PHOTOS: Barack Obama in North Dakota, Montana--turning the red states blue!

[flpoljunkie]

People line up to hear Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama D-Ill., speak at a rally at the Adams Center at the University of Montana in Missoula, Mont., Saturday, April 5, 2008.
(AP Photo/Alex Brandon)


Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama D-Ill., right, reaches over the crowd to take Natalie Pankratz-Osborn 8 months, from Missoula, at a rally at the Adams Center at the University of Montana in Missoula, Mont., Saturday, April 5, 2008. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)


Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama D-Ill., takes the stage to speak at a rally at the Adams Center at the University of Montana in Missoula, Mont., Saturday, April 5, 2008.
(AP Photo/Alex Brandon)


Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama D-Ill., holds Elizabeth Bradford, 1, of Missoula, after he speaks at a rally at the Adams Center at the University of Montana in Missoula, Mont., Saturday, April 5, 2008. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)


Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama D-Ill., kisses Athena Mayahin-Barrett 10 months, from Missoula, at a rally at the Adams Center at the University of Montana in Missoula, Mont., Saturday, April 5, 2008. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)


Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama D-Ill., shakes hands before he speaks at a rally at the Adams Center at the University of Montana in Missoula, Mont., Saturday, April 5, 2008.
(AP Photo/Alex Brandon)


Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama D-Ill., shakes hands before he speaks at a rally at the Adams Center at the University of Montana in Missoula, Mont., Saturday, April 5, 2008.
(AP Photo/Alex Brandon)


Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama D-Ill., waves to the overflow crowd after he spoke at a rally at the Adams Center at the University of Montana in Missoula, Mont., Saturday, April 5, 2008.
(AP Photo/Alex Brandon)


Democratic presidential hopeful, Sen. Barack Obama D-Ill., speaks at the North Dakota Democratic Convention in Grand Forks, N.D., Friday, April 4, 2008. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)


Democratic presidential hopeful, Sen. Barack Obama D-Ill., shakes hands before he speaks at the North Dakota Democratic Convention in Grand Forks, N.D., Friday, April 4, 2008. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)


Democratic presidential hopeful, Sen. Barack Obama D-Ill., shakes hands after he speaks at the North Dakota Democratic Convention in Grand Forks, N.D., Friday, April 4, 2008. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

[livetohike]

1. Great pictures

:thumbsup: Thanks for posting them.

[democracy1st]

2. K & R

thanks great pictures look at the children,awesome

[GarbagemanLB]

The traditional handing off of the baby.

:rofl:

I love it. Go Obama!

[Cali_Democrat]

6. The baby is crowd surfing!!!

Awesome!!

[C_U_L8R]

13. Baby surfin' at Obama's !

fantastico !

[SaveAmerica]

20. That one made me verklempt!!

[CitizenLeft]

47. that photo cracks me up!

:rofl:

[all.of.me]

3. These are great!

I love the baby shots, esp the one at the top. I think we'll be seeing that one over and over again.

[jezebel]

4. Awesome pics. The first baby picture looks like she's crowd surfing. Too cute. nt

[FrenchieCat]

5. Americans are so happy and hopeful when they get around Obama.......

and that, in itself, is a marvel that is always captured in the photos, as well as in person.

That's the America I long for, and that's one of the reasons I support Barack Obama. :patriot:

[Adelante]

7. I absolutely love this pic

[here_is_to_hope]

8. My fave too! n/t

[EmperorHasNoClothes]

17. The look on the boy's face is priceless!

Not to mention the woman next to him! :D

[4_Legs_Good]

52. That kid is going to remember this

How freaking cool is that?

David

[JNelson6563]

54. Pricelss expression!

Love it. :toast:

[Scurrilous]

9. Great pics.

K & R :thumbsup:

[catgirl]

10. Awesome!

[Erin Elizabeth]

11. Wow.

Those pictures are absolutely amazing. The crowd is HUGE! My daughter would look like that little boy if she got to meet him. All amazed and happy. I love the one with the mom looking so happy with clasped hands while he holds her baby.

He looks great. Dare I say, presidential.

[BumRushDaShow]

12. K&R and thanks for posting these pics!

:thumbsup:

Great to see the big turnout!!!

:kick:

[mahina]

14. Excellent photos, wonderful to see!

Thank you so much!

God bless Barack Obama~

[1776Forever]

15. Made me cry with joy - what great memories! Wish I could have been there too!

:hug:

[babylonsister]

16. Another happy thread! Thanks, flpoljunkie. Their joy is contagious! nt

[VotesForWomen]

18. dream on. ND's not going blue. and if O was a woman or native american, he wouldn't get 100

people to show up to see him there. i live in SD, so i have some idea what i'm talking about.

[Recursion]

26. It certainly won't if we don't try

Christ, Reagan turned MA red; don't give me any BS about how states are essentially one party or another.

[tokenlib]

30. It's worth trying...and I think in the long run it's wrong to give up on people n/t

[Arugula Latte]

19. This thread made me all misty-eyed ...

I ain't ashamed to admit it! :)

[Tinksrival]

36. My husband walked in the room and said,

"Why the heck are you crying?"

I replied, "Cause people are crowd surfing their Babies for Barak!"

[jkshaw]

42. Ha! That's great, Tink!

[Arugula Latte]

48. Aw -- That's a great line!

Also, that's a sentence that wouldn't have made sense not too long ago. :D

[HCE SuiGeneris]

21. Awesome pics. n/t

[flpoljunkie]

37. Thanks! Here's another from "Big Sky Country."

Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama D-Ill., speaks at a rally at the Adams Center at the University of Montana in Missoula, Mont., Saturday, April 5, 2008. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

[Debi]

39. Ish, Big Sky Country....Missoula sucks

This coming from a Montant State girl...


(Amazing to see a Democratic presidential candidate in Montana - and THAT MANY DEMOCRATS!!)

[Ichingcarpenter]

22. 17,000 people the largest Rally in ND since 1934 and FDR campaign!

If you're searching for more evidence of the Obama momentum sweeping the country, you need look no further than North Dakota. In the largest political rally seen in the state since 1934 when FDR visited the state, Sen. Obama addressed a packed house of 17,000 excited North Dakotans and Northern Minnesotans at the North Dakota Democratic Convention in Grand Forks.

* nodakfarmboy's diary :: ::
*

officials said more than 17,000 people joined, for a few hours, the North Dakota Democratic Party’s convention, cheering, stomping and yelling like a crowd at a rock concert when Obama took the stage, and throughout his 45-minute speech. Minutes before the speech started, a thousand or more still waiting in line were allowed to hurry in to stand on the floor after all the seats were full.

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/4/5/23917/85312/652/490577

[BumRushDaShow]

41. Wow. Thanks for posting that stat! Unbelieveable!!!! n/t

[jkshaw]

43. "In the largest political rally seen in the state

since 1934 when FDR visited the state"

Carpenter, I think this is prophetic. Even Utah went for FDR in the dim past!

[gristy]

23. These pictures are amazing

Several times a week fellow DUers post recent photos of Obama and these continue to thrill and amaze me. It's as if by Obama's mere presence, anyone with a camera is able to capture a potential prize-winning photo.

[flpoljunkie]

24. These are AP photos taken by some really talented photograhers, particularly Alex Brandon.

[gristy]

35. Yes, indeed

Sorry, I didn't mean to belittle the skill of the photographers. But they do have a great subject!!

[John Q. Citizen]

25. My 11 and 13 year old daughters just shook hands a couple of hours ago with Barack in the

Adams Center Field House in MSLA.

My thirteen year old commented afterwords on all the baby passing going on. Me and their eight year old brother were up in the seats and to the side of the stage. The sisters were behind the stage on the low bleachers right on the pathway they use to bring in the speakers, including Obama.

The crowd seemed to love the opportunity to engage in what could only be described as mass/popular interest in politics, an orgy of politics if you will.

The conversations with people in line, and the overheard political conversations around us were some of the funnest parts of my experience. Everyone was talking politics. It was like Missoula had transformed into Washinton DC for a day.

Missoula is a fairly political town. There are certainly a few places you can go and talk politics, a bar or two, lots of environmental and social justice organizations.

But the sheer intensity of 8,000 - 9,000 people focused on politics in Missoula is a very rare event. The city has 57,000 people. Another 20,000 or so live in the valley for about 80,000 mas o menos.

So the equivalent of 10% of our "urban" population showed up. Not remarkable in a college sports sense. The U of M does it all the time during Griz football season. ANd people travel to attend.

It's highly remarkable though for a political event. I've never seen anything like it.

Obama made a couple of points that stood out.
One thing he said was that he intended to adhere to the constitution and to uphold civil rights; He pledged to restore Habeas Corpus, to Close Guantanamo, and to overturn bush Presidential Orders allowing unconstitutional/illegal wiretaps.

Obama and Hill are both speaking this evening in Butte at the annual Democratic Dinner. Butte is about one hundred miles away, and then Hillary has a private fundraiser as well as a public appearance scheduled for tomorrow in Missoula. I think I will avail myself of that as well. I've never seen Hillary Clinton speak live.

Montana is a purple state, and it's very good to see this kind of energy being expended here. It will pay off come election time.

[flpoljunkie]

28. Thanks for your first hand report. Please report back tomorrow.

[sandnsea]

33. It was exciting to see

Obama seemed to genuinely like the area. I'm wondering what he's going to do for the rest of the day. I hope he gets out to enjoy the scenery, meet a few more of the regular folk. Looking forward to your report tomorrow.

[Vinca]

27. What great photos! Kissing the baby is priceless. nt

[JayFredMuggs]

29. I just wish he were a little more up-beat, popular, personable,

.....he seems so stiff and "arrogant", doesn't he?

I mean, he's aloof, never smiles, never shakes any "little" people's hands, you can tell he's going to lose if he keeps acting so "stuck up"...

I wish the pictures would show him as he really is....

<<sarcasm off?>>

[tokenlib]

31. Thanks! I just almost spewed all over the keyboard

I can't stop laughing... the baby being hoisted about is awesome

[JayFredMuggs]

32. So sorry about that.... Actually the pictures were WONDERFUL!

I love that man!

[Zachstar]

34. And that is how he will turn red states blue.

When people meet him they will see he is a man of the people and that he wants the people involved.

GOBAMA!!

[ChimpersMcSmirkers]

38. Excellent Pics. Can this guy not have a good picture taken of him?

:)

[Thrill]

40. Another Good One!!

[quantass]

44. Amazing!

[sniffa]

45. Oh, what wonderful pix. Thanks for posting.

K&R

:bounce:

[Name removed]

46. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[blogslut]

49. Great stuff!

People love this man.

[DB1]

50. Found ... A good reason to move to North Dakota or Montana.....

Intelligent life thrives!

[goclark]

51. That is what politics should be about ~

I loved that baby being lifted with the help of the crowd.

The baby was not even crying ~ what a thrill.

[TheDonkey]

53. Obama is hot! Great pics :)