The Journal

Issue date: 11/9/06 Section: News

OBAMA

The crowd was getting restless when after 45 minutes of standing in the cold, the man they were waiting to see was nowhere in sight.

Thousands of people gathered at the World's Fair Pavilion in Forest Park for a rally for Senate hopeful Claire McCaskill Nov. 5, but the main attraction was speaker Sen. Barack Obama.

"I think (Obama) is a good candidate for president in 2008," said Bryant Gilmore, a sophomore scriptwriting major.

Once it began, the rally featured appearances from local politicians such as St. Louis County Executive Charlie Dooley, Missouri Secretary of State Robin Carnahan, former Missouri Gov. and Democratic Party Chairman Roger Wilson and former Missouri Sen. Tom Eagleton.

While waiting, a few St. Louis citizens got up to give personal stories advocating different amendments on the ballot. Webster alumnus and Vintage Vinyl co-owner Lewis Price spoke on behalf of small business owners.

Obama appeared around 5:30 p.m. He spoke about his new book, "The Audacity of Hope," and how he found inspiration for the title from his pastor's sermon. Obama said over and over that change needs to happen in Washington along with a plethora of issues.

"I believe in the capacity of ordinary people to do extraordinary things," Obama said during the rally.

Hundreds stayed after the rally to shake his hand and encourage him to run for president in 2008.

Gilmore attended the rally with his friends sophomores Dorothy Colyer and Anastasia Rucker, both legal studies majors.

"Dorothy told me (Nov. 2) about the rally and I'm interested in what (Obama) has to say," Rucker said.

Colyer said she heard about the rally from her boss Luke Davis, assistant director of housing, who also attended the rally.

Sophomore Mac Ingram, an international human rights and political science double major, volunteered for the McCaskill campaign. He and four other students from Webster arrived a few hours early and were asked to hand out signs and help with crowd control.

Ingram, a resident assistant in West Hall, created a Facebook event to raise awareness of the rally. As of Nov., the event had 26 confirmed guests on Facebook. Ingram said he opened the event up to his floor and offered to carpool.

"I've done some phone banks for Claire, and some work at Webster to make sure people register and go out to vote," Ingram said.

Phone banks are locations where numerous volunteers call constituents and raise awareness of their campaign and other issues.

One of the students that accompanied Ingram was freshman Jessie Chappell, an international relations major. Chappell said she is interested in the political process and wants to work at her state's capitol - Springfield, Ill. - next summer.

Freshman Katye Ellison, an international relations major, said she came to the rally to get involved in the democratic process.

While all of the students and other Democrats waited for the rally to begin, speakers blasted jazz, gospel and R&B music. The rally was scheduled to begin at 4 p.m., but did not actually start until nearly 5 p.m.

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