"Sen. Ted Kennedy brought a packed house to its feet Friday by urging support for Barack Obama"

[ProSense]

Kennedy rouses Obama faithful during rally at Oakland church

By Josh Richman

STAFF WRITER
Article Launched: 02/02/2008 03:07:08 AM PST

OAKLAND -- Sen. Ted Kennedy brought a packed house to its feet Friday by urging support for Barack Obama, whom he said represents the youthful vigor and hope that his own elder brothers embodied decades ago.

"Helloooooo, East Bay!" Kennedy rumbled upon taking the microphone, rousing perhaps as many as 1,400 Obama supporters filling Beebe Memorial Christian Methodist Episcopal Church on Telegraph Avenue. "Are you glad to see me? I'm glad to see you!"

Kennedy, 75, who endorsed Obama on Monday, said his relatives have been coming to the East Bay since 1959 seeking votes and support, and have never left disappointed. Today, he said, we face "an election of enormous importance and consequence, perhaps the most important election of my lifetime."

Obama's candidacy provides a chance to continue the forward motion America has made from the civil rights movement through the battles for equality for women and gays and lesbians, he said, a chance "to electrify this nation and get us back to the march of progress." With Congress locked in partisan bickering concerning such issues as economic stimuli and electronic surveillance, he said, "we have to be liberated; we need Barack Obama."

Echoing the words of his brother John F. Kennedy at the 1961 presidential inauguration, Ted Kennedy said Obama's candidacy marks a reinvigoration of citizen engagement and activism.

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[MH1]

1. Cool!!

[dkf]

2. wow wow wow.

I'd LOVE to see Teddy Kennedy speak but nobody comes here to campaign. NM is so lucky.

[msongs]

3. Mary Jo would be proud nt

[SammyWinstonJack]

4. ...

:yoiks:

[ProSense]

5. This is not a thread about Bill Clinton's "sexual relations." n/t

[Mass]

6. Well, I hope your mom is proud to see you emulate Rush!

[cali]

7. that's such a freeper troll line

of argument. good job show what you are.

[SoxFan]

8. Grow up

[sam kane]

9. My REPUBLICAN father was there!

He voted for Richard Nixon 3 times. He was a Northeast Wall St. republican who was somewhat apolitical until he retired to the right-wing blogosphere in the late 90s. Since Iowa, he has said that he would vote for Obama "if the election was held today". The only democrat he has ever voted for was Bill Clinton "the best republican we've ever had." He wouldn't vote for Hillary Clinton over any of the Republican candidates, because of the effect of so many Matthews-style right-wing commentators who have built entire careers on hating Hillary.

Of course, I think that this is significant. He is caught up in Obama fever. This may mean that Obama could have the success with republicans that Clinton did. Yet we didn't have so many of these republican owned voting machines back then so who knows.