these pics to DU.

More please :)

[illinoisprogressive]

7. I love seeing the faces of the people when obama speaks or is meeting them.

[patrioticintellect]

10. I love seeing the faces of ...

...People when Kucinich is speaking with them. I also enjoy the cheers afterwards.

"There are many reasons I support Rep. Dennis Kucinich for President. He reflects my values in politics better than any other candidate. Integrity, courage, honest talk, ethics and decision-making on behalf of the people, not corporate interests. In short, Dennis Kucinich inspires me to be a better person. That's why we need Kucinich as the 44th President of the US." - Deb Hirsch from Alpharetta in Georgia

[Adelante]

17. Welcome to DU

:hi:

[Brigid]

19. Wow! Great pics!

You can just feel the electricity! :bounce: