LOS ANGELES–I’m at the Pauley Pavillion, the home of the UCLA Bruins, waiting for an Obama rally to begin Sunday afternoon wtih Oprah Winfrey, Caroline Kennedy and Michelle Obama. Meanwhile another spouse, Bill Clinton, stumped here this morning for Clinton. Some news. Obama is going to run some ads during today’s Super Bowl (click below for more.) UPDATE Maria Shriver just endorsed Obama. “If Barack Obama was a state, he would be California,” she said.
Stevie Wonder just showed up at the rally. He came on stage with Michelle Obama and sang a two word riff making music of the name Barack Obama. Wonder was the only man who spoke at this event. OLD Maria Shriver is around, but’s it not clear if she just came to see cousin Caroline.
Played at the beginning:: A video titled with Obama’s slogan “Yes We Can” (which he did not invent, but he debuted this weekend, with a selection of artists in it, including Common and John Legend.
Celebs are seated in one section on the risers. Spotted so far:
Michael York
Alfie Woodard
Hill Harper
Traci Ellis Ross, the daughter of Diana Ross.
Lisa Ling
Kelly Hu
Jurnee Smollett
Deidre Hall.
Victoria Hopper, the wife of Dennis Hopper, who chairs Women for Obama. I saw her working out of the Obama Wilshire Ave. office on Friday.
Local dignitaries are now being introduced.
New version of old slogan being rolled out right now…
“Fired Up! Ready to Vote!”
Bill Clinton spoke at a string of black churches in the area this morning.
“My case is for her,” Clinton said. “I’n not against anybody. …I get why this is a hard election.”
There’s a push here to get Independents to vote…who are officially called not Independents by “Declined to State” party preference voters.
From the Obama campaign…
OBAMA CAMPAIGN WILL RUN TARGETED SUPER BOWL AD IN FEBRUARY 5TH STATES
SUPER BOWL AD JOIN ALSO RUNNING IN STATES WITH CONTESTS ON FEBRUARY 9TH, 10TH AND 12TH
CHICAGO The Obama for America campaign today announced that it will run an ad during the Super Bowl in the majority of states holding nominating contests on February 5th, 9th, 10th and 12th.
Obamas ad will run during the Super Bowl in markets in the following states:
Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Georgia, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Utah, Virginia and Washington.
Heres a link to the ad: http://my.barackobama.com/sb_join
Below is the script of the ad:
Im Barack Obama and I approve this message. We want an end to this war and we want diplomacy and peace. Not only can we save the environment, we can create jobs and opportunity. Were tired of fear; were tired of division. We want something new. We want to turn the page. The world as it is is not the world as it has to be.
———————————————————
To: Interested Parties
From: Mark Penn, Chief Strategist
Date: Sunday, February 03, 2008
Re: New Information
Just yesterday I noted that people had very limited information on Sen. Barack Obama as we go into millions of people voting on the two candidates.
And then in the last two days we see three stories that illustrate the point very clearly about what Sen. Obama says about his views and record and what journalists find when they dig into the facts:
1) The New York Times on its front page explains how Sen. Barack Obama told voters he stood up to the nuclear power industry and how he passed a bill to require reports of any radioactive leaks after hearing from his constituents. But The Times discovers, after a lengthy examination, that the bill was watered down after meeting with Exelon, the company whose plants created the issue and whose key executives are big contributors and bundlers to his campaign. Answering written questions for the NY Times, the campaign, in the words of the paper, never “directly” explains why Sen. Obama would tell voters he passed a bill that in fact was not passed and did not become law.
2) The Chicago Tribune features a similar story on a different topic. While Sen. Obama on the stump tells people about the plight of Maytag workers who lost their jobs, (“Obama’s fundraising collides with his rhetoric”) the Tribune documents that the union covering those workers believes they got no help from the Senator, who was again taking significant contributions and bundling from one of the company’s directors and biggest investors.
3) And yesterday there was an AP story where Senator Obama told the voters of Idaho: ”And then there are people who say, ‘Well, he doesn’t believe in the Second Amendment,’ even though I come from a state — we’ve got a lot of hunters in downstate Illinois. And I have no intention of taking away folks’ guns.” But he didn’t disclose to those voters, as the AP said that “he does support gun control and has a record of voting for it in the Illinois Senate. He backed limiting handgun purchases to one a month, but he made no attempts to ban them.” When he originally ran for the state legislature 12 years ago, he filled out a questionnaire saying he ”supported banning the manufacture, sale and possession of handguns.” He gave the voters of Idaho no indication whatsoever of either his record in the State Senate or his prior views on the questionnaire.
