The Trail

At Huge Rallies, Obama Condemns GOP Tactics

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. -- Barack Obama returned to his rhetorical roots Sunday, reprising core campaign themes of hope, change and unity, while condemning John McCain's attacks as "outrageous."

Speaking before a mostly African American crowd, Obama noted that former secretary of state Colin Powell had cited campaign tone as a factor in his decision to cross party lines and endorse him.

"Colin Powell reminded us of what's at stake in this election -- for America and for the world," Obama told the crowd. "He reminded us that at a defining moment like this, we don't have the luxury of relying on the same political games and the same political tactics that are used every election to divide us from one another and make us afraid of one another."

Obama also is returning to rally mode in the campaign's final days -- and drawing huge numbers in doing so. In St. Louis on Sunday afternoon, 100,000 people turned out. A few hours later in Kansas City, Mo., Obama drew at least 75,000. In Fayetteville, he filled the local coliseum.

McCain, Obama said, is "out of ideas, out of touch and running out of time." And the attacks are only going to grow more harsh, he warned the crowd. "You will get more of these robo-calls, making these outrageous accusations, and more fliers in the mail, and you will hear more outrageous attacks calculated to mislead, inflame and divide. The other side will continue to make a big election about small things."

Arguing is fine, Obama said, but "we've got to have a line that we don't cross."

Citing a comment by a top McCain aide Sunday that Northern Virginia wasn't the "real Virginia," Obama asserted: "There are no real or fake parts of this country. We are not separated by the pro-America and anti-America parts of this country. We all love this country, no matter where we live or where we come from."

And then he returned to themes laid out in the speech that first made him a national figure -- at the 2004 Democratic National Convention: "The men and women from Fayetteville and all across America who serve in our battlefields may be Democrats and Republicans and independents, but they have fought together and bled together and some died together under the same proud flag. They have not served a red America or a blue America -- they have served the United States of America."

-- Shailagh Murray