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LEBANON, N.H. — The fire marshal and local police would let only about 800 people into the town’s Opera House to hear Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) Monday, leaving more than 200 people, many of them reporters, stranded outside. But Obama, working for every vote available, addressed the crowd outside before taking to the rope line to shake hands and, of course, hold a baby. “You guys caught us a little bit by surprise,” Obama told the crowd, adding that their enthusiasm is “representative of what’s happening all across the country.” If the intensity and the size of the crowds at Obama events are any indication, the senator has indeed seized on the momentum he won in Iowa just five days ago. Secret Service agents looked harried as Obama shook hands and briefly answered questions outside, and crowd members pushed forward to shake his hand. One woman turned to a friend behind her and excitedly reported, “I touched him. Did you see me?” Recent polls and enormous crowd sizes are early anecdotal evidence that Obama has touched a lot of people in New Hampshire, and with less than 24 hours to go before voters head to the polls here, his momentum seems to be very real. Obama delivered a brief, watered-down version of his stump speech, promising change and thanking the crowd for coming out. “You’re the wave, and I’m riding it,” Obama said. |
