By John McCormick
RENO, Nev. - The power went out on Sen. Barack Obama this morning during his first appearance on the campaign trail following a whirlwind visit to Hawaii to visit his gravely ill grandmother.
About 12 minutes into his speech inside a baseball stadium at the University of Nevada-Reno, Obama suddenly fell silent as a circuit breaker of some sort kicked out.
With the lack of a public address system, the Illinois Democrat used his fingers to explain that it would be about five minutes before the power would come back on, then briefly left the stage to shake hands with the crowd.
About three minutes later, the power was back on and Obama took a subtle shot at Republican rival Sen. John McCain as the audience of about 11,000 applauded working sound system.
"Hello. Hello. Hello. I told you folks are having trouble making their electricity bills," Obama said. "Either that or somebody from the McCain campaign kicked our plug out of the socket. That was just a joke, guys. There's no evidence of foul play."
Obama also made note of the kindness he said has been extended to his grandmother.
"I just want to personally say how grateful I am," he said. "There are so many people who sent out their thoughts and prayers, sent my grandmother flowers and get-well cards and I just want you to know it meant the world to her and it means the world to me. Thank you everybody for being so gracious. It was really nice. Thank you. It means a lot."
After spending less than 24 hours in Hawaii and about 15 hours in transit between there and the mainland, the Democratic nominee has three events today in the battleground states of Nevada and New Mexico.
Obama appeared eager to reengage with McCain, as he noted President Bush's early vote for the Arizona senator on Friday.
"That's no surprise because when it comes to the policies that matter for middle class families, there's not an inch of daylight between George Bush and John McCain," he said.
Obama said McCain's efforts to distance himself from the president are disingenuous because he has voted with the president 90 percent of the time during the past eight years.
"That's right, he decided to really stick it to George Bush - 10 percent of the time," Obama said sarcastically, drawing applause from the partisan crowd.
"Like George Bush, he wants less government regulation of business - he said it again just yesterday, the 21st time he's called for less regulation just this year," he said.
Responding to a recent line of attack from the McCain campaign that involves a now famous plumber, Obama said he would not raise taxes on most Americans.
"If you make less than a quarter-million dollars a year, which includes, by the way, 98 percent of small business owners, including plumbers, yes, you won't see your taxes increase one single dime," he said.
Obama also confronted a recent remark from Republican running mate Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin who suggested she enjoyed campaign in "pro-America" parts of the nation.
"There are no real or fake parts of this country," Obama said. "We're not separated by pro-America and anti-America parts of this country."
Obama said he's ready for the final 10 days of campaign trail battle.
"We're not going to let George Bush pass the torch to John McCain and we're not going to let John McCain forget his record over the past 26 years," he said.
McCain's campaign responded with a statement that suggested Obama has also voted with the president on key issues.
"If Barack Obama wanted to run against George W. Bush, he should've run against him four years ago, because his opponent is John McCain - a war hero and bipartisan reformer," Tucker Bounds said in a statement. "For a candidate who only months ago said he voted with President Bush 'for the most part,' Barack Obama certainly likes to vilify him now. Americans would have been better off if Barack Obama hadn't joined with the President to vote for virtually every Bush spending bill, voting for the Bush-Cheney energy bill and doubling down on the Bush administration legacy of out-of-control spending."
While much attention is often given to the battlegrounds of Missouri and Ohio, Nevada also has an impressive record when it comes to picking the winner in presidential elections.
Since 1912, the state has gotten it right every year -- except once, when it sided with Gerald Ford over Jimmy Carter in 1976.
Comments
It's a funny title, Obama blows circuit..
I expected to come in and find a right wing blog.
http://soundclick.com/333maxwell
Posted by: Chas Holman | October 25, 2008 2:34 PM
"I just want to personally say how grateful I am,"
Typical republican responses:
1) We haven't heard enough of how greatful he really is.
2) The paper he is reading this off of is a fake. No raised seal or signature.
3) The "liberal" media has not looked into whether he is really grateful.
4) If Palin had said this the democrats would be all over this.
5) Ayers, Wright, Acorn, Hitler, Brutus, Gengis Khan, and the fact that the iceburg that sunk the Titanic actually came from Obamas refrigerator.
Posted by: bill "Hussein" r. | October 25, 2008 3:08 PM
This is a game-changer!
How can Obama run a country if he can't prevent any logistical flubs on his 24/7 campaign?
~snark~
Posted by: Nick | October 25, 2008 3:15 PM
Clinton Years Higher Taxes more Prosperity
Bush Years Lower Taxes Economic melt down.
Republicans are two for two.
1921-1929 Republican presidents prior to stock market crash.
2000-2008 Republican President prior to Meltdown.
The Republican party despised Clinton in part because his
Economic policies did not favor the wealthy. They dismantled
It and now we are getting all the benefits of trickle down economics.
Mr. Obama plans to bring back the Clinton policies. The only people
Who should be sad is the wealthy.
Keep ignoring the middle class and the working poor.
middle class whiner
Posted by: kb | October 25, 2008 3:23 PM
I see you all have not lost your fight :
GOOD! Because we have a lot to do. You! (the American people) are going to have to take back control of your elected government at every level, and set your government back on the right path of service to you, and the greater good of the World.
Barack Obama and the democrats are your best hope of doing that now. Tell your family, friends, and everyone you know to support them as best they can. Because the Bush McCain vote fraud, vote cheating, vote buying, vote manipulation machine is already hard at work to cheat you again. And we all know what a disaster that has been the past 8 years of Bush McCain.
Barack Obama and the democrats will need all the power you can give them at every level of government (Federal, State, County, and local City elected governments). Obama and the democrats will have an enormous mess to fix for the American people, and the rest of the World. A mess caused by the corrupt Bush McCain administration.
You see, starting back in 2000, and before 911, it was mostly the Republican governors, Republican legislatures, and county elected Republican officials that conspired with the corrupt Bush McCain administration to raise college, and university tuitions by the fastest, and highest rate increases in American history. Some state tuitions went up by as much as a WHOPPING! 30% in one year.
The reason the Bush McCain administration did this was to force struggling working class kids into the military to pay for the sudden jump in tuition. Which was forced on them by the corrupt Bush McCain administration, and their corrupt Republican Governors, and republican controlled state legislatures.
See, Bush McCain had plans to get us into all these immoral, foolish, criminal, and unnecessary wars from the start. So they could use these wars to seize power, and later to get reelected. But, for their evil plan to work they needed more volunteer soldiers struggling to pay for an education whose blood they could spill to help them seize more power. Remember Bush McCain's "MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!" theatrics.
The exploitation, and lost lives of these finest Americans is despicable, disgusting, immoral, corrupt and criminal. And it makes me SICK, and ANGRY!
You will have to vote for Obama, and the democrats in overwhelming numbers to overcome the Bush McCain vote fraud machine. Vote early if you can. Then help your fellow Americans cast their votes now, and on through election day. Vote for Obama, and the democrats like your life, and the lives of your loved ones depends on it. Because it does. You will not survive 4 more years of "Let Them Eat Cake" Bush McCain, and their republican allies.
Just look at the mess we have now.
You can fix this mess with your votes for Obama, and the democrats. And REMEMBER, no matter which of us may stumble or fall, the rest of you must continue to surge forward for Barack Obama, and the democrats, and for your-selves most of all. The children, and the World are counting on us.
It's in your hands now. And I know you will get it done.
God bless all of you.
JACK SMITH - WORKING CLASS... :-)
Posted by: jacksmith | October 25, 2008 3:30 PM
"- a war hero and bipartisan reformer,"
This quote about McCain by a McCain campaign staffer is partly true.
A Vietnam war hero-perhaps.
But then again with 40 years looking back, Vietnam is a war just as Iraq and Afganistan, which the USA should never have gotten involved in.
Hero or no, it was a mistake.
Posted by: Hiroshi Shoda | October 25, 2008 3:40 PM
Above all else, remember "T-TRO" (Throw The Rascals Out) in November. Why is that so important? Accountability. Re-electing the same political party candidates most directly responsible (not entirely, mind you, but most directly) for our current difficulties cannot help but send the message that, despite all the polls, the American people are actually quite satisfied with the current state of affairs as well as the direction the country seems to be moving. I mean, why else would they seek solutions from the same folks who caused the problems?
Posted by: D.S. Arthur | October 25, 2008 5:23 PM
As Obama's wife would say-"Enough is Enough"
Posted by: LOAM | October 25, 2008 7:25 PM
Where Is that pesky birth certificate? A kindly judge let Obama and company off the hook by dismissing a demand to produce the missing Legitimate document. The judge claimed a mere citizen (abeit deputy attorney general) had no right to "police" the process. Nevermind that Obama's paternal grandmother swore she witnessed his birth in Kenya. Bye Bye US. Hello Cuba
Posted by: Margaret | October 26, 2008 12:06 AM
And I would say this moderator blocks even mild questions about Obama's credibility. Very Chavez of you.
Posted by: Margaret | October 26, 2008 1:28 AM