Paulie, is there anything you can share with us about the long answer to the personal question, that you noted as being revelatory about Obama, the person?

I heard that Obama drew so many people in Eugene that he went outside to say a few words to the folks that couldn't get in. A friend said that 20,000 people showed up. Whew!

I'm glad to hear there's also room for smaller events. The Medford event sounds great. Corvallis is still spinning from the surprise American Dream Pizza visit. (In retrospect, how could he not go by a place with a name like that?)

I'm just glad that my primary vote might have some impact on a federal election, for a change.

Yes, this guy is the real deal. It hurt me deeply to read Kari's post the other day suggesting that Barack might hold a grudge against Steve Novick for remarks Steve made questioning Barack's candidacy some time before Steve endorsed Barack a couple of weeks ago. I have been a HUGE fan of both Steve's and Barack's for a long time (they are my favorite politicians), and I can never imagine Barack holding that kind of grudge. To suggest he might is to fundamentally misunderstand the man.

Frankly, the idea that either Steve or Jeff would try to make political hay from being more supportive of Barack than the other is absurd. Steve hasn't done that yet, and neither has Jeff, but some of Jeff's supporters have done it here. Talk about Chutzpah The fact is that both Senate candidates missed the boat, as far as I am concerned, in endorsing Edwards even though, to paraphrase Richardson, Barack is a once-in-a-generation candidate. I truly don't understand why my friend Steve didn't get that, but Merkley obviously didn't either. Anyway, now they're both endorsing Steve ... so we can move on. Just please, no more posts about which Senate candidate is "better on the Barack issue."

Well Medford, Oregon got to see the next President of the United States today. And it was amazing! Here is a video link of the town hall event.

And here is one volunteer's perspective from yours truly.

The lead up to the event was plain crazy. As the leader of Oregon South for Barack Obama, I was picked to coordinate the volunteers. This evolved into many other things as well, and I was besieged with 100's of emails, phone calls, calls at home, media calls and interviews. Some were dissatisfied with the smaller "town hall" forum, but once the event was underway it was obvious that Alex Friendly and the rest of the advance team knew exactly what they were doing. It was incredible.

The smaller forum allowed him to us to address us in a more personal way and to answer our specific questions. The "Kids Unlimited" location was rocking from the get go with anticipation and "Yes we Can" shouts. For those who didn't get in, all three major local TV stations broadcast the event live. This was the biggest deal that has hit our town in quite some time.

Denise Cyr, our A#1 local volunteer, who took the brunt of the public demand for tickets, had the honor of introducing Senator Obama. She was fired up! She explained how Senator Obama had broad appeal to Republicans and Independents in addition to Democrats. This is a critical point here in Southern Oregon. Four of my Republican friends who I helped with tickets agreed, as they told us afterwards they would be registering Dem. on Monday so they can vote for Senator Obama in the Oregon primary.

Senator Obama had Ret. General Tony McPeak, from Grants Pass, Oregon, briefly address us in response to Bill Clinton's latest diss on Barack Obama. As he has in past, General McPeak reiterated that Barack would be the best commander in chief due in part to his sound judgment. Senator Obama commented later that he was the only candidate of the 3 still standing that got it right on Iraq in 2002. Why would we want a commander in chief that got this wrong?

And Senator Obama? No surprises here as he was his intelligent, witty, kind and inspiring self. He led off with a speech that was interrupted by more standing ovations than I could count. He covered an array of issues.

But most memorable to me was his hammering home the point that we need to get past the divisions in our country that are exploited in every election. He said he was not so naive to think our problems would simply vanish if we hold hands and sing "kumbaya". But he emphasized that Dr. King's "fierce urgency of now" calls us to pull together to address the critical issues of our day that threaten our very existence if we continue to flounder in this divisive political environment.

If we are demonizing each other, how can we focus on the critical issue of our day? These issues can't wait, which is why he decided to run for the presidency now.

In the question and answer period, he was hit with questions that ranged from Tibet to the full funding of IDEA (Confession time, I didn't know that related to "special ed" until the good Senator explained it). My wife and oldest son and I had the fun job of running the microphones to those in the audience with questions (unplanted of course). In typical Obama fashion, he shined and showed an enormous depth of understanding and thoughtfulness in responding to additional questions on veteran's issues, the environment, stem cell research, and the economy. He proved once again that this man is so much more than a great speech-giver which his opponent's campaign has tried to cast him as.

But the best part of the day was seeing Senator Obama's personal side. He was gracious in discussing his political opponents. He challenged us that we had to get involved too, but that we can disagree without being disagreeable. He shared that Nelson Mandela and the Dali Lama were the two people he's met that he was awestruck by due to their integrity and truthfulness. He shared how he had grown over the course of the campaign due to the tough times, including over the last week dealing with his former pastor's "dumb comments." He described it as a blessing though since it forced him to "dig deep" inside himself and get back to what this campaign is all about. He said this came out in his recent speech on race which he described as only one aspect of division in our country that we need to overcome.

And how does he deal with the "tough weeks" like the last one? By remembering his cause, not taking himself too seriously, and with the help of his 9 and 6 year old daughters, Malia and Sasha, who couldn't care less about all the political rhetoric.

My family and I also followed the "giddy Paulie Brading" backstage to meet briefly with the Senator and get our photo with him. This may make for a great family Christmas card come December! My wife couldn't help but tell him how we named one of our rabbits Barack-olli. He laughed, but didn't take me up on my offer of one of Barack-oli's offspring for Sasha and Malia. Hey, it was worth a try, since we have 14 baby bunnies to give away!

Thank you Senator Obama for your visit which Medford, Oregon will never forget. We look forward to your return after your nomination for the general election against John McCain.

Here's my question --

If Barack has not only a big lead in the popular vote but, more importantly, an insurmountable lead in the pledged delegate count ...

and if Hillary has had the recent success she's had largely because of a combo of (a) Rush Limbaugh telling his supporters to vote for her and thereby put the Dems in chaos and (b) resorting to a kitchen sink strategy, including making invidious comparisons between her primary opponent and the other Party's nominee ...

WHY ARE THERE SO MANY PARTY INSIDERS STILL SITTING ON THE FENCE? Seriously, those of you who supported Edwards, how do you explain his silence? And Gore's? Does this party want to elect John McCain? It's starting to appear that way. In fact, if this keeps up, the Democratic Party will get the defeat it deserves, and I say that as a life-long Democrat.

Its simple Dan, its out of respect for the Clintons and political obligations owed to them.

Thank you Paulie for all you and your office did to facilitate the event!

And I must add that shortly after I posted this, I noticed Barackolli was in the street in front of our house! So my son Zach and I had to do a little bunny round up! Time to get those Easter eggs!

Have a great day everyone!!

"Giddy" Paulie Brading and other Southern Oregon party leaders led a carefully orchestarted event designed to show Barak Obama in his best light. The deliberate selection of a small facility gave the impression of a huge crowd of enthusiastic supporters.

The Jackson County Fairgrounds was available and has been used before for Presidential candidates as well as Presidents. Why were the party leaders and Barack handlers afraid to open up for a potential doubling or tripling of attendees? could it be the large number of NAV, republican and undecided democrats in Southern Oregon?

The anser isn't the weather as the day was clear and sunny. Even if there were poor weather, the Fairgrounds has covered spaces that fits more than double the space at Kids Unlimited.

Paulie, I apologize. Thanks for trying to open the even up to a larger contingent of interested folks in Southern Oregon!

I'm not certain what Taxpayers Association blog you refer to. It isn't me.

I have just switched from non-affiliated to Democratic and was not really paying attention to the Novick/Merkley contest. Now that I will be able to vote for one of them, I am curious if either one has endorsed one of the presidential candidates. This would be only one factor in my decision and I have to read up on both of them, but I would like to know. Thanks.

You can see the entire speech and questions at Mail Tribune website. An impressive job the newspaper has done.

You can see the entire speech and questions at Mail Tribune website. An impressive job the newspaper has done.

Dan, I am interested in your history as a Democratic activist.

For those with a long history in Democratic politics, I think I speak for many when I say even famous people have the right to choose time, place, and manner of making endorsements. Or to stay on the sidelines if they wish.

This idea of "endorse when other people tell you to or else you lose in the fall!" attitude makes about as much sense as those back a little over a decade ago claiming that if Democrats ever wanted to win another election after the 1994 tidal wave, every Democrat had better become an NRA member.

That happened right before our Congressional District elected a challenger to a GOP incumbent, and that Dem. challenger was the first member from our district to have no ties to the NRA.

My father, a member of the Medford City Council for many years, was a life-long Republican. He changed his registration to Democrat out of disgust for W and what's become of the Ore. GOP, just two weeks before his death in Apr. 2004. He was a decorated Marine veteran and well respected in the community. If his action was any kind of a trend, then perhaps Medford has a chance of turning a little purplish in the days ahead.

Pat Ryan, I am the only naschkatze that I know of who blogs on HuffPo, and I have been an Oregonian for the past 25 years and have never set foot in Maryland. The site owner can tell from my e-mail address that I live in Central Oregon.

I echo Paulie's comment. When I talked to the advance team, I told them we would pack the biggest facility they could find, Expo, Armory, you name it. Support for Barack down here is that strong. However, they had their own plans and ideas and it turned out great as you can see from the video.

I am a strong Senator Obama supporter, and more so after his visit to Oregon. I would vote for Senator Clinton and think she would make a better president than Senator '100 year war' McCain. I respect the passions and judgment of Clinton supporters. However Maureen Dowd at the NY Times had a poetic take on the primary race yesterday:

" It is a tribute to Hillary Clinton that even though, rationally, political soothsayers think she can no longer win, irrationally, they wonder how she will pull it off.

It’s impossible to imagine The Terminator, as a former aide calls her, giving up. Unless every circuit is out, she’ll regenerate enough to claw her way out of the grave, crawl through the Rezko Memorial Lawn and up Obama’s wall, hurl her torso into the house and brutally haunt his dreams.

'It’s like one of those movies where you think you know the end, but then you watch with your fingers over your eyes,' said one leading Democrat. "

That being said, let's work for our primary candidates with integrity, register people to vote, support the general election candidate and make sure all our friends vote - all with a sense of grace and dignity.

I don't know why it is so hard for Obama supporters to understand that Clinton and Obama are in a statistical tie as far as the popular vote goes. The Democratic party is almost split evenly down the middle. A good portion of the party leadership is not impressed with his southern state wins. He isn't expected to be able to take those states since they are deep republican territory. Millions upon millions of democrats are voting for Obama, and they are also voting for Clinton. The margin between them is less than 1%. That is why the contest is still on. The party insiders are still not convinced that Obama is able to beat McCain. After telling the media that he was "shaken" by the whole to do over his pastor, what will he be if there is a real crisis? I don't know about you, but I want a president that doesn't get shaken quite so easily.