The World Around You

Sen. Barack Obama’s campaign for president is building momentum in Alabama. His support is diverse in this state and he has a strong cheerleader in Harvard classmate, Rep. Artur Davis (D-AL). Hilary Clinton will have some work to do to slow down the Obama train here.

At the Sheraton Hotel in downtown Birmingham, an energized Obama told a large, diverse and enthusiastic crowd that America under President Bush has seen a government that “can’t do, won’t do and won’t even try.”

“Americans are hungry for change. They are desperate for something new,” Obama told about 2,000 cheering fans, most of whom had paid $25 each to listen to him. “We have had so much dysfunction, so much nonsense … in Washington D.C., that people have just said enough.”

The crowd, a mixture of white and black, young and old, affluent and not, repeatedly cheered as Obama criticized Bush.

Birmingham News: Obama’s Alabama stops pull more than $100,000

UPDATE: Trent has a very good play by play of the Birmingham event, if you are interested.

UPDATE: Dan has a good feel of what the crowd was thinking.

UPDATE: Danny has a different spin in his play-by-play.