Obama 'electrifies' crowd with his message, mingling

Source: Huntsville Times

Obama 'electrifies' crowd with his message, mingling
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
By PATRICIA C. McCARTER
Times Staff Writer patricia.mccarter@htimes.com

Nation is 'hungry for change,' senator says

For a hairdresser and a retired teacher, $7 sausage quesadillas afforded as intimate an experience with Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama as most of the supporters who paid $1,000 for beef tenderloin and roasted vegetables.

Shirley Jordan, who has been fixing Anita Garner's hair for 20 years, sat with her friend on the patio at Humphrey's restaurant, just a few feet from the alley where Obama would walk to his fundraiser luncheon at the Heritage Club. They arrived 90 minutes before the Illinois senator, their cameras ready.

Shortly before Obama walked past, Garner wrote a sign and taped it to an empty chair at their wrought-iron table: "Reserved for our future President Obama."

"I like what he has to say," Garner said, her hands shaking with nervousness as she wrote out the sign, "but I'm still in the thinking phase."



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From the article:

Two men with signs near the Heritage Club door gave Obama less of a thumbs-up.
"Anybody but Hillary, Even You," their placards read.

Richard French, a Madison retiree who characterized himself as an advocate of American values, said he considered Obama the lesser of two evils, "but even if my father, God rest his soul, ran on the Democratic ticket, I wouldn't vote for him."

If he would opt for universal, single payer health care, he'd have it all.

. . . who the best campaigner is among the three leading candidates. Obama's "electrifying." Edwards is capable of fast poll-rises. Hillary is much improved and has Bill with her.