Obama says hello to Bayh
PORTAGE, IND. | Possible running mate pick talks sports, family, 'that's all'
PORTAGE, Ind. -- Sen. Barack Obama and his oft-mentioned potential running mate, Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh, shook hands with a lunchtime crowd in a Schoop's diner here Wednesday.
Plenty of locals suggested to Obama that Bayh would make a good vice president.
(AP)
"Bayh would be a very good match for him -- he's a more conservative Democrat," said Joel Vuko, 64.
Handing Bayh an Obama cap that Obama had already signed, a woman said, "Let's have both the president and vice president sign this."
Smiling as he signed it, Bayh said, "First things first. Let's get him elected and we'll see what happens," Bayh said, handing her the cap.
Did Bayh and Obama talk about his vice presidential prospects during the bus ride from their earlier event in Elkhart?
"We talked sports and family -- that's all," Bayh said with a smile.
Obama snatched a french fry from Kathy Goudy's plate and that was fine with her, the clinical social worker said.
"I read his book. I sent out e-mails last night contradicting this ridiculous thing that he's not patriotic because he doesn't wear the flag on his lapel," she said.
But this traditionally Republican state won't be an easy sell for Obama. Schoop's owner Julie Sharp and two others who shook his hand said they still weren't sure they would vote for him.
Alexander Hernandez, 21, a political science student at Indiana University Northwest in Gary, told Obama, "It's really hard for us to get a job now that the steel mills are closing -- we can't just go to work after high school."
Obama asked him if he was going to college and he said he was but he said a lot of his friends could not afford the $8,000 tuition his family is paying -- his dad has one of the few steel mill jobs left.
"Just don't forget about us," Hernandez said. Obama promised not to.
Schoops, a franchise of chrome-covered retro diners, is a Hammond-based Indiana staple. Bayh suggested it and Obama order4d four of their signature hamburgers to go.
Meanwhile, Obama's wife, Michelle, appeared in Virginia with Gov. Tim Kaine, another top vice presidential prospect.
McCain campaigned next-door in Ohio, which is seen as even more of a toss-up than Republican-leaning Indiana.