Hundreds filled the Rhode Island College Recreation Center last night at a fundraiser and rally for Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Sheldon Whitehouse featuring Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill.
After his flight from Newark, N.J., was cancelled, Obama traveled through four states by car to address the crowd around 8 p.m., over half an hour after the event was scheduled to end.
The $50-per-ticket rally also featured U.S. Reps. Patrick Kennedy and James Langevin as well as Sen. Jack Reed. The Democratic members of the Rhode Island congressional delegation spoke along with Whitehouse and Obama on the importance of the Senate race in determining the majority party in Washington, D.C. State Senator and Lt. Governor candidate Elizabeth Roberts '78 also spoke, and many local Democratic leaders - including North Providence Mayor and Secretary of State candidate Ralph Mollis and former Governor Bruce Sundlun - were among the crowd of Whitehouse supporters and Democrats from across the country and state.
"The Republicans can't hear you now," Langevin said. "They're too busy. But on November 7 they are going to hear all of us loud and clear." All six speakers expressed optimism about the Rhode Island Senate race as well as potential pick-ups for Democrats nationwide in both the House and the Senate.
"If we can't lift a guy like (Whitehouse) up, then we don't deserve to be in the majority," Obama said. "The last ingredient we need to close the deal is hope. What moves this country forward is the belief that there is something out there."
Obama cited his own 2004 Senate campaign as a source of inspiration. "Nobody gave me much of a chance, and - let's face it - my name is Barack Obama."
Langevin told The Herald he expects the Democrats to capture a majority in the House and "potentially the Senate."
"I'm feeling the momentum everywhere," he said.
According to Sundlun, Thursday's event was a large rally by Rhode Island standards. "Everybody's positive. You can wander around and feel the spirit in the crowd - the spirit of excitement," Sundlun told The Herald.
According to Kennedy, the national Republican Party is pulling its resources out of Rhode Island. "It's a seat they're not going to be able to contest. It's gone from a category four storm to a tsunami for the Democrats," Kennedy told The Herald. Rasmussen Reports, a national polling firm, recently reclassified the Senate race from "tossup" to "leans Democratic."
"We're getting the same feeling from the people of Rhode Island," Whitehouse told The Herald. "A lot of us admire (Sen. Lincoln Chafee '75's) family name but are more concerned with where our country is run."
Obama quoted Newt Gingrich, who said in a radio interview the only slogan the Democrats need in the midterm elections is "had enough."
"I think old Newt is on to something because I've had enough," Obama said. "There's a seriousness - a soberness - in voters I haven't seen in at least a decade."
Every speaker advocated changes on issues ranging from health care and education to terrorism and energy. "We're giving $800 million a day to Iran and Venezuela (for oil)," Obama said. "We're funding both sides of the War on Terror. And when it comes to climate change, the only scientists that deny (global warming) work in the White House."
Obama's attendance sparked talk of a possible run for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2008.
"I'd be a bit surprised (if Obama ran in 2008)," Reed told The Herald. "Most candidates have been out campaigning hard, raising money for the last year or so. A presidential campaign is not something you get going quickly."
The Whitehouse campaign sold students tickets to the rally for $10, and several Brown students were in attendance. Carly Rush '08 was among 13 members of the Brown Democrats given free tickets. "We're volunteers who had donated hours canvassing and phone-banking on weekends for Whitehouse," she said.
"(Obama) did a really wonderful job touching on why this election is so important," Rush said. "Rhode Island has the unique opportunity of making a difference and (Obama's) speech really inspired people to get involved."
"'The arc of the moral universe is long but it bends to justice,'" Obama said, quoting Martin Luther King, Jr. "However, the thing doesn't bend on its own. It takes people - people like you. And that's what we're going to do in this election. We're going to bend the arc of America towards justice."
Whitehouse campaign staff member Robert Hanson said he expected a crowd of 900 to 1,500, but the delay forced some to leave before Obama even arrived in Rhode Island.
After commuting through New York City and Connecticut rush hour traffic, Obama took the stage less than an hour before a scheduled lecture in Salomon 101. "First of all, thanks for waiting for me," he said.
