Barack Obama, in low-key mode, gains admirers

<COLO, Iowa: Senator Barack Obama is not big on what he calls red-meat applause lines when he campaigns in small communities like this one, just northeast of Des Moines. He does not tell many jokes. He talks in even, measured tones, and at times is so low-key that he lulls his audiences into long, if respectful, silences.

Obama likes to recount the chapters of his unusual life: growing up in Hawaii, living overseas, community organizing in Chicago, working in the Illinois Legislature, though not his years as a U.S. senator.

His audiences are rapt, if sometimes a tad restless; long periods can go by when there is not a rustle in the crowd. Yet Iowa is not the Fleet Center, and this appeal - "letting people see how I think," as Obama put it in an interview - could clearly go a long way in drawing the support of Iowans who are turning out in huge numbers to see him in the state where the presidential voting process will start.

"I use a different style if I'm speaking to a big crowd; I can gin up folks pretty well," he said. "But when I'm in these town hall settings, my job is not to throw them a lot of red meat. I want to give them a sense of my thought process."

This evolution, or more precisely this attention to Obama's credentials as a campaigner in communities like this, comes in a week in which he has, with the report that he had nearly matched Clinton by raising $25 million in the first quarter of presidential fund-raising, left no doubt that he had the resources, and presumably the popular support, to potentially deny her the nomination.>




http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/04/08/news/obama.php

...Dr. Dean took him assign at some point and said "Kid--don't yell unless you REALLY have to."

As he gets out there, people are coming in droves to see him speak. What is extraordinary about Obama is that he enjoys an eclectic support base. He is most definitely on the rise.

Gobama.

The rumors of his potential stardom were out there but it's uncanny how he's followed up on them with substance.

What a joy to be excited about a candidate again!

Gobama!

It just feels so right that Senator Obama is in this race.
I am so proud of all of the Democrats running, I can support
any of them! I pray the american people get it right this time!
:patriot: :kick:

I knew coming in where he stood on most issues, but many claimed to not know. His town hall meetings where he has been addressing his position on every issue leaves not a shadow of a doubt as to where he stands. This supplements his already strong run with the meat needed to sway the issue-oriented Dems who are unsure who they will side with. Obama has staying power, and the hints of it are becoming obvious to all that pay attention. Gobama!

is a refreshing change--honest, genuine, low-key, and cerebral--from what we've had for the last 6 years. He is the Anti-Bush. I like that he doesn't try to manipulate the audience with cheesy "applause lines" and screechy, overblown rhetoric--he doesn't condescend or "perform".

The guy we are starting to see now is President Obama himself. Gobama! :)