Obama Thursday Town Hall Tickets Run Out
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By David Crigger/Bristol Herald Courier
Devon Bracker shows off her tickets that she picked up Tuesday evening for the Thursday Town hall Meeting with Barack Obama at Virginia High School.
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Published: June 4, 2008
Updated: June 6, 2008
UPDATE: News Channel 11’s Bill Christian talked with a Sen. Barack Obama campaign official at the Virginia High location. The ticket supplies have run out. There is a waiting list at the Virginia High School location. Your Tri-Cities news Source will have more details today on News Channel 11 at Noon.
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BRISTOL, Va. – Susie Walling’s children got her interested in the presidential election, so when she learned Tuesday that Barack Obama was bound for Bristol, she knew the family had to attend.
Obama, the presumptive Democratic nominee, is scheduled to hold a town hall-style meeting at 11:45 a.m. Thursday at Virginia High School. The visit comes just two days after the Illinois senator clenched the Democratic nomination following a six-month battle with Sen. Hillary Clinton. Virginia hasn’t supported a Democrat for president in 44 years but is now considered a battleground, according to the Associated Press.
“Yes, it’s exciting,” Walling said Tuesday night of Obama’s visit. “I have three teenagers who are excited about this election and interested in the candidates. I wasn’t, but they’ve got me excited.”
Walling was among more than 200 who showed up at Virginia High Tuesday night to get tickets to attend Thursday’s gathering. The event is free and open to the public, but tickets are required, according to a news release from the Obama campaign.
Walling said two of her three children are eligible to vote and one plans to vote for Obama.
Beth Rhinehart of Bristol, Va., was the third person in a line of about 40 people Tuesday night. She was picking up tickets for her three children.
“This is an opportunity for my children to experience seeing a leading presidential candidate,” Rhinehart said. “I think it will be a great thing.”
Come November, Devon Bracher will be eligible to vote and she has already decided to vote for Obama.
“I like the way he brings so much hope to everything,” Bracher said. “I think he really can change things.”
Travis Clark, who also got his tickets Tuesday evening, said he is excited about the senator’s visit.
“I’m kind of shocked,” Clark said. “I’m glad he’s coming. We support him and we want to get all the people we can here.”
About 3,000 people will be admitted. The doors to the gym are scheduled to open at 9:45 a.m. on Thursday.
“They [Obama camp] wanted to come to Southwest Virginia and heard we had a great facility here,” said Virginia High Principal Ina Danko.
She took the call Tuesday morning and helped campaign officials work through the logistics of setting up the event.
“We’re glad for the opportunity to show off our town and our school. We’re kind of excited about it,” Danko said.
Thursday’s event will be the first of two Virginia stops for Obama. At 6 p.m., he is scheduled to attend a rally in Bristow, which is in Northern Virginia.
Ticket distribution for the Bristol event is scheduled to continue from 8 a.m. until 9 p.m. today at the Virginia High gym at 1200 Long Crescent Drive, Bristol, Va.; the Boucher for Congress campaign office, 137 S. Court St., Abingdon, Va.; and the United Mine Workers office at 2 Right Miners Drive in Castlewood, Va.
For security reasons, those attending should not take bags and personal items should be limited. No signs or banners will be allowed.
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Reader Reactions
Oh, please. Danielpipes.org is hardly an objective, unbiased source. Find true confirmation that Obama is a Muslim and then get back to us. And, no, NOT all Muslims are anti-American. Sweeping, ignorant generalizations like this weaken your argument. So does name-calling (“Libertards”? How old are you?).
Agreeing with concernedcitizen: nobody in this country who is NOT wealthy (and probably not one who didn’t graduate from an Ivy League college, these days) will ever be a serious contender for president. Ever. Get used to it.
To McCainforPrez
Those of us that personally know Jesus Christ know He is the Messiah! I don’t feel any comment anyone has contributed has led to a belief that we hold Obama to that high esteem.
Sigh..I knew someone would have to respond.
(1) Yes Obama IS a muslim. Read this article. Deny it if you wish but get HIM to go on record and denounce this claim.
http://www.danielpipes.org/article/5354
(2)Being a jr senator has a lot to do with it. How naive do you think the public is? Would you want a doctor straight out of med school or a highly skilled surgeon doing your next triple bypass?
(3)Pull out the stability in the middle east and watch the panic ensue. We must in Iraq for the long haul. Yes, they will stand on their own, but for now, they can’t. What’s stopping Iran from coming over the border now? Would it be that firece fighting force of US Marines? or the Iraqis?
(4) A made up term? You are joking right?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Partial-Birth_Abortion_Ban_Act
Matter of fact, there is a ban on this already.
(5)So you’re saying he did say that but didn’t mean it? Kinda wishy washy arent we? Do you need that kinda person with his finger on the big red button?
(6)and Nafta helps that along by not raising tarrifs on good made outside the US.
(7) Thats MY right to own a gun, pure and simple. The 2nd admendent (or as your liberatards call it, the Bill of Mistakes)guarantees me that right to own a firearm. Has nothing to do with deer hunting, fox hunting, mouse hunting or any other hunting. Do you own a car? Is it black? It’s like saying that all black cars are hensforth banned cause cars kill people. Remember, PEOPLE kill people, not guns
(8)If I go to France, I think they should change the law so that everyone speaks english. What do you think the French would say? Let me give you a hint
“Le pousser en haut votre bout”
(9) Umm…lets see…being in the military is not a good criterion for being president? If that’s the case, I want to be president of Eastman Kodak, I know nothing about chemicals but hey,that’s mearly a technicality
Poor misguided souls
You will no doubt call this an attack, judging from the comments above. No, It is not about race or religion. I am a native american, you might say I have no horse in this race. It is a statement of common sense.
The inexperienced “junior” senator has made a lot of promises. These promises cost dollars and these are dollars that this government does not have. How many billions in deficit are we already?
Where is this money going to come from to implement these changes?
An answer is simple economics, everyone who works and struggles today will pay for these changes, regardless of how much or little you make. The “changes” that cannot be funded by taxes will be blamed off as republican plots to deprive democrats of allowing this change.So much for two party dominance, one can always blame the other for taxpayer sufferage.
It is not all black and white, not red or yellow, it is a scary thing when someone so inexperienced and full of impossible promises has so many mesmerized. Hillary was a better choice but also would have made a terrible president.
If I could ask one question of Mr Obama , it would be this “Who is going to pay for all this “change you are promising”“? I think that once you all hear “you will”(if he is honest), you will wish we had a third party choice for president.
RE: McCainforPrez’ comment:
I’ll try to be respectful. I certainly respect McCain, but his policies and statements flip-flop more than a flag on a swiftboat these days… can’t tell what the man stands for from one week to the next..
1) Fact: Obama is not a Moslem, just for the record. Period.
2) Jr. Senator… so what? That didn’t stop our nation’s fathers & founders.
3) Are yo against sending troops where they’re needed (Afghanistan/Pakistan terrorist country), or for more troops in Iraq? No matter who is president, it’s clear Iraq will have to stand on its own sooner rather than later, despite the semantics on either side of the political divide.
4) I won’t touch the issue except to say “partial birth abortion” is not a medical term, but a political one constructed to super-heat the issue.
5) McCain similarly misspeaks nearly once a week and has to be corrected. I believe Obama misspoke when he said he’d meet with rogue leaders without preconditions (or prior diplomatic contact at lower levels, which is what we do in N. Korea and elsewhere today). Just watch; Obama will correct that unfortunate response to that early primary debate question.
6) We need fair trade before we have free trade. That means the other nations’ factories, who have undercut our prices and put our folks out of work, need to invest in some of the same standards our industries have to meet. If that happens, their labor will rise. Until then, we need some fair-trade protections.
7) Does a REAL man need a semi-automatics to kill a deer? Just wonderin’
8) Making English as an official language might be a good idea. To my understanding, it wold prevent the government from printing government documents, laws, etc., in other languages beside English. People who get heated about this issue see it as patriotic, like a flag-burning law. But I think the anger would be best directed toward immigration reform. It’s a complicated issue, but not one solved from a jingoist perspective.
9) Military service is nice, but not a criterion for being a good president.
Oh my gawd..you folks act like he’s the messiah!! Yeah, we need change alright but opens your EYES. Here is Obamanation’s platform
Well…lets do it in alphabetical order
Still nothing? does it suprise you? For you lemmings who are going to see the sideshow, ask these questions
(1) The man is a Moslim, Aren’t those the same guys who say “Death to the USA”? Where do you think his sediments lie? Remeber, he was RAISED a Moslim. Would you be willing to dispute this Obama?
(2) The man is a jr senator. He’s only been in Congress 4 years. What did he do before that? The man wants to be the most powerful person on the earth and has never made a decision like the ones he’ll be faced with. Can you tell us about all your absentee votes?
(3) Obama wants to send MORE troops to Pakistan. How far can the military be streched? He wants to suck the troops out of Iraq. You think it’s bad now, wait till that happens. Chaos will erupt. Oil prices will go to $200+ a barrell and this world will see a depression unlike no other. How are you going to bring the price of gas down?
(4) voted AGAINST banning partial birth abortions. Abortions should be banned, plain and simple. Obamanation doesn’t see it that way. Have any kids? You do know the easiest way to collect stem cells dont you? When does life begin? at the first cell division or 5 minutes after they suck out part of your brain for a partial birth abortion? What is your stand on this Obama?
(5) Willing to meet with Fidel Castro, Kim Jung Il & Hugo Chavez. What else could he sell out to these guys? Didn’t Chavez come to the US and vow to bury us? Now we want to make nicely nice with him? Elect Obama and find out. How will this help this nation Mr Obama?
(6) Amend NAFTA to add labor agreements. That is what started the whole mess to start with. I curse the day Jimmy Quillen came to the textile factory I worked at and told us that this will only make more work for us. A few years later, no more textile factory and HUNDREDS lose out. Clinton thought this was a good idea, lets let em flood the market, Obama thinks along the same lines. Is this still your thinking on Nafta?
(7)wants to put a BAN on ALL SEMI-AUTOMATIC firearms. How say ye on this point My Obama?
(8) voted NO on making English the official language of the US Goverment. What should be be speaking Obama??
(9) Was not in the military. I’d think as Commander in Cheif of the most powerful fighting force on the earth, he’d at least know how they operate. I’ve seen heart surgery on TV before, would you trust me to operate on YOUR heart?
I"m sure you can think of many more. Before you go vote, listen to the man very carefully. See if you get a responce
Amen (Abingdon Resident) - ppl like you make me proud to have been born in Abingdon…
Everyone please read and feel Abingdon resident’s words…
As a white Christian it saddens me to hear so much “gripe” because Obama is African American. People need to learn that both blacks and whites are all God’s children and He loves all of us.
Matthew 7:2
For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.
We whites have had the upper hand over the blacks for so long and now everyone fears a black president. We reap what we sow so I pray you have not treated blacks poorly. There is good and bad in all races! Just as there are bad white people.
This nation needs to turn to God as He is pouring out His Spirit on this earth as He told us He would in the last days. Pray that God will lead our next President in the way that He would have him go.
Obama has change for this country and change is what is needed. We are in a mess and we all know that to be true. He knows what he is doing and he knows what is needed for the country. He will show us all while he is running against McKain, just wait and listen to him.
If Hillary is on the ticket with Obama the same thing will happen to him that mysteriously happened to many people under the Bill Clinton term. Hillary will do anything to have the power of the presidential seat.
May God bless Obama and protect him and guide him in all that he does for the USA!
First of all i think it is beneficial that this candidate is inspiring a new interest in steering this country’s future. With that being said, I have a problem with Ben Shockley’s statement. I refuse to believe that you would expect and respect a politician to walk in with a ten dollar kmart shirt and a 15 dollar pair of khakis. Would employers take you seriously if you walked in a t-shirt, jeans and flip flops? Linger on that thought. Democratic idelogies reflect communism more than socialism. So it is impossible to assume that this individual has socialist tendencies. Although Barack has little experience in the national political field, I believe that he is beginning to understand the evolution that this country is going through and firmly believes that he has some solutions. I am deeply concerned about why you brought up the “free pass” comment. If you have studied this candidate then you would understand that no one gave him a free pass because he was black. He had to earn everything to get where he is today and he has lost his fair share of elections as well. His senate voting record is inadequate for us to glimpse into the future of his policies, but it doesnt bare enough leverage to discount his policies. Your distribution on wealth comment also bothers me. What do you think taxes are? Isn’t that another vehicle for a civilized society to redistrubte wealth? To say the least, taxes pay for schools, goverment assistance programs, utilities and food. Would you also be opposed to those programs?
It wouldn’t be a bad idea to pick up an economics book once in awhile.
Nice, informative article, David. I plan to be there tomorrow to see for myself what the hysteria is all about.
Tri-Cities, relatively speaking, is demographically low in education, income and diversity. This social cocktail seems to have led to fear anyone “not like us.“ It’s why Hillary won in similar areas by selling herself on the airwaves to hard-working (ahem) “white” Americans. Puh-leese. Racism is the elephant in the room nobody will directly address.
Forget what the pastors say on the extreme Right AND Left of the mainstream. Use your own heart and mind. And forget the media pundits. Look, read, listen and watch the candidates themselves.
When was the last time a candidate was an amazing orator, but who was criticized for being light on detailed issues? Reagan. Is it morning in America again??!!!
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