Obama to Pueblo: 'We have a righteous wind at our backs'

PUEBLO - Sen. Barack Obama added Colorado to his furious final tour of battleground states on Saturday, telling a crowd of at least 15,000 supporters that with only three days until Election Day, "we have a righteous wind at our backs."

"We're going to have to work like our future depends on it in these last few days, because it does," the Illinois Democrat said, asking for the last ounce of effort from his volunteers to help get out the vote on Tuesday.

Colorado is one of a handful of swing states that could be crucial to victory for Obama or his Republican presidential opponent, Sen. John McCain of Arizona. Statewide polls taken in the last week give Obama a four- to 10-point lead.

Speaking to a throng that filled downtown South Union Avenue for at least three blocks, Obama exuded confidence.

"We are three days away from bringing fundamental change to the United States of America," he said, squinting into the sun on a finer afternoon than any candidate would dare to wish for in November in Colorado.

Obama regularly accuses McCain of being in lockstep with President Bush, and he hammered on that theme on Saturday.

"After 21 months and three debates," he said, "John McCain still has not been able to tell the American people a single major thing he'd do differently from George Bush when it comes to the economy."

But Obama added a note of mockery. His young daughters, he said, "have trouble every year deciding what they want to be for Halloween. John McCain doesn't have that problem, because he goes out and trick-or-treats as George Bush." The crowd roared.
Obama also laid on the sarcasm when he spoke of Vice President Dick Cheney, who endorsed McCain earlier Saturday.

"I'd like to congratulate Senator McCain on this endorsement because he really earned it," Obama said. "Senator McCain had to vote with George Bush 90 percent of the time and agree with Dick Cheney to get it. McCain had to serve as Washington's biggest cheerleader for going to war in Iraq, and supports economic policies that are no different from the last eight years. So Senator McCain worked hard to get Dick Cheney's support."

"But here's my question for you, Colorado: do you think Dick Cheney is ‘delighted to support John McCain' because he thinks John

McCain is going to bring change to Washington? Do you think John McCain and Dick Cheney have been talking about how to really shake things up, get rid of the lobbyists and put Halliburton on the sidelines and put an end to the old boys club in Washington?
"Come on," Obama said. "Colorado, we know better."

After launching a few more broadsides at McCain, Obama accused the Republicans of negative campaigning.

"You've been watching a lot of ads from John McCain," he said. "You can't tell me that you know what he plans to do with the economy because he hasn't told you. All he's been doing is talking about me."

Obama touched on the major features of his platform, repeating his assertion that he would reduce taxes for 95 percent of working Americans, and he spoke of an economic recovery founded on tax breaks that target the middle class, not the wealthy.

"The last thing we can afford," he said, "is four more years of the tired, old, stale economic theories that say we should give more and more money to billionaires and millionaires and big corporations and hope that prosperity trickles down on everybody else."
Obama also promised "to treat our veterans with honor and respect."

"I will make sure that our servicemen and women have the best training and the best equipment when they deploy into combat, and that they receive the care and the benefits that they have earned when they come home," he said. "No more homeless veterans, no more begging for disability payments."

Obama alluded to the recent announcement by Gov. Bill Ritter, who was at the rally, that a manufacturer of wind turbines is building a plant in Pueblo. "We can create 2 million new jobs creating a 21st-century infrastructure," Obama said, "and we can invest $15 billion a year, taking a lead from Gov. Ritter, in investing in renewable sources of energy."

An Obama campaign spokesman said the Pueblo Fire Department had estimated the crowd at 16,500. A Pueblo dispatcher said he had been told by fire Capt. John Barger that the figure was more like 15,000.

Either way, it was the largest crowd in Southern Colorado for any candidate this year.

Obama was introduced by his wife, Michelle, who appeared before a smaller crowd in Colorado Springs on Tuesday. Mrs. Obama is scheduled to hold a rally in Littleton on Monday at about the same time as the Republican vice presidential nominee, Sarah Palin, is scheduled to speak in Colorado Springs, as the two campaigns battle to get in the last word in Colorado.