Missouri happy to show Obama the money
Candidate gets enthusiastic welcome in St. Louis, K.C.
It wasn't for the fabulous BBQ ribs, I can tell you -- that man is so rake thin he probably only eats salad and other bunny-type foods, not hot smoked pork slathered with molasses and tomato sauce.
Why Missouri? It is not an early nominating state. Its primary will be held on Feb. 5, along with dozens of other states, not ahead of the gang like Iowa, New Hampshire and Nevada.
So what was he doing in Missouri, I asked his campaign. The response: "There is a lot of energy in the state for this effort and he looks forward to seeing his friends and introducing himself to new ones when he gets there."
Well that didn't tell me a lot. In fact, it didn't tell me anything.
So I had to guess. And my thoughts led, of course, to money, since this presidential primary has become so outrageous in terms of mustering campaign money -- even if it is under the cover of public events. The race to gather hundreds of thousands of dollars a day has gotten practically incestuous with wealthy brothers and sisters working on opposite sides: to wit, Jay Pritzker, who is leading Hillary's finance campaign, and Penny Pritzker, his older sister, who is doing the same job for Obama.
And there were new friends in Kansas City, people who weren't necessarily on the Democratic donor list who began e-mailing their friends three weeks ago to come out in support.
There is money to be mined here.
The city is home to such corporate powerhouses as Hallmark Cards, H&R Block, Sprint Nextel Corp. and AMC Theatres. It is also an important transportation hub, particularly in terms of railroad traffic.
There was so much interest in an Obama appearance that several Kansas City events were held: About 30 people each paid $2,300 to come to the private VIP event at 1 p.m. The second fund-raising event involved 40 people who came and each paid $1,000. Obama spoke about who he was and answered questions about poverty and alternative fuels. "There was almost a glow about him," gushed one attendee.
Plus there were 2,000 members of the public who each paid $25 a ticket ($10 for seniors and students) to hear Obama in the Imperial Ballroom of the downtown Marriott Hotel. It was more like a party than a formal speech. Many of the more enthusiastic attendees wore Mad Hatter-style paper hats fashioned out of grocery bags, painted white with feathers and pearls and American flags.
The T-shirts being sold by Obama volunteers -- "Let's Barack the Vote" -- were brisk sellers. The senator easily made over $300,000 -- my guesstimate -- after the visits to the two Missouri cities, not a bad haul.
But looking around the ballroom one could also see that the crowd here was in many ways a cross-section of America: babies, seniors, young, black, white, students, and the curious. "Missouri is close to the median of the United States in terms of the economy and the population," John Petrocik, head of political science at the University of Missouri-Columbia, explained to me later.
In this state, plunk in the middle of the continental U.S., there remain traces of a southern tradition, a rural white population in the Ozark mountains, a rust-belt industry in St. Louis, a large Christian conservative population and important universities. Missouri is an atypical Midwest state that has it all; it is a microcosm of the USA. As Petrocik says, it wasn't a bad place for Obama to have "an off-Broadway tryout."
And, yes, it is a swing state where shifts between Democrats and Republicans are not rare occurrences. Missouri has more often voted for the winning presidential candidate than any other state, whether he's Democrat or Republican. It is the state of Harry Truman but it elected George W. Bush the last time around. As the state slogan suggests: "Show Me." And that's likely what Missourians were asking of Barack Obama, the first Democratic presidential candidate to visit their state: "Show Me" before I give you my vote.