Obama Soaks Up New Status In Virginia

Presumptive Democratic Nominee Stumps In State He Hopes To Turn Blue In November

(CBS/AP)  Barack Obama reveled Thursday in his newfound status as the likely Democratic nominee and signaled that Republicans face a fierce fight over Virginia this fall, a state long-held by the GOP.

"I'm proud of America for giving me this opportunity, but we've still got work to do," the Illinois senator told a crowd in this southeastern city of about 20,000 on the border with Tennessee.

Obama was holding two events in the Southern state where Democrats sense opportunity this year given several years of the party's inroads fueled by the population-swelling, liberal-to-moderate northern swath of the state.

The last time Democrats won Virginia in a presidential election was 1964 when Lyndon B. Johnson was the nominee. George W. Bush comfortably won the state twice, but he lost the northern part to Democrat John Kerry four years ago. Voters there were critical in helping Democrats retain the governor's mansion in 2005 and seize a GOP-held Senate seat in 2006 that gave Democrats control of Congress.

Two top Democrats whose names also have been mentioned as possible vice presidential candidates - Gov. Tim Kaine and Sen. Jim Webb - as well as Mark Warner, a former governor running for an open Senate seat, were campaigning with Obama at least one of the two events. The second is an outdoor rally in the northern Virginia town of Bristow.

Obama campaigned in Virginia two days after clinching the Democratic nomination, and a day after his fallen rival Hillary Rodham Clinton signaled she would endorse him at an event on Saturday. He had words of praise for his vanquished foe.

"Obviously, we've had a pretty exciting 48 hours. This is on the heels of a 16-month, 54-primary and caucus campaign with outstanding candidates, none more outstanding than Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton. I congratulate her on her outstanding campaign. I know I'm a better candidate for campaigning against her. She's tough," Obama said.

He had lengthy words of praise for Warner, who was at the first event, saying: "Mark has provided extraordinary leadership that has achieved extraordinary results. He knows that the challenges we face are not about left versus right or Democrat versus Republican they are about the past versus the future."

Overall, Obama sounded the part of a general election candidate, referring in his remarks to the choice voters will have "this fall" and talking of "an Obama administration." He also criticized John McCain, primarily over health care, and sought anew to link his GOP rival to the unpopular president.

Although health care was a point of contention during the Democratic primary contests, Obama had not aggressively gone after McCain’s plan until today, reports CBS News' Maria Gavrilovic. Obama called McCain’s plan “Bush-lite” and accused him of covering only the “healthy and the wealthy.”
(Click here to read Gavrilovic's full post in CBS News' "From The Road" blog).

“Instead of offering a comprehensive plan to cover all Americans and control rising costs,” Obama said, “he’s offering a tax cut that doesn’t even amount to half of the cost of an average family health care plan, and won’t make health care affordable for the hardworking Americans who need help most."

Obama took a congratulatory call from McCain around 7 p.m. Wednesday night that lasted several minutes, aides to the Democratic candidate said. "They talked about how they wanted to have a cordial campaign going forward," said Obama spokesman Tommy Vietor.

The Democrat argued that health care premiums have risen faster than wages since Mr. Bush took office, and that millions more people in the country are uninsured "yet John McCain actually wants to double down on the failed policies that have done so little to help ordinary Americans."

"Like George Bush, Senator McCain has a plan that only takes care of the healthy and the wealthy," Obama said, noting that McCain's plan doesn't provide for universal health care coverage and arguing that it would drive up costs.

[prinkamste]

Come on America, think! the past we can look back on to see the horrable mistakes we made with God and our nation when it comes to our racism. We have enemies everywhere an can not continue to think like this. Black Americans have always been the most trusted of groups to our service as a nation. Lets not make mistakes that will destroy our country by focusing on unfounded fears. This man can help all of us. Obama for 2008!

[boycot-china]

To Senator Obama, Dana417, and the rest of the True Color Democrats. I am a loyal but really mad Democrat who has 7 voting family members. We campaigned energetically for Senator Clinton, but now we want to do the same for Senator Obama, but calling us %u201CYou angry Dems who vote McCain are Morons%u201D does not heal but promote Senator Obama%u2019s true colors of racism and division. My wife and I went down to our local Pierce County party headquarters two days ago and offered to help in anyway we could. WE WERE TURNED AWAY AND TOLD THAT THEY DIDN%u2019T NEED ANY FORMER CLINTON HELP AND THEY TOOK OUR TELEPHONE NUMBER. I WATCHED THE LADY THROW OUR NUMBER IN THE TRASH! I experienced it because I was there! Is that the kind of healing that you Obama elitists want?

[gocubs58]

LibH8er says - "I can''t believe that the press no longer hides the fact that they are biased and left wing. It''s like they''ve ''''come out of the closet.''''
------

Yeah, it''s kinda like how Fox News is a mouthpiece for the RNC.

[libra127]

There is an interesting article on the relative electability of Clinton, Obama, and McCain in today''s NY Times. It is called "Vote by Numbers" by Op-Ed Contributer Neil deGrasse Tyson:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/06/opinion/06tyson.html?_r=1&ref=opinion&oref=slogin

It analyzes current polls to show that Clinton would beat McCain, but McCain would beat Obama in the GE.

[libh8er]

I can''t believe that the press no longer hides the fact that they are biased and left wing. It''s like they''ve ''come out of the closet.''

[ouronlyhope]

IF you support Hillary because of her stance on issues...then Obama SHOULD be your second choice. ON THE ISSUES they are 95% similar.
If you support Hillary because of her EXPERIENCE...then Sen. Obama has VERY SIMILAR experience...the difference is that Hillary was a lawyer who went to the White House & then to the Senate...whereas Obama worked as a community organizer...then a lawyer who became an Illinois Senator & then a U.S. Senator from Ill. (not so different)
If you support Hillary because she is a WOMAN...then I''m sorry. There aren''t any other women running this year.
However, If you refuse to VOTE for Obama just because you are angry that Hillary didn''t win the Nomination...You need to rethink your values...because this type of manipulative attitude says nothing good about you.
I would vote for Hillary if somehow she becomes the nominee, NOT because I am not a STRONG Obama supporter who believes that he didn''t get the nomination through political manipulation & blatant racism, but because I LOVE this country. I DO think Obama will do a better job...but having a Democrat in the White House is vitally important at this time. A Dem Pres combined with a Dem majority in the congress can go a long way to correcting some of the outrageous mistakes made by the last 7 years.
Do YOU love this country? or do you just want to create hate & dissent because you are angry?

[vet_sk]

boycot-china,
If that really happened, please let the Obama HQ know. That is unacceptable.

[boycot-china]

To DANA417 and the rest of the True Color Democrats. I am a loyal Democrat who has 7 voting family members. We campaigned energetically for Senator Clinton, but now we want to do the same for Senator Obama, but calling us %u201CYou angry Dems who vote McCain are Morons%u201D does not heal but promote Senator Obama%u2019s true colors of racism and division. My wife and I went down to our local Pierce County party headquarters two days ago and offered to help in anyway we could. WE WERE TURNED AWAY AND TOLD THAT THEY DIDN%u2019T NEED ANY FORMER CLINTON HELP AND THEY TOOK OUR TELEPHONE NUMBER. I WATCHED THE LADY THROW OUR NUMBER IN THE TRASH! I experienced it because I was there! Is that the kind of healing that you Obama elitists want?

[vet_sk]

Sorry but if you are still supporting Hillary after this week when in front of the whole world she said that she needs time to make a decision since (I paraphrase) "the emotions of the campaign are overwheming and I need time to make a decision."

What does this say about her ability to control her emotions and make good decisions in times of stress?

What was she thinking to say those things. I know her campaign has ate itself and replaced its leadership with the Terry Mcauliff by my gosh, for the last several weeks, I was embarrassed for her.

[ouronlyhope]

Obama is living up to his promises:

Yes, I am MORE proud of my country today, than I have ever been in my adult life. It''s true, I have supported Sen. Obama ever since I started reading up on the candidates at the end of Feb. I wasn''t one of his first supporters...but I have been impressed over & over again at his high level of morality & his common sense approach to todays problems.

More than all else...I''ve been waiting for years for a candidate that is serious about limiting (or ending all together) the influence of special interest groups in Washington Politics. These groups represent huge amounts of money and only micro-numbers of U.S. Citizens. Yet they have historically gotten what they want time & again...limiting the effectiveness of bill after bill being passed in Congress. These ''political power plays'' have been pulling more & more of the focus off ''We The People'' while forwarding the interests of ''We the RICH''.

Sen. Obama is already showing his determination to stop the influence of Lobbyists & PAC''s...just as promised. He is proving that he can fill the shoes of a President for ALL U.S. Citizens...not just the wealthy.

BTW...I am a white female who, up until this year, had never voted anything but Republican

[ouronlyhope]

The BIGGEST flip-flopper in history strikes again!

McCain 4 years ago:

Bush''s tax cuts - he said they are irresponsible & he can''t in good conscience vote for them because they help the richest 10% more than the middle-class

Ethics in Politics %u2013 Insisted that %u2018strait-talk%u2019 about issues & not attacking your opponent was the way to run a campaign

Invasion of Privacy %u2013 said, %u201Cpresidents have the obligation to obey and enforce laws that are passed by Congress and signed into law by the president, no matter what the situation is%u201D


McSame%u2026oops, I mean McCain Now:

Bush''s tax cuts - going to make them permanent (huh? what happened to your conscience?)

Ethics in Politics %u2013 Since %u2018strait-talk%u2019 about issues important to McCain aren%u2019t popular, lets attack the other candidates

Invasion of Privacy - believes that President Bush%u2019s program of wiretapping without warrants was lawful

[bfjones666]

Numerically speaking, to think that every single vote that was cast for Hillary Clinton becomes a voting block is beyond ridiculous. You do remember that a number of women voted just to have he chance to finally vote for a woman. The will revert back to their parties. A number of Republicans voted, many for nefarious reasons and they too will revert back to their party. A really large number are just Democrats who felt more affinity to Clinton than to Obama. Now that the race is over, they too will vote Democratic in November. People who keep throwing around this "18 million vote" argument need to do a little math and use a little reason. Clinton does not control anything at this point and those who choose to vote for McCain because Hillay didn''t win are obviously free to do so.

[ouronlyhope]

Nobody flip-flops like McCain:

McCain 4 years ago:

Military & veterans-strong support in all areas

Influence of the Affluent & Big business (lobbyists) in Washington politics-worked to Decrease it through a Bill co-authored with Sen. Obama (didn''t know that, did you?)


McSame%u2026oops, I mean McCain Now:

Military-rather than focus on the biggest hotbed of the Al-Qaeda (which is in Afganistan), he wants to keep us in the Iraq War (even though recent Pentagon reports say we are doing more harm than good there) And this in spite of the fact that our troops are exhausted & overstretched with record suicide rates and decreased enrollments in the Military. With his plan, he would have to enact a DRAFT to keep (or increase, as he proposes, our troop levels). PLUS, he has repeatedly stated that he believes we need to start a conflict with Iran, even though we can''t sustain the two major conflicts we are already in. I don''t care about the Beach Boys joke...I just don''t think MORE conflict is an option right now.

Veterans-he loves to talk & joke with the Vietnam vets, yet won''t support the new GI Bill because it would make ''getting out'' of the military ''too appealing''!?! (So basically he want them you stay in till you get killed?)

Influence in Washington politics - he is under investigation by the FEC for illegal campaign contributions and MORE FRIGHTENING (!) he has received the largest percentage of campaign funds from ...yeah, you guessed it...LOBBYISTS & BIG BUSINESSES.

[tiredofobama]

Facing criticism, Obama modifies his Jerusalem stance last night. How many other issues is he going to change for the election? I am still very hurt and shocked that it took so long for Senator Obama to finally quit his Church and he only did so in response to quieting the complaints. Here''''''''s another example of Senator Obama''''''''s hypocritical stance. He complained openly about a white Imus, but was very careful not to apply the same intense scrutiny to his black pastor. What''''''''s the beef? Senator Obama tried to mend the racial barrier that he has created, but in reality he created more of a divide instead of a healing. Why is Senator Obama lying to America? He lost my vote, because he''''''''s trying to pull another con job just like the dirty land developer that Senator Obama still accepts money from. Yes, the same developer that was in court this week for illegal money laundering. The same guy who gave the Obama family special rates on the Obama''''''''s multi-million dollar home. I wonder if Senator Obama is going to change his story on that one too?


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Posted by boycot-china at 09:12 AM : Jun 06, 2008

Good point!

[tiredofobama]

Men have obcessed enough about being president of the United States to have a few of them assassinated. They''ve obcessed over being president since they were children. They competed in ruthless backbiting campaigns scandalizing each other, cheating on their campaign funding and their wives, makeing cigar smoking back room deals, held terrible debates yelling at each other, then kissing each other''s behind when they hate each other, and all the while pissing on their constituents, just to get the almighty dollar!

A SUCCESSFUL POLITICAL WOMAN WANTS TO BE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES AND SHE''S LABELED A PSYCHO, BACKSTABBING B***CH! These bloated old bigots who got where they are by feeding their ego''s that they know what''s best for this country! They''ve killed millions of people! They''ve robbed you for years!

And look what a mell of hess we''re in right now because of some bloated ego, manifest destiny spewing back room dealing arrogant smart a/s/s inexperienced CRACKHEAD just like Obama!

And you roboturkeys and the DNC expect me to vote for this inexperienced overbloated goofball just like BUSH because they made back room deals to get him nominated, like I OWE them my vote?

Whatta laugh!

[boycot-china]

Facing criticism, Obama modifies his Jerusalem stance last night. How many other issues is he going to change for the election? I am still very hurt and shocked that it took so long for Senator Obama to finally quit his Church and he only did so in response to quieting the complaints. Here''''s another example of Senator Obama''''s hypocritical stance. He complained openly about a white Imus, but was very careful not to apply the same intense scrutiny to his black pastor. What''''s the beef? Senator Obama tried to mend the racial barrier that he has created, but in reality he created more of a divide instead of a healing. Why is Senator Obama lying to America? He lost my vote, because he''''s trying to pull another con job just like the dirty land developer that Senator Obama still accepts money from. Yes, the same developer that was in court this week for illegal money laundering. The same guy who gave the Obama family special rates on the Obama''''s multi-million dollar home. I wonder if Senator Obama is going to change his story on that one too?

[craigh9]

WE ARE BEGINNING GRASS ROOTS ORGANIZATIONS ALL OVER THE COUNTRY AND THE INTERNET.

Sorry, but you are whipping a dead horse. Hillary is old guard and if his primary season has shown us anything it''s that the people are tired of the status quo. The torch has been passed within the democratic party to a newer, younger generation and the party will not retreat from that. Hillary had her chance but she didn''t get it done. Fact is, she will never get another shot simply because her ways are outdated.

[mcvet]

Change is NEVER easy but is always necessary. NEVER in my lifetime have we been able to move the nation forward without change in direction. This man can and will do a good job helping US do just that. You see what we have gotten away from, what the GOP has created for us is a Corporate mentality toward Government. NOTHING is farther from what WE are about and want this nation is about. WE the PEOPLE are the Government, not some leader. The NATION moves forward and makes the greatest progress when we have a LEADER who understands that, a leader who LISTENS to WE the PEOPLE and looks for ways to make it possible to take the nation where WE the people want to take it. When we have people like Bush in office, people who are arrogant and act like they know what is best for WE the people then we REVERSE the process. We REVERSE the basis of WHY we were ONCE look upon by the rest of the Free world as a model. Sieg Heil Bush

[mcvet]

LOL, you''''re one single pathetic whiny *****, that doesn''''t make a movement, well perhaps a bowel movement.


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Posted by taddles2 at 01:34 AM : Jun 06, 2008
+ report abuse

LOL Good one!!

[mcvet]

Actually thats not quite half. thats about 49 percent of the dem party, thats why you lost.

Also, if you think voting for McCain will help Hillary your wrong. The only future she has is if she campaigns her suit pants off for Obama. If he loses she will be blamed and her political career is over.


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Posted by jedi080808 at 02:22 AM : Jun 06, 2008
+ report abuse

I wouldn''t worry about them. The poster is either a disgruntled supporter of Senator Clinton and if that''s the case they will come around. It''s tough losing a close race no matter who you are. OR they are one of the Nazi Ditto Heads who''s ONLY chance of remaining relivant is to find a way to create division in the party. They are the sad one''s because in their very small minds hanging on by your finger nails with McSame is going to keep them in the spotlight. That''s always been the problem with Nazi''s, they never understand when their Wedge Issue Politics is over. Sieg Heil Bush