Washington Post, 11/7/06:
The popular senator from Illinois, who has barnstormed the country on behalf of Democratic gubernatorial and congressional candidates, is one of the A-list political celebrities of the 2006 campaign season... Obama may be the biggest attraction [of them all]. Despite his brief two years on the national stage, Obama has generated rapturous enthusiasm among Democrats, and he has said he is considering a presidential run. His success on the campaign trail in recent weeks has added to his cachet.
Obama campaigning for Claire McCaskill in Missouri:
The Obama blitz started on Oct. 5 with a fundraiser in New York City for the state's congressional candidates. The next day he flew to Florida for a rally and fundraiser, and then he moved on to Kansas City, Minnesota and Ohio. By the 13th, he had held fundraisers for all the Senate Democratic candidates, collecting $2 million. On Oct. 25 and 26, Obama sent a joint fundraising e-mail to supporters of Kerry and to MoveOn.org, the antiwar group, and raised a total of $1.6 million, all for individual congressional candidates. The freshman senator paused in the middle of the month for book-related events, then raced through Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Colorado and Washington state.
...
The crowd ate it up. Dianne Wills, a Norristown resident and a Republican, said after the rally she would vote Democratic this year after hearing Obama and other speakers. "It convinced me that my choice is right," Wills said.
The purpose of this diary isn't a whole lot of text. Earlier today, kath25 posted a diary that touched upon Obama's campaigning activities during fall 2006. I started assembling the following picture gallery for a comment in that diary. But it looked like a pretty big comment for a stale diary that not very many more people would see. I decided it was worth a diary of its own.
I spent a lot of time in fall 2006 visiting the websites of the newly elected Senators and members of Congress. I noticed both Edwards and Obama turned up in quite a few of their campaign picture galleries. Here's some of the Obama entries for your enjoyment.
Campaigning for Peter Welch (and Bernie Sanders?) in Vermont:
For Zack Space in Ohio:
For Keith Ellison in Minnesota:
For Amy Klobuchar in Minnesota:
For Jim Webb in Virginia:
For Phil Hare in Illinois:
For Ed Perlmutter in Colorado:
For Gabrielle Giffords in Arizona:
For Harry Mitchell in Arizona:
For Bob Casey in Pennsylvania:
For Ben Cardin in Maryland:
I haven't looked at these pictures in well over a year. I think they are interesting to consider in retrospect. I hope you enjoy 'em, too.