Senator Barack Obama Holds Public Rally in Santa Barbara, California

On Saturday, September 8th, Senator Barrack Obama of Illinois made a Presidential campaign stop in Santa Barbara, CA. Speaking in front of approximately 3,500 people who gathered for a public rally on the West Campus Lawn of Santa Barbara City College, Senator Obama covered a variety of topics from his perceived lack of experience to the highly unpopular war in Iraq. The standing room only crowd, which was made up of people of all races and age levels, rose to their feet and gave him their biggest round of applause after his comments on the latter subject.

When talking about the problems in America, Obama stated, "The challenges that America faces don't have to do with the American people; the American people are not the problem, the American people are the answer." He went on to say "that the American people are ready for something new and they want to change in how we govern ourselves in these United States."

When addressing his lack of experience he related his climb to the Senate then he asked the crowd to consider the experience levels of some recent Washington, D. C., inhabitants, "Think about it...Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld have the best resumes in Washington and lead us into the biggest foreign policy disaster in American history; time served does not guarantee your judgement."

Senator Obama is in the Santa Barbara area in order to attend a multimillion dollar fund raiser that is being hosted by Oprah Winfrey at her manor in nearby Montecito, CA. That event is being held for people who have given the Obama campaign $2,300 which is the maximum legal limit any one person can give under federal election funding guidelines. A sit down dinner will be held later in the evening for those people who have raised a total of $50, 000 or more from their friends and families.