ROSEBURG, Ore. — Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama came to the heart of Republican timber country Saturday, and drew a favorable reception from a large audience with his promises to end the Iraq war and deliver universal health care.
The Illinois senator packed nearly 1,500 people into the Roseburg High School cafeteria for what was his first campaign foray into one of Oregon’s conservative rural areas.
After Obama took a shellacking in last Tuesday’s West Virginia primary, some analysts suggested the loss showed the Illinois senator was having problems connecting with blue-collar, working-class voters.
None of that was in evidence Saturday in this Douglas County timber town — the first stop in a weekend of campaigning in Oregon for Obama, who holds a large lead in polls leading up to Tuesday’s primary election.
His Democratic rival, Hillary Rodham Clinton, held two invitation-only events Friday in Oregon, and does not plan to return to the state before Tuesday’s voting deadline.
On Tuesday, Obama plans to hold a triumphant rally in Iowa, returning to the state that propelled him to the top of the Democratic field and sending a clear signal that he has shifted his focus to the November general election.
Obama advisers said Iowa is one of several states, along with Missouri, Michigan and Florida, that they have targeted for wins in November.
As Obama took the stage Saturday, he was greeted by one man’s shout of “Obama rocks!” and he received several standing ovations in a county that has voted for Republicans in every presidential election since 1964, when the county went for Democrat Lyndon Johnson.
Douglas County is among the rural Oregon counties that have suffered economically with the decline in the timber industry — the main source of jobs in Roseburg and surrounding areas.
Obama drew cheers when he called for more research into converting wood chips into an alternative fuel source — both to boost supplies of renewable energy and to create new jobs in timber-dependent communities.
Audience members — including some Republicans — said afterward Obama had scored points with them in his Saturday address.
Mike Croning, 54, a registered Republican, said he is “strongly leaning” toward backing Obama in November.
“He’s a Kennedy-esque type of person. He’s a thoughtful person,” said Croning, a financial planner. “I don’t think he’s the old-style partisan politics.”
Roseburg dentist Bill Schuyler, 62, said he’s been a Republican all his life but now is backing Obama.
“He’s the most honest candidate we’ve had,” Schuyler said.
What about Sen. John McCain, the presumptive GOP nominee?
“He’s a little too old. I’d like to see someone younger in there,” Schuyler said of the 71-year-old senator from Arizona.
For the most part, Obama stuck to the central themes of his campaign.
He drew some of the loudest applause when he promised to have U.S. forces out of Iraq within 16 months of taking office.
“I will end this war,” he said.
During a question-and-answer portion of the program, Obama responded to one man’s inquiry about Oregon’s one-of-a-kind assisted suicide law by pledging never to “meddle” with Oregon’s law the way the Bush administration did.
“I can look you in the eye and tell you I will not try to overrule the decision of the people of Oregon” who have twice endorsed assisted suicide, Obama said.
The Illinois senator’s response to that and other issues cemented registered nurse Kim Rockingber’s support for Obama.
“He’s an inspiring man,” Rockingber said.
Former President Bill Clinton, campaigning for his wife Hillary in the Columbia River town of Scappoose, told a crowd at the high school Saturday that his wife “has respected you enough to campaign in rural as well as suburban and urban communities.”
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