Aug 27, 2008 6:59 pm US/Central
Obama Gives Final Speech In Montana Before DNC
Veterans Impressed By Attention To Health Care
BILLINGS, Mont. (CBS) ―
After touring swing states like Wisconsin, Iowa, Missouri earlier in the week, Barack Obama concluded his pre-convention tour in Montana Wednesday.
CBS 2's Rob Johnson reports it has been a heavily Republican state for years, but now with Democratic U.S. senators and a Democratic governor, this is exactly the kind of state democrats need to win if they want to reclaim the White House.
Obama met with a group of mostly veterans and their families to talk issues most pressing to them.
"The simple fact is we're not doing right by our veterans," Obama told the crowd, "not here in Montana, and not anywhere in the United States."
Veterans are a voting block in which Navy vet John McCain enjoys a decided advantage. But you wouldn't necessarily know that talking to the group after Obama's speech.
"I'm actually Republican originally and I think Barack is a much better candidate than our alternative," said Kevin Delgado.
"Everybody says that he hasn't had that much experience, but I just think he knows what he's talking about," said supporter Doris Andersen.
"We're sure hoping he's going to end up in the office… do all that we can to see that he does," said Les Grovensein.
Obama's attention to health care impressed disabled veteran Marcia Lyles.
"I have to take entire days off work, drive 800 miles roundtrip, to get a mammogram and come back, so it's good to hear that he's so concerned about things like that," Lyles said.
Perhaps one of the oldest veterans there, Ben Stelle, who survived four years as a POW, said of Obama, "He's done his research and he knows a lot about veterans and what the veterans need."
After his rally in the park Wednesday in Billings, it was destination Denver, where Obama arrived late in the afternoon.
The Obama campaign says he will do there what he has done all week during the evening in places like Davenport, Kansas City and Billings – work diligently on that all-important acceptance speech he will deliver Thursday night.
(© MMVIII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
Video: CBS 2's Picks To Click
