About the visit, Taking Down Words has The Hottest Ticket In Town: Hoosiers Hear Obama's Presidential Pitch, The Kokomo Tribune has Obama greeted by enthusiastic crowd, and The Indianapolis Star had Obama: 'This is your campaign'. The following is from the Star:
Thursday I saw a fellow with a beaten up truck with one one word painted on the tailgate: "OBAMA".One of the Democrats in the Obama crowd Saturday was also among the people who heard Kennedy's words firsthand back in 1968: state Rep. Bill Crawford."He will win Indiana," said Crawford, who also was among the handful of party leaders who met with Obama before Saturday's event to discuss a strategy for winning all of the state's nine congressional districts. It's a job made harder by the fact that state party leaders and Sen. Evan Bayh are backing Clinton."A lot of the high-profile politicians here are against him," Crawford said. "But I think the people will be strong behind him because his message resonates with them."Obama's words resonated Saturday with Holly Daly, 26, an Indianapolis social worker who asked Obama a question during the town hall meeting. She wanted to know how he would keep the grass-roots surge behind his campaign alive if elected president.He promised to hold regular town hall meetings as president and to expand national service programs for young people.And, he said, "I will listen to you even when we disagree.""I thought his answer was great, and I was really surprised," Daly said. "I've never heard of presidents holding town hall meetings and taking questions from the people, certainly not in my lifetime. They've always been too caught up with lobbyists and everything to do that."
One other bit on Obama - I could write a lot more but time is getting away from me - from workforce.com:
Obama, McCain Talk Up Training on the Campaign Trail
"Democratic front-runner Sen. Barack Obama outlined a plan in mid-February to increase workforce development funding and reform the federal law that governs the programs."
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Back in D.C., however, workforce retraining policies stall as Bush, Capitol Hill and labor diverge on funding. On the presidential campaign trail, the leading contenders express support for federal worker retraining programs. But back in Washington, President Bush and both parties have acted during the last few months to pare workforce investment.Democratic front-runner Sen. Barack Obama outlined a plan in mid-February to increase workforce development funding and reform the federal law that governs the programs.
During a South Carolina debate earlier this year, likely Republican standard bearer Sen. John McCain assured laid-off workers they would be retrained for information technology jobs if he becomes president.
Meanwhile, President Bush has proposed reducing federal workforce programs by more than $1 billion in his budget for the next fiscal year, according to the Workforce Alliance, an advocacy group.
Bush’s move doesn’t make sense during an economic downturn, according to Rachel Gragg, federal policy director for the organization.
“To cut funding for education and training right now seems very shortsighted,” she says.
Under Bush’s plan, several training programs would be consolidated into one initiative called “career ad- vancement accounts.” The individual accounts, which have been previously rejected by Congress, are designed to give workers more control over retraining dollars.
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The Workforce Investment Act is not the only training initiative Congress has to address.
Also looming is reauthorization for a program to help workers who have lost their jobs due to trade—another issue that is getting attention from presidential candidates.
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