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<DIV class=article_top><H1>Barack Star <SPAN class=subhead>Following Obama through New Hampshire.</SPAN></H1><SPAN class=byline>By John Dickerson</SPAN></DIV><DIV class=article_body>
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<SPAN style="DISPLAY: block; FLOAT: left; WIDTH: 115px; HEIGHT: 230px"></SPAN><SPAN class=topimage>
<SPAN class=caption style="WIDTH: 139px"><A>Barack Obama
</A></SPAN></SPAN>PORTSMOUTH, N.H.—Brenda Bladen was trying to explain why she liked Barack Obama so much—he was authentic, selfless, and inspirational. He was restoring her faith in politics. "I'm not comparing him to Jesus Christ but … " she said, before talking about the senator's humble beginnings.
No description or venue seemed big enough to accommodate Barack Obama's first visit to New Hampshire. In Portsmouth, it was standing room only as he signed his book The Audacity of Hope in a community ballroom normally used for wedding receptions. The 750 tickets for the event sold out in 24 hours. (One thousand people showed up.) In Manchester, 1,500 tickets to a Democratic Party celebration were snapped up in three days. (About 1,700 showed.) "We originally scheduled the Rolling Stones," Gov. John Lynch joked to the Manchester audience before Obama was introduced, "but we canceled them when we figured out that Sen. Obama would sell more tickets." When Lynch said, "Sen. Obama, should you choose to run," the crowd interrupted with one of the biggest reactions of the night.
It's easy to see why New Hampshire Democrats were in a frenzy over Obama. He is a winning presence in a room. He is stylish in his uniform of white shirt, no tie, and dark blazer. He carries himself with the weightless self-possession men's magazines achieve only by employing a team of stylists and wardrobe artists. Even his left-handed signature is elegant—a B and an O connected by confident slashes. If he really were a rock star, he'd have it etched into the side of his private plane. "I didn't know about the charisma factor," said Jessica Hayes leaving Portsmouth. "Now I know. I'm in love." (In Portsmouth, people waited in line for over an hour to have him sign a copy of his latest book.)<HR><DIV class=ad_featurebar><CENTER><SCRIPT>placeAd2('slat e.news/slate','midarticleflex',true)</SCRIPT></CENTER></DIV><HR>
But coolness doesn't get you elected, and coolness wasn't what had the New Hampshire audiences even more excited after they heard Obama speak. They were in love with the senator's message, a call to political renewal and rebirth that eschews what he calls the "24-hour, slash-and-burn, negative-ad, bickering, small-minded politics." The audiences in New Hampshire reacted to his remarks with one-word appraisals: inspirational, uplifting, moving.
Obama was calling the country to a new sense of purpose but he also seemed to be offering a preview of his campaign narrative. The audacity of hope, as he described it, is a calling to use your will and imagination to take on impossible tasks. He traced that spirit through America's history, arguing that it
Listen to the MP3 audio version of this story here, or sign up for Slate's free daily podcast on iTunes.
<SPAN style="DISPLAY: block; FLOAT: left; WIDTH: 115px; HEIGHT: 230px"></SPAN><SPAN class=topimage>
<SPAN class=caption style="WIDTH: 139px"><A>Barack Obama</A></SPAN></SPAN>PORTSMOUTH, N.H.—Brenda Bladen was trying to explain why she liked Barack Obama so much—he was authentic, selfless, and inspirational. He was restoring her faith in politics. "I'm not comparing him to Jesus Christ but … " she said, before talking about the senator's humble beginnings.
No description or venue seemed big enough to accommodate Barack Obama's first visit to New Hampshire. In Portsmouth, it was standing room only as he signed his book The Audacity of Hope in a community ballroom normally used for wedding receptions. The 750 tickets for the event sold out in 24 hours. (One thousand people showed up.) In Manchester, 1,500 tickets to a Democratic Party celebration were snapped up in three days. (About 1,700 showed.) "We originally scheduled the Rolling Stones," Gov. John Lynch joked to the Manchester audience before Obama was introduced, "but we canceled them when we figured out that Sen. Obama would sell more tickets." When Lynch said, "Sen. Obama, should you choose to run," the crowd interrupted with one of the biggest reactions of the night.
It's easy to see why New Hampshire Democrats were in a frenzy over Obama. He is a winning presence in a room. He is stylish in his uniform of white shirt, no tie, and dark blazer. He carries himself with the weightless self-possession men's magazines achieve only by employing a team of stylists and wardrobe artists. Even his left-handed signature is elegant—a B and an O connected by confident slashes. If he really were a rock star, he'd have it etched into the side of his private plane. "I didn't know about the charisma factor," said Jessica Hayes leaving Portsmouth. "Now I know. I'm in love." (In Portsmouth, people waited in line for over an hour to have him sign a copy of his latest book.)<HR><DIV class=ad_featurebar><CENTER><SCRIPT>placeAd2('slat e.news/slate','midarticleflex',true)</SCRIPT></CENTER></DIV><HR>
But coolness doesn't get you elected, and coolness wasn't what had the New Hampshire audiences even more excited after they heard Obama speak. They were in love with the senator's message, a call to political renewal and rebirth that eschews what he calls the "24-hour, slash-and-burn, negative-ad, bickering, small-minded politics." The audiences in New Hampshire reacted to his remarks with one-word appraisals: inspirational, uplifting, moving.
Obama was calling the country to a new sense of purpose but he also seemed to be offering a preview of his campaign narrative. The audacity of hope, as he described it, is a calling to use your will and imagination to take on impossible tasks. He traced that spirit through America's history, arguing that it
