President Barack Obama will campaign in Roanoke tonight, marking the first time a sitting president has held an event here since 1977. We’ll flashback throughout the day to other occasions that presidents have visited Roanoke. We’ll kick it off, however, with a flashback to the last time Obama held an event in Roanoke as a candidate.

You can discuss the president’s pending visit on an open thread here.

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Saturday, October 18, 2008

OBAMA MAKES PITCH TO S.W. VIRGINIA

By Mason Adams and Rob Johnson The Roanoke Times

Thousands flocked to the Roanoke Civic Center to hear presidential hopeful Barack Obama’s message.
   
   

   Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama swung through Roanoke on Friday, drawing more than 8,000 people to the civic center before later popping into a downtown hair salon.
    A couple of hours after the rally, Obama made an “unscheduled visit” to the Total Elegance Salon on Jefferson Street. Preceded by campaign staff and security, Obama noted he stopped in part because of the “Obama” sign in the window.
    There Obama ran into a Rev. Wright — but not that Rev. Wright.
    “I saw that sign outside,” Obama told the Rev. Tim Wright, who with his wife, Dawn Wright, owns the shop. “I just want to say thank you so much for using barbershops, beauty shops, to make sure everybody’s informed about the election.”
    He paused for a few photographs with the Wright family and a few clients before leaving the shop to a loud cheer from bystanders who had gathered on the street outside. Obama then rejoined his staff in a Chevrolet Suburban parked outside the shop before heading up the road.
    Back in the shop, the Wrights were still basking in the afterglow. Their son, Douglas Brown, took a cooler approach.
    “It was all right,” Brown said of the experience. “I like Obama though. He’s for the young people.”
    He turned to a friend who had just arrived: “Obama was just in here, dog. You just missed him.”

    Obama’s visit marks the first time a major party candidate has visited Roanoke during the general election since Sen. John F. Kennedy made a stop at the Roanoke Regional Airport on Nov. 4, 1960, during his race against then-Vice President Richard Nixon.
    This is the fourth swing Obama has made through Western Virginia since he won the presumptive Democratic Party nomination in June. He launched his general election campaign in Bristol that month before visiting Martinsville and Lynchburg in August, and then Lebanon in September.
    Republican candidate Sen. John McCain has not visited Western Virginia since April 2007, when he made a policy speech at Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, but he and his running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, have drawn large crowds in Richmond, Virginia Beach and Fairfax.
    McCain is scheduled to be in Prince William County today, while Palin’s husband is acting as an honorary NASCAR race official in Martinsville on Sunday.
    The frequency of candidate visits clearly shows that Virginia — which last voted for a Democrat as president in 1964 — is in play.
    Southwest Virginia still appears to be McCain country — Mason-Dixon poll results from early October show Obama trailing by 15 points — but Obama is clearly determined not to cede the region.
    U.S. Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Abingdon, told a crowd of 8,250 in the Roanoke Civic Center coliseum that frequent visits have resulted in “a tremendous movement on the part of Southwest Virginians” to Obama’s campaign.
    U.S. Sen. Jim Webb took a similar tack, asking, “When’s the last time you saw John McCain in this part of Virginia?” The crowd responded with a chorus of boos at the mention of McCain’s name.
    For his part, Obama stuck mostly to his stump speech and a series of talking points that closely paralleled those he used in Wednesday’s televised debate. He emphasized economic and health care issues while taking a few shots at McCain.
    “I can take three more weeks of attacks from John McCain,” Obama said, referring to a series of TV ads that have run in recent weeks. “It’s better than taking four more years of the same failed policies. That’s why I’m running for president.”

    Obama spoke for only 40 minutes — less than half the time he spent in his earlier town hall meetings. He took no questions from the audience, and his campaign declined to make him available to The Roanoke Times.
    The crowd didn’t seem to care if Obama said anything new; most were thrilled that he came to repeat his stump lines to their face. After lining up by the thousands well before 9 a.m., many chanted his name while huddling in the rain. Soon after the civic center doors opened at 10 and the rocking sounds of Jackie Wilson’s “Higher and Higher” starting booming over the sound system, many danced in the aisles. The mood was far from anxiety over issues or the challenge of McCain. Instead, an air of celebration prevailed, boosted by the beat of such thematic tunes as Kool & The Gang’s “Celebration.”
    Maxine Casey of Vinton arrived at the civic center about 8:30 to find herself roughly 2,000 places back in line. Using her cellphone, she managed to find her cousin, Sharon Graves, a receptionist from Christiansburg, who was some 1,800 people ahead of her. “I moved up, thank goodness,” said Casey, whose tactic shaved nearly an hour from her waiting time in the raw weather. She took a personal day off from working as a public school teacher in Salem. “This is history in the making,” she reasoned.
    After Obama’s speech, he waded into the crowd to shake hands, and one of those he connected with was Graves. She walked away aglow, holding her right hand up as if it were a treasure she had just discovered. “I can’t believe it. He was so inspiring,” she said.
    Adrian Stowe made the most of history, from a free enterprise perspective. He owns A Plus Promotions, a Charlotte, N.C.-based clothing company whose team of sales representatives has followed Obama to events in Greensboro, N.C., and Nashville, Tenn., among other stops in the South.
    “Business in Roanoke is good today,” he said. Stowe set up his tent outside the civic center about 6 a.m. Among his best-sellers: chocolate-colored sweat shirts with pink lettering that read “Obama 08,” priced at $25. Those and baseball caps of the same color scheme sold well.
    Other brisk sellers in the wet weather were Obama hand towels at $5 apiece, hawked by vendors who went up and down the long lines in the civic center parking lot.
   

Illustration: photo – 1. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama speaks Friday at the Roanoke Civic Center to a crowd of more than 8,000. U.S. Sen. Jim Webb of Virginia also addressed the crowd. 2. STEPHANIE KLEIN-DAVIS The Roanoke Times – Obama makes an impromptu visit to Total Elegance Salon on Jefferson Street in downtown Roanoke after his address at the civic center. He shook hands with clients and thanked the salon’s owners, Tim and Dawn Wright, for their support — which included an Obama sign in the window of the salon. 3. JARED SOARES The Roanoke Times – Supporters from across the region attend the rally Friday. “This is history in the making,” said one person, a teacher who took the day off. 4. SAM DEAN The Roanoke Times – During his speech Friday, Barack Obama stuck to a series of familiar talking points, emphasizing economic and health care issues. His address lasted approximately 40 minutes. 5. JARED SOARES The Roanoke Times – Above: Thousands of supporters line up outside the Roanoke Civic Center coliseum before 9 a.m. Friday. Many people took the day off from work and school, hoping to meet the presidential candidate. Vendors sold Obama-themed items such as apparel and hand towels. 6. SAM DEAN The Roanoke Times – Right: Members of the crowd spell out a message with their shirts during Obama’s campaign stop. His visit was the first for a major party presidential candidate during a general election since 1960.