By NEIL H. SIMON, Media General News Service
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BRISTOW,Va.- Sen. Barack Obama took his general election bid to the biggest venue of the Northern Virginia suburbs Thursday - his first rally since the night he secured the Democratic presidential nomination.
"This is our moment, this is our time," he said to a crowd of roughly 10,000 at Nissan Pavilion in Prince William County. "If you vote for me, I will win Virginia. We will win this nation. And we'll change the course of history."
In a muggy 83-degree afternoon, the crowd roared as Obama spoke of ending the war in Iraq, increasing teacher pay and bringing universal health care coverage in the first term of the presidency he seeks.
Obama, the first African-American to lock up a major party's presidential nomination, pledged a positive campaign with Republican Sen. John McCain.
"You don't deserve a bunch of Internet rumors and scandal mongering," he said. We don't need John McCain and me to be demonizing each other," he said. "You won't get that from my campaign, because as real as our policy differences are, John McCain and I are both Americans."
He praised Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and said she made him a stronger candidate.
"My two daughters see themselves differently because she ran for president," he said.
Supporters, like Tonya Woodson of Richmond, Va., came out to the amphitheater hours early to "be part of history."
"It's completely electric," Woodson said. "It's palpable. The hope - you can taste it."
Fran Ellis came from Baltimore, Md., to see Obama for her first time. "This is my opportunity to inhale history," she said.
Gov. Timothy M. Kaine, a national co-chairman of Obama's campaign, warmed up the crowd.
"We've been making some change in Virginia," he yelled, referring to Democratic electoral gains. "But there's one change we haven't yet made. Virginia has not voted for a Democratic candidate for president since 1964."
Obama called him a friend. "There was one person," he said, "who about three days after I announced, who was able to stand with me in the seat of the old Confederacy, right here in Virginia, and say the time for change has come."
Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., who announced his support for Obama only after learning Clinton planned to drop out, introduced the senator from Illinois.
"The time has come," Webb said, "to truly enter a new era in the history of our party and our country. This era is going to be led by the next president of the United States, and his name is Barack Obama."
Webb declined to say in a conference call with reporters whether he would accept an offer of the vice presidency from the presumptive Democratic nominee if it were offered.
"I'm happy where I am," Webb said.
Regarding whether Obama should offer Clinton the vice presidency, he said, "I think this is Barack's decision."
But several Obama supporters said Obama should avoid putting Clinton on the Democratic ticket, especially after Clinton failed to acknowledge Obama's clinching of the nomination Tuesday night.
"When she had her hour to really support the party, she didn't do that," said Ellis.
Janelle Noble of Charlottesville said Obama should meet with Clinton and keep her involved on health issues, but nothing more.
"I don't want her to be V.P. There are plenty of other people," Noble said.
Others said Clinton wouldn't be a team player and would take too much attention away from Obama.
To carry Virginia, analysts said Obama will need to make inroads with the state's many military families.
"If he picks somebody with a military background - even if it isn't Jim Webb - but somebody who can pull veterans from across the state, I think he can pull Virginia," said Toni Travis, George Mason University political scientist.
By going to suburban Prince William County after spending the morning in rural Southwest Virginia, Travis said Obama was showing he knows where he needs to expand his base.
"It's a new strategy," she said. "I think he's going to go to the places in each state where the real people are."
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"This is our moment, this is our time," he said to a crowd of roughly 10,000 at Nissan Pavilion in Prince William County. "If you vote for me, I will win Virginia. We will win this nation. And we'll change the course of history."
In a muggy 83-degree afternoon, the crowd roared as Obama spoke of ending the war in Iraq, increasing teacher pay and bringing universal health care coverage in the first term of the presidency he seeks.
Obama, the first African-American to lock up a major party's presidential nomination, pledged a positive campaign with Republican Sen. John McCain.
"You don't deserve a bunch of Internet rumors and scandal mongering," he said. We don't need John McCain and me to be demonizing each other," he said. "You won't get that from my campaign, because as real as our policy differences are, John McCain and I are both Americans."
He praised Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and said she made him a stronger candidate.
"My two daughters see themselves differently because she ran for president," he said.
Supporters, like Tonya Woodson of Richmond, Va., came out to the amphitheater hours early to "be part of history."
"It's completely electric," Woodson said. "It's palpable. The hope - you can taste it."
Fran Ellis came from Baltimore, Md., to see Obama for her first time. "This is my opportunity to inhale history," she said.
Gov. Timothy M. Kaine, a national co-chairman of Obama's campaign, warmed up the crowd.
"We've been making some change in Virginia," he yelled, referring to Democratic electoral gains. "But there's one change we haven't yet made. Virginia has not voted for a Democratic candidate for president since 1964."
Obama called him a friend. "There was one person," he said, "who about three days after I announced, who was able to stand with me in the seat of the old Confederacy, right here in Virginia, and say the time for change has come."
Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., who announced his support for Obama only after learning Clinton planned to drop out, introduced the senator from Illinois.
"The time has come," Webb said, "to truly enter a new era in the history of our party and our country. This era is going to be led by the next president of the United States, and his name is Barack Obama."
Webb declined to say in a conference call with reporters whether he would accept an offer of the vice presidency from the presumptive Democratic nominee if it were offered.
"I'm happy where I am," Webb said.
Regarding whether Obama should offer Clinton the vice presidency, he said, "I think this is Barack's decision."
But several Obama supporters said Obama should avoid putting Clinton on the Democratic ticket, especially after Clinton failed to acknowledge Obama's clinching of the nomination Tuesday night.
"When she had her hour to really support the party, she didn't do that," said Ellis.
Janelle Noble of Charlottesville said Obama should meet with Clinton and keep her involved on health issues, but nothing more.
"I don't want her to be V.P. There are plenty of other people," Noble said.
Others said Clinton wouldn't be a team player and would take too much attention away from Obama.
To carry Virginia, analysts said Obama will need to make inroads with the state's many military families.
"If he picks somebody with a military background - even if it isn't Jim Webb - but somebody who can pull veterans from across the state, I think he can pull Virginia," said Toni Travis, George Mason University political scientist.
By going to suburban Prince William County after spending the morning in rural Southwest Virginia, Travis said Obama was showing he knows where he needs to expand his base.
"It's a new strategy," she said. "I think he's going to go to the places in each state where the real people are."
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