The Texas Star: Obama Campaign Keeps Rising

By Steven Rosenfeld, AlterNet. Posted March 1, 2008.

Like a good soldier, Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) dutifully campaigned in Texas on Friday, delivering a gritty, determined and focused speech on her qualifications to be commander in chief to 1,000 people at a midday rally in Waco, a poor, small city in the state's Bible Belt.

But while Clinton stood on a stage with retired top military officers and veterans from conflicts dating back to World War II, including ex-NATO commander Wesley Clark, her opponent Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) held what could only be described as a political rock concert Friday night in San Antonio, where perhaps 5,000 people turned out in a city whose large Latino population has been touted as one of Clinton's strongholds.

Indeed, as Dorothy Dean, a longtime political organizer in Dallas who ran Bill Clinton's presidential campaigns in the southern part of that city and delivered historic Democratic turnouts in prior elections, said in an interview Thursday, the state seems poised for an Obama victory on Tuesday, March 4 -- not because there is anything wrong with Clinton, but because Obama has touched a deeper, once-in-a-generation nerve.

"I know Hillary. I have talked to her personally," Dean said. "I have nothing against her. She is knowledgeable. She's smart. She knows what she's doing. But this is a new wave. It's a new day. It's a new time. And the people have heard the same old promises. They don't know if Obama can deliver. But at least they want to give him a try."

Dean, who has worked in local politics for four-plus decades explained.

"That's the movement," she said. "That's the hope. And he didn't coin that phrase. The people who heard him, who listened to him, they found that. He brings hope to the people of the country. That's why they jumped on his bandwagon. That's why they believe his message. And so, whereas I'm old and maybe should be thinking in the past, I am for progress. I am for the future, for my children, grand-children, great-grand children. I want it better than it used to be."

Both the Obama and Clinton campaigns are running hard, competent campaigns. They have urged supporters to vote early or vote on Election Day and then attend local caucuses where more delegates are chosen. In Texas, Democrats elect two-thirds of their 193 delegates in precinct voting. The other third are chosen in local caucuses. Both campaigns are urging supporters to do the "Texas Two Step," meaning they effectively get to vote twice for their presidential nominee.

Hillary's Waco Rally

The Waco Convention Center sits in the middle of that small city's struggling downtown. Home to Baylor University, a conservative Baptist school, a M&M Mars candy factory and many businesses that support nearby Ft. Hood, the city and surrounding area has a conservative slice of the electorate that Texas pundits have said Clinton must win to offset Obama's support in the state's largest cities.

Inside the hall, a large American flag hangs behind a stage. On each side are risers filled with a mix of mostly White voters. Like the rest of the audience, there are many older people, young mothers and children -- schools were closed on Friday -- college students and a handful of businessman. On stage sat three rows of decorated veterans, all wearing jackets and hats with insignias from their service. In the front row, in blazers, crisp shirts and ties were a half dozen retired generals and admirals.

"You are aware how conservative this town is," said Julie Ed, whose husband works at nearby Fort Hood and has teenage children. "I am a minority in the neighborhood that I live in. There are only a handful of Democrats." Like others in the room, she had long-decided to support Clinton. "I am Hillary all the way," she said. "I like everything that she stands for. She has great experience. She can work with Republicans. She is not so liberal that things will fall apart ... Obama is too new. I think he has great ideas. He is an awesome speaker. His time is yet to come. Plus, we need a woman in the White House."

The commander of a San Antonio chapter of the Veterans of Foreign Wars introduced Clinton -- after brief remarks by Wesley Clark. On Friday, the campaign began running a new television ad that featured a hotline phone ringing in the White House at three in the morning -- and asking viewers who they would trust to respond in a crisis.

"This morning our campaign introduced an ad that illustrates just how this works," said Clark, "because the phone rings and we have to have the right person answer that phone. Hillary Rodham Clinton has studied foreign affairs. She has seen it first-hand. She has been in the White House when the phone rings." Turning to Clinton, who stood beside him at the podium, Clark said, "I guess you have been at that bedside."

Clinton was greeted with a rousing ovation and began her remarks by acknowledging all the supporters and retired senior military officers on stage. She then began a speech on national security and what was needed in a commander in chief. She reminded people that America was fighting two wars, in Iraq and Afghanistan. She recalled her visits overseas to war zones, as First Lady and a senator, and said soldiers were "America's finest."

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Steven Rosenfeld is a senior fellow at Alternet.org and co-author of "What Happened in Ohio: A Documentary Record of Theft and Fraud in the 2004 Election," with Bob Fitrakis and Harvey Wasserman (The New Press, 2006).

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