TERRE HAUTE — A hush fell over Sen. Barack Obama’s campaign headquarters Wednesday night as workers hung on every word that came from a Blackberry cell phone’s speaker.
About 30 volunteers listened as the man for whom they had been spending hours on the phone, passing out fliers or going door-to-door, thanked them and rallied them for a final push in the last days leading up to Indiana’s primary election Tuesday.
“You are the foundation of our campaign,” the presidential hopeful said, noting that’s been the case in all the other states in which he’s campaigned.
Obama continued to tell the crowd how much they were appreciated in spite of some of the issues that have come up in the past few days in regards to his former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.
“One of the reasons I was so angry yesterday about my former pastor is obviously, he didn’t understand what this campaign’s about, which is it’s about you and all the work that you’re doing,” he said. “And, it’s not about me or Hillary Clinton or John McCain, it’s about you and your hopes and dreams and what we need to do to create a better future for you and your children and your grandchildren … ”
He told them their work and efforts were the “difference maker” in this close election.
“I just wanted to say ‘thank you, I appreciate you’,” Obama said. “ … If we can win Indiana, especially after some bad press that we received over the last couple of weeks, I think we can go ahead and wrap up this nomination right here, right now, and I just need you guys to believe in not me, but believe in yourselves and the ability for all of you to really create a better future for this country.”
His call came about an hour before he was set to begin speaking at Indiana University’s Assembly Hall in Bloomington.
Taylor Lampton, 18, was focused on the phone for the duration of Obama’s message to volunteers, which lasted more than three minutes.
The Terre Haute North Vigo High School senior voted Tuesday. She has been volunteering for Obama’s campaign for at least a month, she said.
She said she would not have volunteered if she didn’t support Obama’s message so strongly. Not getting the chance to hear Obama speak when he was in Terre Haute made his call more special, she said.
“ … it was really for me because I made so many calls and have gone door to door, so it was nice to know he was thanking us,” Lampton said. “It felt like he was thanking me.”
Crystal Garcia can be reached at (812) 231-4271 or crystal.garcia@tribstar.com.
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