Morning News - Barack Obama (Sep 3)

From the Associated Press:

 

DEERFIELD BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Sen. Joe Biden assured older Jewish voters Tuesday that Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama will be strong on protecting Israel, which he said is less secure now than when President Bush took office. 

Biden, Obama's vice presidential running mate, laid out his own history on Israeli issues for the audience of several hundred at a Broward County retirement community and emphatically said Obama stands right along side him on Israel. 

Biden said he has fought the sale of sophisticated weapons to Arab nations, has known every Israeli prime minister since Golda Meir and has co-sponsored legislation to fight Palestinian terrorism. 

"I am chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee," Biden said. "I give you my word as a Biden — I would not have given up that job to be Barack Obama's vice president if I didn't in my gut and in my heart and in my head know that Barack Obama is exactly where I am on Israel. And he is."

… He also said the terrorist threat to Israel has increased, along with the threat from Iran as it tries to develop nuclear weapons. 

"By any objective fact, Israel is less secure today in the world than it was eight years ago," Biden said. "I promise you ... we will make it more secure."

From the Sun Sentinel:

 

U.S. Sen. Joe Biden, the Democrats' blunt-talking vice presidential pick, on Tuesday put his foreign policy experience on display for South Floridians and reiterated that he and Barack Obama will be wholehearted supporters of Israel. 

At rallies in Deerfield Beach and West Palm Beach, Obama's running mate reached out to Jewish voters by tossing out Yiddish phrases and promising that the Democratic ticket would make Israel safer by improving America's credibility across the globe. 

Biden, 65, also repeatedly cast himself as a scrappy fighter and champion of middle-class values. 

"A straight left and right hook," Biden said of his campaign style during an evening town hall meeting before 1,200 backers in West Palm Beach. "We ain't laying down." 

The Delaware senator distanced himself from an Israeli news story Monday that reported he said Israel would have to "reconcile" itself with a nuclear Iran. Biden called the report erroneous and outlined a long list of measures he's supported on behalf of Israel. 

At the event at the Palm Beach County Convention Center and at an hourlong rally at the Century Village clubhouse in Deerfield Beach, Biden said he wouldn't have relinquished his position as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee without being certain of Obama's support for the Jewish state. 

"I would not have given up that job if I didn't in my heart, in my gut and in my head know that Barack Obama is exactly where I am on Israel," Biden said. 

… At both appearances, Biden spoke of making health care more affordable and accessible and protecting Social Security against privatization. He stressed that the Democratic presidential team wants to improve national policies to ensure people are treated more fairly. 

"My mother has an expression: Walk a mile in my shoes," Biden told an audience of about 800 in Deerfield Beach. "[Obama] understands the words dignity and respect." 

Biden also pushed for a national catastrophic insurance fund that would pool government resources to fund relief for hurricanes and other disasters. 

"The last time I heard, hurricanes don't have the word ' Florida' on them. They don't have the word ' Louisiana.' They are acts of God," he said. "We have to pass this fund."

From the Flathead Beacon:

 

The Obama Campaign secured an office in Bigfork, [Montana], and opens its doors to the public on Wednesday September 3rd. 

“We encourage everybody from all political backgrounds to come and learn more about Senator Obama and Senator Biden,” says state Communications Director Caleb Weaver. Weaver says Bigfork will be the 17th Obama office in Montana. A Kalispell office opened in August, and a Whitefish office is slated to open soon. 

Weaver says the opening of this Bigfork office is part of a statewide effort to engage in face to face contact. Montana is one of 18 battleground states, and the Obama campaign is working to reach out to as many people as possible. 

“By getting people engaged in the political process, that’s how real change is going to happen,” Weaver says.

From the Indy Week:

 

Just after 2 p.m. the day after Sen. Barack Obama accepted the Democratic nomination for president, people were streaming into the campaign's downtown Durham office at 112 W. Main St. 

Inside, they met volunteer organizer Beth Silberman, who sat behind a desk and used her laptop computer to find the contact information of the field organizer closest to them. That organizer would tell them about canvassing and voter registration in their neighborhoods, and about events scheduled during the Labor Day weekend—the "Convention Weekend of Action," as the Obama campaign called it. 

Silberman said the phone rang constantly throughout the afternoon. A log book on the table contained several pages of names and phone numbers of would-be volunteers. "We've had a lot of people walking in and asking what they can do," she said. 

Helen Featherson, a lifelong Durham resident who lives near White Rock Baptist Church, wrote down the field organizer's name on a Post-It note. She's been getting e-mails from the campaign for weeks, but her excitement over Obama's speech the night before finally brought her in. 

"I was just awestruck," she said of his speech. "I had my doubts in the beginning—can he pull this off? But he did. And wow, look at how much money he can raise from grassroots people. That reminds me, I've got to go home and make my donation online." 

… “The Triangle is going to be critically important to us in this election," said Paul Cox, spokesman for Obama's North Carolina campaign. Four of the campaign's 16 state offices are in the Triangle—one each in Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill and Cary. That's because the Triangle is home to many of the 600,000 people who've moved into the state since 2004. "We're counting on the demographic changes in the Triangle, the high growth, and the willingness of so many residents to support Sen. Obama to carry us over 50 percent in the election." 

Durham is arguably the most crucial part of the Triangle for Obama's campaign because it's home to the two most important demographic groups: newcomers and African-Americans. 

… Not only is North Carolina up for grabs this year, but Jensen said these demographic shifts could make it a "permanent swing state." 

For the campaign, all this translates to the hard work of going door-to-door to register the unregistered and make the pitch to those who are. That's why the field operation—the network of paid staffers and well-trained volunteers—is so crucial to the campaign's success. 

Faulkner Fox is lead organizer of the grassroots group Durham for Obama. "The enthusiasm has been absolutely unbelievable," she said. After the primary was over and the official campaign closed its local office, the all-local, all-volunteer group continued to work throughout the summer out of her house. "We couldn't wait two and a half months for them to come back, because the people of Durham wouldn't wait." 

Fox, who has worked on political campaigns since the 1980s, said she's never seen this kind of persistence among volunteers. As for demographics, she said that while the Durham for John Kerry campaign tended to attract a higher proportion of white volunteers, the Obama campaign is more diverse, about half black and half white, with a wide range of age groups. "The people who come to volunteer look like the City of Durham," she said.