update: 3:47pm my kos diary has fallen off the frontpage if anyone wants to recommend it.
Wow covering press conferences is hard. But sitting in the press seats is kinda fun.
Fun fact: A lot of the pictures I take of Barack Obama are at the exact moment when he blinks. But here's some pictures from the press conference.
Anyway, Obama spoke for about 25 minutes or so but it seemed like much longer while trying to quasi-transcribe some of his answers. He took questions on a range of issues about running for President, important issues, his middle name, etc.
Impressions, this being my first Obama press conference: One of the things that absolutely struck me was his clear stance on universal health care. After the failure of the Clinton health care plan in 1994 a lot of Democrats have been very timid about the subject. And frankly I had gotten used to it. But with Obama there was no equivocation in his statement:
Healthcare...basic coverage from everybody...not shy away from that...agenda for universal health care.
Some quotes which might not be 100% accurate thanks to my rusty transcribing skills:
On running for President:
One of more important decisions confronted in my life...[Presidency is one of those] "Offices where you cant run just on ambition...Feel deep in your gut...[your] vision for the country that is sufficiently important that you need to be out there. Don't want to do just cause opportunity is there."
On Cynicism and politics (he mentioned he talks about it in his book):
Argument that kind of politics breeds cynicism and i think cynicism is the biggest enemy of progressive politics. If you don't believe in government than its not bad to cultivate cynicism. Voters who get sick of it say a plague on both your houses to the advantage of the right the political right over the last decade.
If you [think] the government has a role to play...opportunity helping people to achieve their potential, then we have an incentive in a hopeful politics.
And in response to the final question about if his middle name (Hussein) would be an issue if he ran:
It would be one thing if my name was john hussein smith. But when you're already starting with barck obama...let me put it this way, if my names going to be an issue, then i don't think my middle name is relevant for those voters who are going to judge me on the basis of my name...One more strike against me in the name category.
Not going to be of concern because the American people are not concerned about middle names. What the American people are concerned about is who can deliver a vision that moves us forward and allows them and their children to fulfill their aspirations. And if you can deliver that message and show them you're going to be fighting on their behalf.
Next up is the main event, the 1,500 person rally complete with appearances from the 2 new democratic congressional represenatives, Paul Hodes and Carol Shea-Porter, and Gov. Lynch who was re-elected with an insane 73.5% of the vote. Oh yeah, and Barack Obama.
Update (2:24): He's Here
So I'm sitting in the press conference now, waiting for Sen. Obama to come in from his book signing in Portsmouth. There is a serious amount of press here now, easily 100+ now.
Somehow I snagged a seat in the row second from the front and have no fear, the netroots are represented as Mike Caulfield from bluehampshire.com and MissLaura from DailyKos are sitting next to me.
Big props to RunObama and DraftObama, which collected over 12,000 signatures in their online petition which are going to be given to Sen. Obama at some point today.
We've just been told 5 minutes till Obama arrives at the press conference. Stay tuned.
Cross-Posted at RunObama Blog. This diary will updated regularly with new developments. Updated photos will be available all day on my flickr page.
Live from the Radisson Hotel in Manchester, New Hampshire...
Hey everyone, my name is Adam Conner and I'm up here in NH today with the RunObama team covering what may very well be the political media event this state has ever seen.
I'm not actually used to being on this side of an event, as a "credentialed" member of the press (see photo), seeing as how I cut my teeth as former Virginia Gov. Mark Warner's blogger and also covered the 2006 elections blogging on MyDD.
I really can't express to you how much media attention this event is getting. There are 61 media seats in the press area and I'm not even sure how many video cameras being set up as I type this. People like the NYT's Maureen Dowd, John King from CNN, and other prominent media names are scattered on placards throughout the area. It's also nice to know that I won't be the only blogger here, it looks like someone from DailyKos will be joining us.
I'm always amazed at the amount of work that goes into an event like this, the intense amount of advance and communications setup and logistics work that no one ever sees (or appreciates). Particularly when the event had to be moved four times to bigger and bigger locations. So hats off to the good people from the New Hampshire Democratic Party, Sen. Obama's staff, and anyone else who had a hand in making this all possible.
We've got a few hours till Sen. Obama arrives here in Manchester (he'll be doing a press conference at 2pm that I'll be live-blogging).
And while Sen. Obama may be the hottest thing in NH right now, at least here in the Raddison this morning he was only the second most popular person.
We'll have more on RunObama (cross-posted at MyDD) as it develops. Updated photos will be available all day on my flickr page.