Democratic Presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama drew boffo crowds today in St. Louis — reportedly a record for him in North America but it comes as polls are tightening and there are growing concerns about Democratic overconfidence:
ST. LOUIS, Mo. — A record-breaking 100,000 people cheered Sen. Barack Obama under the Gateway Arch on the Mississippi River, by far the biggest stateside crowd drawn by the Democratic nominee.
“All I can is, wow,” said Obama, surveying the sea of supporters, including a few watching from trees and nearby balconies. His home state of Illinois was right across the muddy river.
The huge turnout seemed to confirm that Missouri, the ultimate bellwether, is within reach for Obama this year. Republicans are blanketing the state with robocalls and direct mail, trying to erode support for Obama, but also down ballot as well. Democrats hope to pick up two House seats in Missouri, and could win the governorship.
Obama disputed allegations by Sen. John McCain that he was sparking class warfare by proposing a tax hike for the wealthy, and tax cuts for the middle and working classes.
“My opponent’s been talking a lot about taxes in his campaign,” Obama told the crowd. “But here’s the truth Missouri — we are both offering tax cuts. The difference is who we’re cutting taxes for.”
As noted in other posts on this site and elsewhere, the polls are starting to tighten. GOPers now realize that their battle is not yet lost — amid concern in top Democratic ranks that Democrats could (once again) become complacent and have a rude awakening the day after Election Day…
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.