PORTSMOUTH, N.H.–Obama packed the hall and then some here. I’m guessing about 600 people at a this booksigning event for his bestselling “Audacity of Hope.”
Wrapping up his talk before signing autographs, Obama, mulling a 2008 presidential run, told the audience in this first primary in the nation state that he is is “looking forward to being part of that process with you.”
Obama gave a version of his stump speech. The essential elements.
1. Told the story again of how he stole the title of his book from a sermon by his pastor, the Rev. Jeriamiah Wright.
(Update: told the story twice on Sunday.)
2. How a guy with funny name won the Illinois primary.
3. How with Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) in the summer of 2004 they went to Cairo, Ill.–a town at the southern tip of the state with a long reputation for racial intolerance and Klan like activities–and how he, a black, and Durbin, a son of a Lithuanian immigrant were greeted warmly.
4. A quote that is often part of his stump speech, from the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.:
“The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice.”
En route back to Manchester, Obama stopped to meet and greet at a coffee shop–great name, Breaking New Grounds–in Portsmouth.
Tons of mainstream media here–also at the press tables, a seat for Dailykos.com and runobama.com