Barack Obama brought his campaign to the New Jersey Meadowlands sports complex today, which happens to be the home of the recently-crowned champion New York Giants.
Speaking at the Izod Arena across from Giants Stadium, Obama was introduced by Mass. Sen. Ted Kennedy, whose New England Patriots lost 17-14 to the Giants Sunday in a Super Bowl shocker.
Obama drew a laugh when he told the 4,000-member audience that Kennedy’s presence showed his ability to bridge political divides, a principal theme of the Obama campaign. “For me to bring a Patriots fan to the Meadowlands” is a little like getting the lion and the lamb to lay down together in peace, Obama said:
“I’ve been commiserating with Ted. My Bears didn’t even make the playoffs." Then, hinting of his hopes to pull an upset of his own by winningintomorrow's Super Tuesday primaries: “But sometimes the underdog pulls it out.”
Robert DeNiro spoke earlier, telling the crowd that he was excited enough by Obama’s early stand against the Iraq war to urge others to support him. “I’ve never made a political speech like this before,” DeNiro said. “What am I doing here?”
“I’m here because finally one person has inspired me, one person has given me hope, one person has made me believe that we can make a change. That person is Barack Obama.”
DeNiro said Obama has infused a spirit of hopeful optimism among his young supporters, who in turn are persuading older people to back the freshman senator from Illinois: "Thanks to Barack Obama, now I get it, because until he came along no one spoke to you, no one listened to you, no one made you believe you matter.”
“Well, you know what, I felt the same until now,” DeNiro said.
The 18,000-seat Izod arena was not full. The roughly 3,500 people who showed up were strategically corralled behind the podium, directly across from where press cameras were arrayed.
"We knew on a Monday in New Jersey the morning after the Super Bowl, it would be tough," said Campaign director David Adelrod.
-- Martin C. Evans in the Meadowlands