2008.10.17
Event has started
State Democratic Party chairman Richard Cranwell emerged for a couple of minutes to warm up the crowd.
"My question is, ‘Can we turn Virginia blue,’ and the answer is," Cranwell said, pausing, before the crowd erupted, "Yes we can!" Congressman Rick Boucher, D-Abingdon, cited Obama’s visits to Bristol and Lebanon in the time since he won the Democratic Party’s nomination. Boucher said that since then he’s seen a movement by southwestern Virginia voters to Obama, who he predicted would win not only the region but the state.
U.S. Senator Jim Webb is now speaking.
He asked "When’s the last time you saw John McCain in this part of Virginia?" The crowd responded with boos at the mention of McCain.
