From The Road
September 27, 2008 9:11 PM

Obama Braves The Rain

By
Maria Gavrilovic
Topics
Barack Obama
(CBS)
From CBS News' Maria Gavrilovic:

(FREDERICKSBURG, VA.) - With only 38 days left until the election, not even a rainstorm could prevent Barack Obama from campaigning tonight. He spoke to thousands of young voters at the University of Mary Washington and, as it poured, the only solace that he could give was to offer to pay for the crowd's dry cleaning.

"I'd like to cover everybody's dry cleaning bill here tonight," Obama quipped. But when he realized that someone may actually take him up on the offer, he corrected himself. "I can't because I got to use it on the campaign, so consider it one more modest contribution to our efforts to change the country."

Obama stood in the rain without an umbrella or a hat, and delivered an almost 30-minute speech with Joe Biden by his side the entire time.

The crowd didn't seem to mind the rain – most remained at the rally despite the muddy conditions. Often incorporating the rain into the stump – Obama said, "This young generation that's out here – the young people understand that the clouds – these too will pass that a brighter day will come"

Add a Comment
by franklin_opt September 29, 2008 8:02 PM EDT
Yolanda011, that is a moving post. Here is a link to the speech:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Ctgw9VyV_0
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by yolanda011 September 28, 2008 2:00 AM EDT
I just came from this event and it was a day I will never forget. The amount of people that showed up was totally mind blowing. Me and my parents stood in line for over 2.5 hours when we finally arrived at the gate they said they were not letting anyone else in. Then it starting storming (lightning, thunder and raining) we still stayed out there(with no umbrellas because they told us they were not allowed in) just hoping to hear a word from Obama. Then if it couldn''t have gotten any worse my father who is 74 years old passed out and was rushed to the emergency room(by ambulance) from the college. After waiting all that time and going through so much my father still was never able to see Obama on stage or even hear him say anything about "change".

This hurt me so much because my father gives so much of himself to other people that he neglects himself. I just wanted to see the smile that would have came across his face to hear from the man that possibly may be the first African American president. This was unheard of in his time. My father is doing fine and resting in the hospital. I just wish Obama could read this story to really realize how important he is to us right now especially to the older generation.
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