Barack Obama boosts Webb

Senate candidate Jim Webb stumped in Richmond Thursday with a “dream team” of Democrats, including Illinois Sen. Barack Obama. A crowd of about 700 gathered outside the Thomas H. Henderson Center at Virginia Union University.

Elnora Allen of Richmond said she walked over from work to have a look at Obama.

“I read Obama’s book, and I wanted to see what he looks like and what he had to say,” she said before the rally.

Following a performance by the VUU Choir, Rep. Robert “Bobby” Scott took the stage to get the crowd wound up.

“What do we need to do?” he asked repeatedly about issues from Iraq to the environment.

“Change the course!” the crowd yelled in return.

Next up, Richmond mayor and former Gov. L. Douglas Wilder said Virginia Democrats are on a roll that could push Webb into the Senate. Former Gov. Mark Warner, who recently decided not to run for president in 2008, called out President Bush for harming America’s status in the world.

“We have an administration in Washington – and a senator that marches lockstep – that doesn’t understand we need to connect the dots between energy policy, the environment and American jobs,” Warner told the crowd.

Next up was Gov. Tim Kaine, who gushed about the people with whom he shared the stage.

“This is like the dream team and American Idol and all that rolled into one,” Kaine said.

He said the election was about fundamental change for young people, such as Webb’s 24-year-old son Jimmy, a Marine fighting in Iraq.

Sen. Obama then began with his story of entering politics.

“People typically had two questions for me. First question: Where did you get that funny name, Barack Obama? The second question: People would say, you seem like a nice young man. Why would you want to go into a dirty, nasty business like politics?’ ” he said.

Obama said Americans are always willing to improve the nation.

“There’s been an audaciousness, a boldness, about our willingness to say, ‘Together we will perfect this union,’ ” he said.

Now, those in power are in trouble as Americans are seeking change, Obama said.

“Over the last ten years, we’ve been suffering under a politics that feeds on cynicism, that encourages cynicism, that encourages division,” he said. “People are looking for a different message.”

Webb spoke briefly on the three issues central to his campaign, which has gone from 33 points behind incumbent Sen. George Allen to a statistical dead heat.

“It’s time for us to stop pointing fingers at each other and start working together to make this a better country,” he said.

Webb said America can find a diplomatic solution and remove troops from Iraq and still win the war on terror. He told the crowd there are questions of fairness when CEOs earn 400 times what average workers do.

Webb, Obama and the other politicians greeted mobs of supporters before getting back on the campaign trail.

Robert Holsworth, professor and dean of the VCU College and Humanities and Sciences and a Virginia politics guru, said it was a good rally for Webb in a vital area.

“He’s going to need to do very well in Richmond, Henrico and throughout Hampton Roads if he’s going to win,” Holsworth said. “Having Doug Wilder campaign energetically for a week, having a rock star like Barack Obama here – that’s got to be good news for him.”

He said Sen. Allen “let him back in the race, and he’s capitalized on it and made it very competitive.”

The too-close-to-call race is registering on the national radar.

“Everyone thinks it’s one of the closest races in the country right now. If the Democrats have any chance at all of retaking the Senate, they have to win Virginia,” Holsworth said.

Joan Clickener and her husband, John, came from Tappahanock to see Webb and Obama.

“I think it was a good team effort, and they gave a lot of credit to people here,” Clickener said. “I had a good feeling from the whole group. I hope we can carry it over the last five days.”

Iffie Ikem, a high school senior attending her first political rally with friends, said Webb has a good chance of winning.

“I thought they were really good. I think that he has a pretty good chance with the turnout from the rally,” she said.

Wilder reminded the optimistic crowd to get out and vote.

“The only poll that is important or that means anything is the one that is taken on election day. Don’t let us down,” he said.

As Virginia’s bitter battle for the U.S. Senate entered its final weekend, a new poll Saturday showed the race is a virtual deadlock, and Democratic challenger Jim Webb took some of his harshest jabs yet at Republican Sen. George Allen, comparing the race with Allen to living in a sewer.

The incumbent, meanwhile, had another rally interrupted by liberal blogger Mike Stark but spent his day linking Webb to “national liberal Democrats,” including John Kerry and Hillary Clinton. He and his supporters also highlighted Allen’s record as governor, touted his tax-cutting credentials and alluded to his support of a state constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. The measure will be on Tuesday’s general election ballot.

The poll released by Mason-Dixon Polling & Research Inc. showed Webb with the support of 46 percent of likely voters, Allen with 45 percent and 7 percent still undecided.

The survey of 625 likely voters was conducted Wednesday through Friday for several Virginia newspapers. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points. Independent Gail Parker also is on the ballot.

– compiled from wire resources