May 21, 2008 11:36 pm US/Eastern
Obama Courts Fla. Democrats In Kissimmee
Campaign Kicks Off Three-Day Swing In Florida
KISSIMMEE (CBS4) ―
Senator Barack Obama ended Wednesday's campaign tour through Florida at the Kissimmee Civic Center, and spoke with the confidence of someone who has already won the primary vote.
"We now have a majority of what are called the pledged delegates to get this nomination," said Obama.
Sen. Barack Obama began his campaign sweep through the Sunshine State with a rally in Tampa on Wednesday, followed by a town hall meeting in Orlando later in the afternoon. CBS4 Michael Williams is traveling with the senator.
On Thursday, the Illinois senator will travel to Palm Beach County, Broward and end his three day tour with a star-studded fundraiser on South Beach, but details of those events have not been released.
He is embracing all Democrats in Florida, by showing his support for its primary vote to be counted.
"My hope is, in a couple of weeks time, we've won some more elections; we've won some more delegates; we've got the Florida delegation seated," he said.
Sen. Hillary Clinton is also campaigning in South Florida today, and both candidates are expected to play up their respective wins in Tuesday's primaries; Clinton won Kentucky by a landslide while Obama took Oregon. As of Wednesday, Clinton had 1,770 delegates to Obama's 1,953 delegates.
Both candidates signed a pledge nine months ago that kept them from campaigning in Florida before the January 29th primary. Other than a rally Clinton held after polls closed that night, neither candidate has campaigned in Florida since the Democratic National Committee stripped Florida of its delegates in September because its primary was held before February fifth. The DNC said Florida, and Michigan as well, violated its rules by holding primaries in January and would not seat their delegates at the national convention this summer.
Obama announced last week that he was coming to Florida, the largest of the swing states and a crucial battleground in November. He has to build relationships in both states if he wins the Democratic nomination. They are considered critical battlegrounds for the general election.
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