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Live Blogging Oprah and Obama in Iowa
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ShareDecember 08, 2007 4:19 PM
5:22PM: Obama urges the crowd to "stand up" and, of course, to caucus. "Thank you Iowa, I love you," he concludes. And that brings us to the end of our live blog! Thanks for reading and please share your own thoughts with us.
5:18PM: Jabbing at Hillary Clinton, Obama says he will be disclosing all his kindergarten papers tomorrow. The Clinton campaign earlier pointed to Obama's presidential ambitions as a kindergartner as proof that Obama had been running for president for a very long time. The Clinton campaign later said it was a joke.
5:17PM: The senator promised to bring the troops home in 16 months and close Guantanamo.
5:10PM: Something happened in the audience... Obama is coaching a paramedic through the crowd, but he gets right back to the speech.
5:08PM: The crowd just suggested Obama get Oprah as his VP. Obama says "that would be a demotion."
5:07PM: Obama is stumping with Oprah and Michelle Obama as the backdrop.
5:00PM: Obama spent a fair amount of timing praising Iowans as good people. As an Iowa native, I must inject a little opinion here and agree with that point.
4:58PM: "For her to take the risk of stepping out of her comfort zone is extraordinary," Obama says, asking for applause for Oprah.
4:54PM: Oprah says Obama is "the one" and there he is. "You know you've got a pretty good show when I'm the third best speaker," Obama says. He started by talking about his wife, not his high profile guest.
4:49PM: "These are dangerous times, I know you know it- you're all watching American Idol trying to forget about it..." Mixing her television world into the speech.
4:47PM: After some safe issues- health care and education, Oprah hit on Iraq- saying Obama had the clarity and conviction to stand up against the war. As my co-worker Susie points out, she's taking this new political track pretty far.
4:46PM: Oprah just joked about those lost little girls from earlier in the event when talking about good parenting. She's earned a lot of laughs and several rounds of applause thus far. I think we've learned an important lesson today: People like Oprah.
4:43PM: She's talking health care. Iowa aside: Hy-Vee Hall, home to this event, gets it's funny name from the local grocery chain.
4:41PM: Oprah just admitted that she's a little out of her realm and it makes her nervous.
4:37PM: "For the very first time in my life, I feel compelled to stand up and to speak out for the man who I believe has a new vision for America." Oprah says she isn't there to tell anyone what to think, but she hopes people will think... a nice tie-back to her intro theme music.
4:34PM: Oprah hits the stage to Aretha Franklin's "Think." The crowd in Hy-Vee Hall in Des Moines looks like it's spilling out the door. Her first word "Iowa!"
4:31PM: Michelle Obama is on stage. She joked that Oprah and Barack couldn't make it. A very prompt start for the event.
4:28PM: The event is scheduled to start any minute, but so far all we see is a podium and a "Change We Can Believe In" sign. The crowd is noisily milling about. Seems the show is delayed because of two missing girls... but they found them! All is good again in Iowa.
4:19PM: Check back here at 4:30PM EST (3:30 CST) when I will be live blogging the Oprah-Obama event in Des Moines. You will be able to watch the streaming video on ABCNews.com.
Full disclosure: I'm sitting at my desk in DC, far away from the action, but getting the same view that everyone outside of Iowa will have.
Some background:
The Des Moines Register says Iowa has 40,000 Oprah viewers daily.
The paper also reports that 23,000 tickets have been distributed for today’s event.
I know at least four of those won’t be getting any use. My Uncle Brad, who runs a t-shirt shop across from the Obama office on the East side of Des Moines and says he is going to caucus for Kucinich, was given tickets twice this week, but he can't find anyone to take them.
One reason might be all the hype. According to this blogger’s grandfather (a long-time Iowa Caucus voter and frequent campaign event attendee), "I'm not going because it's too big of a crowd."
But certainly thousands of Iowans will be there, and you can come talk about it here.
December 8, 2007 in Vote 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (0)
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