http://www.newsmax.com/politics/obama/2008/04/05/85777.html
Obama Tailors Message to Western Voters
Saturday, April 5, 2008
MISSOULA, Mont. -- Democrat Barack Obama said Saturday he sup****ts
environmentally-sound ways to use coal and promised to appoint a
high-level
adviser on Indian issues if elected president, tailoring his message to
western voters he's been accused of ignoring.
Obama acknowledged his sup****t of clean-energy technology might worry
voters
in a region that produces lots of coal.
"I know Montana's a coal state. My home state, Illinois, is a coal state,
but we've got to make sure that we are investing in technologies that
capture carbon because we can't sustain the planet the way that we're
doing
it right now," Obama said, speaking to 8,000 people at a college arena.
"Look at this incredible landscape around you. We've got to pass that on."
Obama's campaign also put out a policy paper on Indian issues that
promises
to create a senior White House adviser on the subject.
Accusing President Bush of weakening civil rights, Obama appealed to the
independent pioneer tradition of his audience. "If you live out here in
big
sky country, I know you believe in civil liberties," he said.
Obama even expressed interest in learning to fly fish and mused over the
city's name.
"Here's the thing, Missoula _ I just like saying Missoula, by the way.
It's
a good name. Missoula. A lot of vowels," Obama said.
Montana's primary is June 3 and will decide 17 delegates. Two of the
state's
nine superdelegates have endorsed Obama, and the rest say they will decide
after the primary.
Obama picked up the endorsement of Wyoming Gov. Dave Freudenthal, a former
Clinton administration appointee, on Wednesday _ his second from a Western
governor. New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, a former energy secretary and
UN
ambassador under Clinton, announced his sup****t for Obama in March.
Freudenthal had complained earlier that none of the candidates,
Republicans
or Democrats, were addressing Western issues.
On Friday, Obama appeared in North Dakota and faced a small decision when
presented with a gift _ a hockey stick from the University of North
Dakota's
team, the Fighting Sioux.
The NCAA has tried to force the university to drop the Indian nickname,
but
it remains popular with many in the state. Would Obama mention the Sioux
and
invite questions about whether he was endorsing a name that some consider
offensive?
He chose to commend the university's "men's hockey team."
Rival Hillary Rodham Clinton took a different approach when she appeared
before the same group later. She compared herself directly to the Fighting
Sioux and the never-give-up attitude that has taken them to the Final Four
in NCAA hockey.
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