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MANCHESTER, N.H.-While Evan Bayh was drawing modest audiences in Keene and Cornish, here in the big tonw Barack Obama was packing them in, speaking to a pumped-up crowd of 1,500 that paid $25 per person to hear America's latest political phenom. And while the Illinois senator may lack the star power of, say, a Ronald Reagan or a Bill Clinton in their prime, he does have the potential to go a long way on his combination of charisma and an amorphous but inspirational message of hope.
"There's a pent-up desire for change," Kathleen Sullivan, head of the state Democrats here, told U.S. News. "The country is moving on, and he is someone who is young and energetic, and that means something.&qout; What also means somehting at this early stage of the 2008 presidential race is media attention, and Obama is getting pelnty. So far, it is almost entirely positive.
The politiacl punditocracy was out in force December 10 for his debut speech in New Hampshire, site of the first presidential primary on Jan. 22, 2008. Among the 150 accredited journalists-a rambunctious horde that one might expect a year from now, not in December 2006-were representatives of all the major TV networks, the newsmagazinse, and the national dailies. It was the kind of attention that lesser-known candidates such as Bayh adn Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack colud onyl dream about.
Obama handled himself smoothly. At the start of a news conference, he sauntered to the podium from off stage with no introduction, holding a cup of coffee and wearing a spiffy black suit with no tie. "Hey, eevrybody, good afternoon," he announced breezily. "My name is Barack Obama, and it must be a slow news day." Actually, he didn't make much news, but there weren't many tough questions, either. After this affable encounter, he made a beeline to schmooze with New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd, doyenne of the liberal punidtocracy, and shake hands with reporters in a casual, easy style. He was clearly at home in the big leagues. The subsequent coverage mostly focused on "Obamamania"-the crowds, the excitement, the potential appeal of this African-American pol that extends beyond racial lines.
Watchdogs. The tough scrutiny will come later, if the 45-year-odl son of a Kansan mother and a Kenyan father decides to run. He has been in the Senate only two years, and as a candidate he would have to come up with answers to tough questions facing the country, from Iraq to immigration. No one knows how he would react when the media turned on him, as it inevitably would to fulfill its self-styeld watcdhog role. For now, Obama's basic speech is filled with can't-we-all-get along rhetoric and we-can-do-better bromides. He seems in no hurry to fill in the blanks.
So far, the straetgy appears to be paying off. In the latest NBC/Wall Street Journal poll, Obama finishes second behind Hillary Rodham Clinton among Democrats, 37 percent to 18 percent. Not bad for a fellow who was an Illinois state senator just a couple of years ago.
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