85,000 greet him at Manassas rally
Sen. Barack Obama saved his biggest Virginia rally for last -- attracting more than 85,000 people to the Prince William County Fairgrounds on the eve of Election Day.
The Democratic presidential nominee's final major rally before voters head to the polls brought Obama back to where he kicked off his general-election race five months ago -- Northern Virginia.
"I know Virginia's ready to bring about change in America," Obama told a roaring crowd that waited hours under a "Vote for Change" sign for their candidate to appear. "It starts here, Virginia," he said.
His running mate, Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr., is to greet voters in the Richmond area today. The campaign released no other details last night.
"This is the last rally of a campaign that began nearly two years ago," Obama said. "We've gone to every corner of this country, from here in Northern Virginia to the rocky coasts of Maine, from the open plains of Texas to the open skies of Montana.
"I just want to say that whatever happens tomorrow, I have been deeply humbled by this journey."
Obama is counting on a heavy turnout in Northern Virginia, which experienced tremendous growth and has voted increasingly Democratic in recent elections, to turn the state blue and boost him toward the White House. No Democrat has won the state since President Lyndon Baines Johnson in 1964.
Earlier yesterday, Obama campaigned in two other battleground states, Florida and North Carolina. He radiated confidence at the end of a two-year presidential campaign marathon.
Obama's last stop in Florida, Veterans' Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, drew about 9,000 decked out in campaign T-shirts that said things like "Obama is my homeboy." It was held in the place where John McCain famously declared on Sept. 15 that, "The fundamentals of our economy are strong," as Obama reminded the crowd.
"John McCain just doesn't get it," he said.
Obama's speech hit his usual points:
# "We are in the middle of the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression," and McCain would just give the country more George Bush.
# Something must be done about families who have no insurance -- or insurance that won't pay.
# "I will end this war."
The election-eve stumping in Virginia capped a feverish race to the finish in which candidates and top surrogates barnstormed the state and volunteers worked overtime for the state's 13 electoral votes.
At one of Obama's dozens of Virginia field offices, it was standing-room-only at noontime. Thirty volunteers worked the phones. A half-dozen more prepared maps and literature for volunteers to distribute door-to-door.
Running mate Biden made a last-minute pitch for swing-state Missouri, vowing that Obama would offer a three-month moratorium for homeowners facing foreclosure.
Contact Neil H. Simon at (202) 662-7669 or nsimon@timesdispatch.com.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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