Oops! Obama mistakenly says 10,000 died in Kan. tornadoes

RICHMOND, Va. -- White House hopeful Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), in the midst of a rousing stemwinder Tuesday night, vastly over-stated the number of people -- 10,000, not 11 -- who died in the tornado that hit Kansas last week.

Obama injected a new element in his stump speech -- the tornados last Friday that devastated sections of Kansas and the town of Greensburg. His point was that the National Guard in Kansas did not have the equipment to properly respond because it was in Iraq.

At least 11 people died. Here's what Obama said when he spoke in Virginia's capital:

"And just in case you missed it, this week, this week there was a tragedy in Kansas. Ten thousand people dead. An entire town destroyed. I talked to somebody in the governor's office, Gov. (Kathleen) Sebelius who I was going to be traveling with in New Orleans had to fly back. Found out that the National Guard in Kansas only had 40 percent of its equipment and they are having to slow down the recovery process in Kansas because all the equipment's been left behind in Baghdad. That is a metaphor for what's happening Think about what we could do with the $275 million a day that we are spending in Iraq right here in Richmond."

Obama flew in a chartered plane from Washington to the state capital for two fund-raisers -- at a private home and at the Planet Zero Gallery for a low-dollar event.

His visit brought up several issues:

• Obama spokesman Dan Pfeiffer, anticipating questions about jetting around on polluting private planes while attacking Detroit for not producing alternative fuel vehicles, offered up that the charter aircraft company the campaign uses now pays for "carbon offsets" on all the campaign flights, as explained at www.carbonfund.org.

Chief rival Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) announced on April 20 that her campaign is going "carbon neutral."

• Speaking of Clinton, the senator, who grew up in a Chicago suburb, was schooled in the East, and lived in Arkansas, Washington and New York, gets scorched when she talks with a Southern accent.

Obama, raised in Hawaii and Indonesia, schooled in California and the East, and living in Chicago, now seems to have the same affliction. While talking about Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine, Obama repeatedly used Southernisms.

Said Obama, "And what can you say about Tim Kaine. The first time I came to Richmond, the first time I ever set foot in Richmond was to make [sure] y'all voted for Tim Kaine.''

And again.

"I will do anything that I need to do for Tim Kaine.. . . I just don't understand why y'all don't let him run twice!''

And again.

"I went to Detroit yesterday and I told the Big Three automakers I got an American car but y'all got to make some cars that have higher fuel efficiency standards. If we had 40 mile per gallon cars on the road we would have to import zero oil from the Middle East, zero. Think of about what that would do for our foreign policy."

And again.

Said Obama, "I can't do it on my own. I can't do it. There are gonna be some times when I get tired. There are goin' to be times when I get weary. There are goin' be times when I make mistakes."

• Obama campaigned for Kaine last year and Kaine returned the favor by giving Obama an early presidential endorsement shortly after he announced in February. Wearing white shirts, ties and no jackets, each heaped praise on the other Monday at Planet Zero. Clearly they have bonded. Turns out both men have Harvard Law School degrees, were civil rights lawyers and have mothers from Kansas -- the very same town.

Here's Kaine on his "brother."

"I was really liking this guy. When I found out his mother grew up in the same town as my mom, El Dorado, Kan., I knew we knew we were separated at birth and I had to support him.''

Even with Kaine, Obama does not have a lock on Virginia. Rival former Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.) has a string of Virginia local officials backing him.

• Obama is reviving a stump line that's been on the shelf for a few weeks.

"It is time to turn the page America."

And this variation, "Most of all, it is time to turn the page on our foreign policy.''

• Obama's campaign sends a member of its New Media crew to tape segments of events for Barack TV, the campaign's own almost-daily show.

On the camera risers Monday night taping was Obama new media staffer Kate Albright-Hanna, a former CNN producer. She is not related to former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.