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Obama goes door-to-door
13/10/2007 21:01 - (SA)
Des Moines - Democrat Barack Obama knocked on doors in the Iowa capital on Saturday talking up his opposition to the war in Iraq.
At one stop, Obama got a warm welcome from a woman who said the visit might persuade her to attend the Democratic presidential caucus in January at which voters start choosing delegates to the party's presidential nominating convention.
"I'm flabbergasted that he's here knocking on my neighbourhood door," Jody Degard told reporters after the visit from the Illinois senator.
Degard, who works for a local cable TV company, said she has narrowed her choice to New York Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton and Obama.
"I'm quite pleased that somebody is that local," she said. The war, she added, is an important issue. "I think it's time to send our troops home," Degard said.
Obama spent about an hour going door-to-door on Des Moines' east side. He started the day by encouraging supporters to talk to fellow Iowans about the war in Iraq. War has got to stop
"The main thing that we want to communicate today is that this war that we've been fighting in Iraq has got to stop, that we can no longer afford $275m a day spent on a civil war between factions in Iraq where there is no military solution to be had, that it's time for us to begin bringing our young men and women home - they have been there long enough," Obama said at a local high school.
"All across the state, people are gathering together just like they are gathering together here to go out and start knocking on doors and talking to folks about how we can bring about big change in America," Obama said, encouraging the supporters to also talk about health care, energy independence and education.
Earlier this week, Obama's campaign held almost a dozen news conferences across the state to mark the anniversary of Congress' authorisation of the war in Iraq. He has opposed the war from the beginning and has been highlighting that record at events throughout the country over the past few weeks.
Other Democratic presidential campaigns also have been knocking on Iowans' doors. Clinton's effort began in September.
John Edwards, the former North Carolina senator, stood in the back of a pickup truck last week to launch a house-to-house campaign in Davenport with the help of local Steelworkers.
- AP
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