Obama campaign working to introduce candidate

By Staff
|
Google Oneindia News

GRINNELL, Iowa, Aug 17 (Reuters) How many children does Barack Obama have? In what foreign country did he live as a boy and why did the senator from Illinois decide to run for the Democratic nomination for US president? The trivia quiz is designed to introduce the first term senator and White House hopeful to American voters in places like Grinnell, tucked away in central Iowa, the state that holds the first contest of the 2008 presidential election.

Some questions were answered easily by Democratic activists crammed into a coffee shop today morning. They yelled out that Obama and his wife Michelle have two daughters and that he lived in Indonesia when he was growing up.

But even some diehard supporters appear stumped by a few questions, like why Obama decided to run for president.

''Because it's time for change,'' the local organizer finally coaxed out of the crowd of a couple hundred people in the western Iowa town of Council Bluffs.

Campaign officials say they realize Obama does not have as much national recognition as some of his main opponents, like Hillary Clinton, a two-term US senator and the former first lady. So they devised the game to help boost knowledge at a grassroots level.

Virginia Ricketts, a school secretary who took time off work to attend the campaign event, said she had been an Obama supporter since he spoke at the 2004 Democratic convention.

''I'm very impressed,'' said Ricketts, who grasped a freshly autographed copy of Obama's latest book. ''But I don't think people know who he is, which surprises me.'' Some people said the word was getting out about Obama, though they still wanted to know more.

''I feel like I don't know enough specifics yet,'' said Astrid Henry, a professor. ''I think he's exciting. I think he has celebrity status at this stage that some others don't. He's young, he's African-American, he's new.'' QUESTION OF EXPERIENCE Being new on the national stage could pose challenges for Obama, who has been criticized by Clinton and others as too inexperienced for the White House and who lags up to 20 percentage points behind her in some national polls.

But Obama says he does not mind that he is not known as a long-time insider in Washington. He has been casting himself as the choice in the November 2008 election to bring hope and change to the United States.

''People want to see a new course in this country,'' he said today. ''People are frustrated and people are angry.'' Obama, on a bus trip through the key early voting state of Iowa, spent part of it defending his foreign policy credentials, suggesting opponents like Clinton were trying to pass off old Washington ways as experience.

Facing questions about how to fix the health care system and concerns about education, Obama joked he has been dubbed ''a hope-monger'' by the media.

''I am hopeful and optimistic about the future of this country,'' he said.

His message resonated with many, including a nurse at a barn rally in rural Atlantic yesterday, who exclaimed: ''You excite the hell out of me, and I haven't been hopeful for a long time!'' Evy Hansen of Des Moines echoed the thought but seemed resigned that Obama may have an uphill battle to win the Democratic nomination to run for president in 2008.

''He'll have a chance some day,'' Hansen said, standing just outside a huge crowd surrounding Obama and his family at the Iowa State Fair. ''I hope and I wish that he can do what he wants to for this country.'' Reuters SZ VP0203

For Daily Alerts
Get Instant News Updates
Enable
x
Notification Settings X
Time Settings
Done
Clear Notification X
Do you want to clear all the notifications from your inbox?
Settings X
X