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Obama Draws His Largest Crowd Ever in Philadelphia

By matt carter ⋅ April 19, 2008 ⋅  Email This Post ⋅  Print This Post ⋅ Post a comment

In Philadelphia Friday night, Obama drew about 35,000 people in downtown Philadelphia, easily surpassing his previous high of 30,000 in South Carolina with Oprah Winfrey.

Sen. Barack Obama drew 35,000 people at a downtown rally tonight in Independence Park, local security officials told the campaign, making the crowd at this evening’s event his largest ever. The sea of people sprawled across nearly three city blocks.

The crowd - the estimate of 35,000 came from officials at the Independence Visitors Center - began assembling early, filling Independence Mall and spilling into the surrounding streets. They waited with relative patience, chanting “O-ba-ma” whenever the music stopped, until 8:45, when the rally finally started. They gave him a thunderous greeting and cheered often throughout a speech that was crafted with the setting in mind.

His speech, a new one, painted Clinton as an opportunist.

She’s taken more money from Washington lobbyists than any other candidate in this race, even John McCain, because she says that lobbyists represent ‘real Americans’.  She’s taken different positions at different times on issues as fundamental as trade and even war to suit the politics of the moment,” Obama said. “And in the last few months, she’s launched what her campaign calls a ‘kitchen sink’ strategy of negative attacks, which she defends by telling us that this is what the Republicans would do.

Clinton returned to Philadelphia later that night for her own Pennsylvania barnstorming tour.

Tags: media coverage, Obama, pennsylvania primary, philadelphia, rally