BY J. TODD FOSTER
BRISTOL HERALD COURIER
BRISTOL, Va. - Long the doormat of presidential politics, Southwest Virginia took the nation's center stage Thursday when presumptive Democratic nominee Barack Obama kicked off his general election campaign for president here.
"This is a truly historic day," U.S. Rep. Rick Boucher, a Democrat who represents Southwest Virginia's 9th District, told 2,500 Obama supporters in the gymnasium of Bristol's Virginia High School.
"I remember the last time a nominee of a majority political party for the presidency visited Southwest Virginia," Boucher told the crowd. "I was there that day. I was about 12 years old. And it was in Roanoke in 1960 when our Democratic nominee for president, John F. Kennedy, spoke there. That was a great day.
"We have waited nearly 50 years ..."
It was also a history-making day for the whole of Virginia, the congressman said, noting it was the first time since 1964 that the commonwealth has been in general election play and not a Republican gimme.
Boucher and former Virginia Gov. Mark Warner shared the dais Thursday with Obama, who plugged Warner as fine presidential timber himself.
Warner is running against Republican Jim Gilmore, also an ex-governor, for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by John Warner (no relation).
Boucher called Warner "the best governor Virginia has had since Thomas Jefferson" and a "one-man engine for progress in Southwest Virginia" during his four years as chief executive, 2002-06.
With Warner at his side, Obama took the stage in his first public appearance since gaining enough delegates to overtake Sen. Hillary Clinton in the Democratic sweepstakes.
The Illinois senator praised Boucher and Warner but also gave a shout-out to Virginia High Principal Ina Danko - "she's a very charming person; I can tell she's a good principal" - and the mayors of both Bristols, Jim Rector on the Virginia side and David Shumaker on Tennessee's.
State Sen. Phil Puckett also got an Obama plug.
Boucher, a Democrat who has represented Southwest Virginia in Congress since winning election in 1982, praised Obama's "promise of empowerment ... for Americans who work every day on our farms, in our factories and in our mines."
And on the 40th anniversary of Robert F. Kennedy's assassination, Boucher called Obama "the most compelling candidate who has sought our party's nomination since Bobby Kennedy in 1968."
Added Warner: "I'm here because this is the most critical election in our lifetime. ... Take the time to get to know this man. This is a good man - a man of faith.
"This is a man who understands that good ideas don't come with a D or an R attached."
J. Todd Foster is managing editor of the Bristol Herald Courier.
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