All Blog Posts from From The Road

From CBS News' Dean Reynolds:

(CHICAGO) - Say what you will about Barack Obama. That he is a gifted and inspiring speaker. A well-educated and thoughtful man. A man with lots of devoted friends and who inspired millions of complete strangers to participate in the American democratic system.

He is a dogged, highly competitive campaigner, disciplined to a fault, suspicious of the news media and relentless in his pursuit of the presidency. A man with a healthy ego that is smart enough not to show it. Obama is all of these things.

But I have learned something about him in a year of following in his footsteps across the country and back. It is a quality that every politician covets. Jimmy Carter had none of it. Ronald Reagan had it in abundance.

It’s luck. Obama is a very lucky politician.

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From CBS News' Maria Gavrilovic:

(CHICAGO) - Barack and Michelle Obama voted this morning just shortly after 730am central time. The Obamas, accompanied by daughters, Sasha and Malia, did not wait in the long line outside of the Beulah Shoesmith polling station in Hyde Park.

Upon arriving, the Democratic nominee walked over to a table, where he and Michelle signed in. They then walked over the voting station, where they spent about twenty minutes filling out the ballots. Obama appeared relaxed, often smiling and joking with daughter, Malia.

After casting his ballot, Obama looked over to the press and said, "I voted." Cheers erupted in the polling station.

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From CBS News' Maria Gavrilovic:

(CHARLOTTE, N.C.) - Barack Obama wiped away tears as he spoke about his grandmother, Madelyn Dunham, who passed away today on the eve of the election.

Describing the moment as “bittersweet”, Obama said tonight, “Some of you heard that my grandmother, who helped raise me, passed away early this morning. Look she is going home. And she died peacefully in her sleep with my sister at her side – and so there is great joy as well as tears.”

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From CBS News' Maria Gavrilovic:

(JACKSONVILLE, FLA.) - Barack Obama had two messages for Florida voters today: expect more negative attacks but keep working, the election is not over.

“In these last 36 hours, we can’t afford to slow down, or sit back, or let up, not one minute, not one hour, not one second,” Obama said, adding, “We’ve gotta win Florida and win this election.”

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From CBS News' Maria Gavrilovic:

(JACKSONVILLE, FLA.) - Barack Obama will make a last-minute pitch to voters today in Florida, North Carolina and Virginia - battleground states that President Bush won in 2004 and states that the campaign is confident they can win on Tuesday. Aides believe that if they generate a high voter turnout in areas where Obama is already ahead, that will be the key to winning these battlegrounds.

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From CBS News' Maria Gavrilovic:

(CLEVELAND) - Bruce Springsteen and a crowd of thousands is a formula for a successful event, but Barack Obama’s rally tonight did not go off without a hitch.

Pouring rain came down about 10 minutes into the speech, just as Obama began to ridicule John McCain for being on the receiving end of Vice President Cheney's praise.

“You notice what happened when I started talking about Dick Cheney! Now – that’s all right. We’ve been through an 8-year storm but a new day is dawning,” Obama said and soldiered through the rest of his speech.

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From CBS News' Maria Gavrilovic:

(COLUMBUS, OHIO) - Despite his hectic schedule in the final two days of the campaign, Barack Obama couldn’t resist catching a glimpse of his opponent on "Saturday Night Live."

“I missed it yesterday, but I saw him on Youtube. John McCain was funny yesterday on 'Saturday Night Live,'” Obama told the thousands who gathered for rally at the Ohio State House today.

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From CBS News' Maria Gavrilovic:

(SPRINGFIELD, MO.) - Barack Obama heads to the Buckeye state today, where he will campaign in three major metropolitan areas.

His last-minute pitch to voters in Ohio will be in mostly Democratic counties that John Kerry won in 2004. Obama has to generate a high voter turnout in the urban and suburban areas of the state in order to win in on Tuesday.

Bruce Springsteen will headline the afternoon rally in Cleveland today - at the same location where Springsteen played a John Kerry rally on election eve in 2004. Thousands are expected to attend and Michelle Obama will also be on hand.

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From CBS News' Maria Gavrilovic:

(PUEBLO, COLO.) - Barack Obama ripped into John McCain for the Dick Cheney endorsement today, saying that he “really earned it.”

“That endorsement didn’t come easy. Senator McCain had to vote with George Bush 90 percent of the time and agree with Dick Cheney to get it,” Obama told the crowd of thousands who lined the downtown streets.

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CBS News' Maria Gavrilovic:

(HENDERSON, NEV.) - Barack Obama continued to warn voters today that in the last days of the campaign, John McCain’s tone and rhetoric against him will be intensified.

“He’s spending these last weeks calling me every name except a Child of God because that’s how you play the game in Washington,” Obama told a crowd of thousands at Coronado High School this morning.

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