On the day before West Virginia's primary election, U.S. Sen. Barack Obama called for passage of the new GI bill Monday in Charleston, while taking a jab at U.S. Sen. John McCain - his likely opponent in the fall presidential election - for refusing to support it. Watch video from Obama's visit to Charleston
On the day before West Virginia's primary election, U.S. Sen. Barack Obama called for passage of the new GI bill Monday in Charleston, while taking a jab at U.S. Sen. John McCain - his likely opponent in the fall presidential election - for refusing to support it.
U.S. Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., makes a shot Monday afternoon while shooting a game of pool with veteran Paul Scott (right) of Charleston. Before the detour, Obama brought his campaign for president to the Mountain State with a speech at the Charleston Civic Center.
The proposed 21st Century GI Bill would allow soldiers to receive free tuition for college. Obama said it is one of a number of upgrades to GI benefits and healthcare the federal government should provide.
"It would provide every returning veteran with a real chance to afford a college education, and it would not harm retention," Obama told about 1,500 people at the Charleston Civic Center. After that, he stopped to shoot a game of pool with a veteran at a South Charleston pub.
The Illinois Democrat said McCain, whom he added he greatly respects as a prisoner of war during the Vietnam War, doesn't like the new plan.
"He is one of the few senators of either party who oppose this bill because he thinks it's too generous," Obama said. "I couldn't disagree more.
"At a time when the skyrocketing cost of tuition is pricing thousands of Americans out of a college education, we should be doing everything we can to give the men and women who have risked their lives for this country the chance to pursue the American dream."
Obama faces Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., in today's primary election. Every poll has shown Clinton will win by a large number in the state, and Obama acknowledged that will probably happen.
"I think [former president Bill] Clinton said 80 percent, so we'll take him at his word," he said later Monday.
Hillary Clinton has brought her husband and her daughter Chelsea to campaign for her across West Virginia. They have all encouraged a heavy turnout and big victory to help her stay in the race.
For Obama, Monday marked just his second trip to West Virginia this year and his first since March 20.
"I'm honored that some of you will support me, and I understand that many more here in West Virginia will probably support Senator Clinton," he told the crowd at the Civic Center.
"But when it's over, what will unify us as Democrats - what must unify us as Americans - is an unyielding commitment to the men and women who've served this nation and an unshakable fidelity to the ideals for which they've risked their lives."
A short time later, Obama went to Schultzie's Billiards to shoot a game of pool with veteran Paul Scott of Charleston.
Being interviewed by a crowd of national news media reporters, Scott said he is a supporter of Obama's. "This is cool," he said, after beating the senator in the game.
At one point Obama made a combination shot.
"That's the sign of a misspent youth," he said with a smile. "Obviously, I wasn't doing wholesome things like bowling."
Obama's bowling skills, or lack thereof, were made fun of earlier this year after he tried his hand at that sport.
Slipping inside the bar through a rear entry, Debbie French of Spring Hill was thrilled to see the candidate. An employee of nearby Village Florist, French said she spotted the large bus and police cars on MacCorkle Avenue.
She immediately alerted her colleagues.
"I went in there and said, 'You're not going to believe who's in Schultzie's,'" she said. "Of all places, Schultzie's."
It was a similar story for 16-year-old Danny Rucker. "I saw him before he got out of his SUV," the South Charleston resident said.
He then told his mother, Debbie.
"I want to get the autograph of the next president," she said excitedly.
Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., introduced Obama to the Civic Center crowd. He called him a "devout Christian who loves America" and said he is "authentic" and "brings people together."
"When I came out for Barack Obama, as did Sharon [Rockefeller], I felt liberated," Rockefeller said. He and Rep. Nick Rahall, D-W.Va., are the only two of West Virginia's 10 superdelegates to endorse Obama.
Hurricane resident Sue Cater said she had been a Clinton supporter, but Rockefeller's endorsement of Obama convinced her to change her mind.
Rahall tried to fly to several locations in his Southern West Virginia district via helicopter Monday. Instead, his chopper was forced to land on a mountaintop removal mining project. The group hitched a ride back to Charleston with the mining firm's president.
No one at the speech could have been more devoted to Obama's candidacy than Olivia Barker of Charleston and her group. She and nine friends from Unity Church of the Kanawha Valley arrived at the Civic Center at 7 a.m. for the 12:15 p.m. speech.
Their reward was seats in the center front row.
"We're just a bunch of middle-aged women for Obama," Barker said.
Dawn Mason, a former Washington state lawmaker, and her husband Joseph made sure their seats with Nicole Pena of Dallas, Texas, were close to the front. Mason said since Washington's election, she and her husband have worked for Obama's election.
"We came in a couple of weeks ago to work on the campaign," she said.
To contact staff writer Tom Searls, use e-mail or call 348-5198.
On the day before West Virginia's primary election, U.S. Sen. Barack Obama called for passage of the new GI bill Monday in Charleston, while taking a jab at U.S. Sen. John McCain - his likely opponent in the fall presidential election - for refusing to support it.
The proposed 21st Century GI Bill would allow soldiers to receive free tuition for college. Obama said it is one of a number of upgrades to GI benefits and healthcare the federal government should provide.
"It would provide every returning veteran with a real chance to afford a college education, and it would not harm retention," Obama told about 1,500 people at the Charleston Civic Center. After that, he stopped to shoot a game of pool with a veteran at a South Charleston pub.
The Illinois Democrat said McCain, whom he added he greatly respects as a prisoner of war during the Vietnam War, doesn't like the new plan.
"He is one of the few senators of either party who oppose this bill because he thinks it's too generous," Obama said. "I couldn't disagree more.
"At a time when the skyrocketing cost of tuition is pricing thousands of Americans out of a college education, we should be doing everything we can to give the men and women who have risked their lives for this country the chance to pursue the American dream."
Obama faces Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., in today's primary election. Every poll has shown Clinton will win by a large number in the state, and Obama acknowledged that will probably happen.
"I think [former president Bill] Clinton said 80 percent, so we'll take him at his word," he said later Monday.
Hillary Clinton has brought her husband and her daughter Chelsea to campaign for her across West Virginia. They have all encouraged a heavy turnout and big victory to help her stay in the race.
For Obama, Monday marked just his second trip to West Virginia this year and his first since March 20.
"I'm honored that some of you will support me, and I understand that many more here in West Virginia will probably support Senator Clinton," he told the crowd at the Civic Center.
"But when it's over, what will unify us as Democrats - what must unify us as Americans - is an unyielding commitment to the men and women who've served this nation and an unshakable fidelity to the ideals for which they've risked their lives."
A short time later, Obama went to Schultzie's Billiards to shoot a game of pool with veteran Paul Scott of Charleston.
Being interviewed by a crowd of national news media reporters, Scott said he is a supporter of Obama's. "This is cool," he said, after beating the senator in the game.
At one point Obama made a combination shot.
"That's the sign of a misspent youth," he said with a smile. "Obviously, I wasn't doing wholesome things like bowling."
Obama's bowling skills, or lack thereof, were made fun of earlier this year after he tried his hand at that sport.
Slipping inside the bar through a rear entry, Debbie French of Spring Hill was thrilled to see the candidate. An employee of nearby Village Florist, French said she spotted the large bus and police cars on MacCorkle Avenue.
She immediately alerted her colleagues.
"I went in there and said, 'You're not going to believe who's in Schultzie's,'" she said. "Of all places, Schultzie's."
It was a similar story for 16-year-old Danny Rucker. "I saw him before he got out of his SUV," the South Charleston resident said.
He then told his mother, Debbie.
"I want to get the autograph of the next president," she said excitedly.
Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., introduced Obama to the Civic Center crowd. He called him a "devout Christian who loves America" and said he is "authentic" and "brings people together."
"When I came out for Barack Obama, as did Sharon [Rockefeller], I felt liberated," Rockefeller said. He and Rep. Nick Rahall, D-W.Va., are the only two of West Virginia's 10 superdelegates to endorse Obama.
Hurricane resident Sue Cater said she had been a Clinton supporter, but Rockefeller's endorsement of Obama convinced her to change her mind.
Rahall tried to fly to several locations in his Southern West Virginia district via helicopter Monday. Instead, his chopper was forced to land on a mountaintop removal mining project. The group hitched a ride back to Charleston with the mining firm's president.
No one at the speech could have been more devoted to Obama's candidacy than Olivia Barker of Charleston and her group. She and nine friends from Unity Church of the Kanawha Valley arrived at the Civic Center at 7 a.m. for the 12:15 p.m. speech.
Their reward was seats in the center front row.
"We're just a bunch of middle-aged women for Obama," Barker said.
Dawn Mason, a former Washington state lawmaker, and her husband Joseph made sure their seats with Nicole Pena of Dallas, Texas, were close to the front. Mason said since Washington's election, she and her husband have worked for Obama's election.
"We came in a couple of weeks ago to work on the campaign," she said.
To contact staff writer Tom Searls, use e-mail or call 348-5198.
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KENOVA - John McCain's stop in West Virginia was brief Wednesday. He got off his campaign plane and onto another version of the "Straight Talk Express," his campaign bus.
WASHINGTON - Brandon Ziegler served two tours in Iraq and wears a bracelet inscribed with the name of an Army buddy who never made it home. Jim Morin saw action in both Iraq and Afghanistan and has lost several friends to the war in Iraq, the latest just a month ago.
CHICAGO -- Reaching out to evangelical voters, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama is announcing plans to expand President Bush's program steering federal social service dollars to religious groups and - in a move sure to cause controversy - support some ability to hire and fire based on faith.
After meeting with other "centrist" leaders of the Democratic Party for two days in Chicago, Gov. Joe Manchin said Monday he believes Illinois Sen. Barack Obama can carry West Virginia in November.
Republican presidential candidate John McCain trumpeted the support of a "prominent" West Virginia Democrat over the weekend - a fringe political candidate best known because former Gov. Bob Wise had an affair with his wife.
WASHINGTON - A major labor union and the liberal organization MoveOn.org are joining forces to air a provocative new ad portraying John McCain's Iraq policy as a prolonged presence that would involve a new generation of Americans.
SAN ANTONIO - Republican Sen. John McCain criticized Sen. Barack Obama's call for a windfall profits tax on the oil industry on Tuesday, despite leaving the door open to the same idea last month.
Hillary Clinton may be out of the presidential race, but West Virginia's Democrats will be adding some names to her roster of national convention delegates this weekend.
WASHINGTON - The Democratic presidential nomination his, Barack Obama reached out Wednesday to mend fences with his defeated rival as Republican opponent John McCain tried to frame the fall campaign on his own terms. "I think he has exercised very bad judgment on national security issues and others," McCain said.
NEW YORK - Angling for a vice presidential nod, Hillary Rodham Clinton refused to bow out of the Democratic race Tuesday, hoping to maintain leverage as Barack Obama clinched the delegates needed to secure the party's nomination.
ST. PAUL, Minn. - Before a crowd of cheering thousands, Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois laid claim to the Democratic presidential nomination Tuesday night, taking a historic step toward his once-improbable goal of becoming the nation's first black president. Hillary Clinton maneuvered for the vice presidential spot on his fall ticket without conceding her own defeat.
CHICAGO - Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton heaved toward the finish line in their exhaustive Democratic presidential odyssey with Obama poised to claim victory and Clinton facing the prospects of having to abandon a quest that once seemed a sure shot but became one of long odds.
WASHINGTON -- The United Mine Workers of America endorsed Barack Obama for president Wednesday despite his recent defeats in primaries in coal-producing states where many of the union's members vote.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Barack Obama stepped to the brink of victory in the Democratic presidential race Tuesday night, defeating Hillary Rodham Clinton in the Oregon primary and moving within 100 delegates of the total he needs to claim the prize at the party convention this summer.
Watch video from Obama's visit to Charleston
