Bands, Beer, and Barack?
CHICAGO -- What do you expect on a cold Friday night in Chicago? Bands...beer..and Barack?
Well this isn't a typical night for the Chicago youth or for Barack Obama.
Obama has spent the past week speaking to students on college campuses throughout eastern Iowa and on the eve of his weekend with Oprah Winfrey, he's gearing up at a low-dollar fund-raiser w/his young supporters.
In about an hour, he'll speak 20- and 30-somethings in the dimly light, damp smelling Riviera Theater in in Chicago's Uptown neighborhood.
The rap group, Cool Kids, just performed and we are listening to the band, Changes. After Obama's remarks, he will be followed by special guest, Macy Gray. Also performing, Jeff Tweedy as well as Stephan Jenkins and Leo Kremer from Third Eye Blind. Tickets for the event were sold on barackobama.com for $50.
UPDATE - 11:21 p.m. ET:
Barack Obama just told his hometown crowd that he is ready for a victory. "It turns out we might win. It's possible" Obama said, "They said it wasn't possible but it's possible."
Obama joked about his "cousin Cheney" and teased those who voted for George Bush. "When they do these genealogical things you're hoping that you are related to Martin Luther King or Alexander the Great, not Cheney!"
He drew a loud applause when he criticized other Democrats for running "the conventional text book Washington campaign."
"Triangulating and poll-testing our positions because we are worried about what Mitt or Rudy or Fred or Tom or whoever will say about us, that just won't do," Obama said.
Obama also talked about Hillary Clinton's comments that he's been thinking about running for president since he was a little boy.
"Senator Clinton has been looking through my kindergarten papers. I couldn't write essays in kindergarten. I could write mom. I couldn't write essays about being president," Obama said.
"It's silly season in politics," he added, echoing a phrase that has become commonplace in this primary season.