By Mary Beth Schneider | March 15, 2008 At times, the Plainfield High School gym packed with more than 2,000 cheering people was a din of noise, as Hoosiers roared their approval of his promise to bring the troops home from Iraq and care for injured soldiers, end the nation's reliance on foreign oil, rebuild the economy and improve education.
At other times, though, the room was almost silent. Such was the case when Obama spoke about one of the last times Indiana's primary election mattered, as it will May 6 when voters choose between Obama and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.
It was 1968. Sen. Robert Kennedy was in Indianapolis to campaign for the presidency and had to break the word to an inner-city crowd that the Rev. Martin Luther King had been assassinated.
In a famous speech Kennedy delivered that night, he called for unity and an end to hate.
That, Obama said, is why he's running for president.
"If we can come together there is no challenge we can't face down," Obama said. "I'm here to report the American people are ready for change."
Obama spoke for about 20 minutes, then answered questions from the audience for another 45 minutes on everything from whether he would change No Child Left Behind -- he would -- to saving Social Security. On that, he proposed raising the cap on payroll taxes. Right now, people pay payroll taxes only on their first $97,000 in income. That means, he said, that 94 percent of folks pay on every dime they make, while billionaire Warren Buffett pays only on a tiny fraction of his income.
If elected, he said, he would focus immediately on three things: Bringing the troops home in a responsible manner; universal health care reform that continues private insurance but helps people afford it; and a new energy policy. Do those things, he said, and other programs such as improving education become doable; fail, and the nation would be bankrupt.
People reacted with a disappointed "aah" when Obama finally said his time was up. But he promised to be back to campaign aggressively in Indiana.
12:10 p.m.: Hoosiers eagerly await Obama visit
At other times, though, the room was almost silent. Such was the case when Obama spoke about one of the last times Indiana's primary election mattered, as it will May 6 when voters choose between Obama and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.
It was 1968. Sen. Robert Kennedy was in Indianapolis to campaign for the presidency and had to break the word to an inner-city crowd that the Rev. Martin Luther King had been assassinated.
In a famous speech Kennedy delivered that night, he called for unity and an end to hate.
That, Obama said, is why he's running for president.
"If we can come together there is no challenge we can't face down," Obama said. "I'm here to report the American people are ready for change."
Obama spoke for about 20 minutes, then answered questions from the audience for another 45 minutes on everything from whether he would change No Child Left Behind -- he would -- to saving Social Security. On that, he proposed raising the cap on payroll taxes. Right now, people pay payroll taxes only on their first $97,000 in income. That means, he said, that 94 percent of folks pay on every dime they make, while billionaire Warren Buffett pays only on a tiny fraction of his income.
If elected, he said, he would focus immediately on three things: Bringing the troops home in a responsible manner; universal health care reform that continues private insurance but helps people afford it; and a new energy policy. Do those things, he said, and other programs such as improving education become doable; fail, and the nation would be bankrupt.
People reacted with a disappointed "aah" when Obama finally said his time was up. But he promised to be back to campaign aggressively in Indiana.
12:10 p.m.: Hoosiers eagerly await Obama visit
PLAINFIELD, Ind. -- Several hundred Hoosiers lined up in the cold fog this morning eager to get front-row seats to see Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama.
Obama is making his first Indiana campaign stop today with a town-hall meeting at Plainfield High School as he tries to win Indiana's 72 electoral votes up for grabs in the May 6 primary election. He's locked in a tight nationwide contest with Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, who will be visiting several Indiana cities on Thursday. Details of her visit have yet to be released by her campaign.
Indiana's primary election usually is irrelevant, with the nominations of both parties sewn up long before Hoosiers cast their votes. This year, though, neither Obama nor Clinton has the 2,025 delegates needed to claim the nomination, and Indiana's votes, while not decisive, will matter.
That has electrified many voters here, and the 2,000 free tickets to today's Obama event were snatched up in only a half-hour or so after they became available on the Internet.
One of those who got a ticket -- and was so excited that he was the first person waiting to get into the Plainfield High School gymnasium -- was Tim Durham of Indianapolis.
Durham isn't your typical Democratic supporter. His grandfather is Republican Beurt SerVaas, the former president of the City-County Council.
Durham, wearing an "Obama 2008" T-shirt he had made for this occasion, said he arrived at 5:45 a.m. The 17-year-old said he had wanted to camp out outside the high school overnight but was turned away by security.
The Park Tudor High School junior will be able to vote in both the primary and the general election because he turns 18 on May 16. Anyone who is 18 before the general election can vote in both.
Though his family roots are Republican, Durham said, he is inspired by Obama.
"I like how he tries to bring everybody together," he said.
Also arriving early to see Obama was Leona Glazebrooks, a government teacher at Warren Central High School. She was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in Boston, where Obama solidified his rising star status with his keynote address. Now, she hopes to win a spot as a delegate to August's national convention in Denver and cast her vote for Obama.
Glazebrooks said the decision to back him wasn't easy at first. She has long wanted to see either a woman or a minority leading her party's ticket, and this year she was faced with the choice of both.
But, she said, she settled on Obama in part because of the enthusiasm she saw in her students for him.
"I felt like he was bringing and inspiring a lot of non-voters," she said. "He is changing the paradigm of the election."
Indiana's primary election usually is irrelevant, with the nominations of both parties sewn up long before Hoosiers cast their votes. This year, though, neither Obama nor Clinton has the 2,025 delegates needed to claim the nomination, and Indiana's votes, while not decisive, will matter.
That has electrified many voters here, and the 2,000 free tickets to today's Obama event were snatched up in only a half-hour or so after they became available on the Internet.
One of those who got a ticket -- and was so excited that he was the first person waiting to get into the Plainfield High School gymnasium -- was Tim Durham of Indianapolis.
Durham isn't your typical Democratic supporter. His grandfather is Republican Beurt SerVaas, the former president of the City-County Council.
Durham, wearing an "Obama 2008" T-shirt he had made for this occasion, said he arrived at 5:45 a.m. The 17-year-old said he had wanted to camp out outside the high school overnight but was turned away by security.
The Park Tudor High School junior will be able to vote in both the primary and the general election because he turns 18 on May 16. Anyone who is 18 before the general election can vote in both.
Though his family roots are Republican, Durham said, he is inspired by Obama.
"I like how he tries to bring everybody together," he said.
Also arriving early to see Obama was Leona Glazebrooks, a government teacher at Warren Central High School. She was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in Boston, where Obama solidified his rising star status with his keynote address. Now, she hopes to win a spot as a delegate to August's national convention in Denver and cast her vote for Obama.
Glazebrooks said the decision to back him wasn't easy at first. She has long wanted to see either a woman or a minority leading her party's ticket, and this year she was faced with the choice of both.
But, she said, she settled on Obama in part because of the enthusiasm she saw in her students for him.
"I felt like he was bringing and inspiring a lot of non-voters," she said. "He is changing the paradigm of the election."
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