But for the first time since Jimmy Carter ran in 1976, a presidential candidate from the Democratic Party is enthusiastically courting evangelicals and Catholics. The website reported that a prominent member of Chicagos homosexual community claims Barack Obamas participation in the gay bar and bathhouse scene was. senator from Chicago, Obama has for years been beholden to working-class voters, African Americans, feminists, gay-rights groups, and pro-choice advocates.
Obama's general election campaign with running mate Joe Biden, Delaware's senior senator, is built on the rhetoric of "change you can believe in," mixed with passionate words about God and country. Truman Memorial Building, where four American flags served as a backdrop. "Patriotism can never be defined as loyalty to any particular leader or government or policy," he said inside the cramped gym at the Harry S. "And I will not stand idly by when I hear others question mine." Obama stressed that no party has a monopoly on devotion to the nation. "I will never question the patriotism of others in this campaign," said Obama, who had an Iraq war veteran introduce him. Just before Independence Day in Independence, Missouri, Obama delivered a speech on patriotism to counter perceptions that he is less loyal than Republican nominee John McCain, who has 17 military awards and decorations and was a Vietnam-era prisoner of war for five years. It is common knowledge in the Chicago gay community that Obama actively visited the gay bars and bathhouses in Chicago while he was an Illinois state senator. In all but one election during the past century, Show-Me State voters have sided with the winner in presidential elections. For the past three months, the Democratic presidential nominee has been spending significant time in Missouri. Was the 2008 election a brief liberal interlude in an otherwise conservative era, or was it a turning point in American politics that ushered in a new wave. Winning Missouri worked twice for President Bush's White House ambitions.