Senator Barack Obama ended a four-day Texas campaign swing with an outdoor party in downtown Austin. He stood before a screaming and chanting Friday night crowd with the Capitol Building as a backdrop and the barricaded downtown streets as his stage. "I am here to report that my bet has paid off, my faith in the American people has been vindicated, because you have told me that you want something new, that you are ready for change, that you are ready to move in a new direction," Obama said. "Most of all, Austin, I was betting on you — the American people," he said, adding that his early career as a community organizer convinced him that change happens from the bottom up, not from the top down. He arrived to thunderous cheers from a two-blocks-deep crowd on Congress Avenue that fit easily in the three blocks reserved for supporters. Lines began forming a half-hour before the gates opened, extending for several blocks by the time the security scanners began running at 6 p.m. Austin fire officials' estimates of the crowd's numbers ranged from 8,000 to 15,000. President Bu$h must be fuming to see all this in his home state. With 228 delegates, Texas is the biggest prize left in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination. So both candidates have been traveling throughout the state.
Before wrapping up his Lone Star State swing in Austin on Friday, Senator Obama made appearances in Corpus Christi and the Rio Grande Valley, the base of Senator Clinton's support in Texas. Hispanics could make up 35 percent to 50 percent of the electorate in the Texas Democratic primary, analysts say. To chants of "Sí se puede" — the Spanish version of his "Yes we can" catchphrase — Obama introduced himself to the area's crucial Hispanic voters by recalling a telegram the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. sent to César Chávez as he was organizing farm workers. "Our cause is the same," King wrote. "Because what Chávez and King and every other freedom fighter has understood is that there's a time, there's a moment in the life of every generation, when that spirit of hope has to come through," Obama told crowd in Edinburg. Earlier in the week he spoke at massive rallies in Houston and Dallas. Obama also told the crowd, without mentioning Clinton's name, that his opponent's emphasis on solutions over speeches — and her contention that he lacks experience — overlooks his career and his platform. "But you know, none of that stuff is going to become real unless we build a working majority for change," Obama said. "That's what we've been doing on this campaign ... So don't tell me about speeches and solutions, because those two things go hand-in-hand." Of her criticism that he's not battle-tested, Obama expressed disbelief. "Listen, I'm a Black man named Barack Obama running for president. You can't tell me I'm not tough," he said.
The Texas primary in on March 4, but early voting has been going on since February 19 and will close on February 29. And there are record breaking crowds at virtually all early voting locations. Some voting locations that had only 500 or so voters in 2004 are reporting numbers above 5000 in only five days. I went to cast my vote today thinking that they were exaggerating and found myself waiting in line for almost 30 minutes. It also was so refreshing to see so many young people in line. I was behind three young people that couldn’t have been older that 19. Even longtime Republicans say they are excited by a campaign that is breathing life into politics.
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