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As race tightens, Obama tries to lighten up

BY NIA-MALIKA HENDERSON | nia.henderson@newsday.com

May 6, 2008

Barack Obama, Michelle Obama, Malia Obama, Sasha Obama

Democratic presidential hopeful, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., stands with his two daughters, Malia, left, and Sasha, as he is introduced by his wife Michelle, right, at Headwaters Park in Fort Wayne, Ind., (AP Photo / May 6, 2008)

INDIANAPOLIS - As Barack Obama's campaign for president hit one of its toughest stretches in recent days, his two young daughters made their first appearance on the campaign trail since South Carolina.

"I said, you know, it's just great having you guys here," Obama said, recounting what he told his daughters, Malia and Sasha. "Malia says, 'Yeah, we're here to lighten things up.'"

At times recently, Obama has looked like a candidate who could use it.

Even his advisers conceded that after his nearly 10-point drubbing in Pennsylvania a week ago changes had to be made. Dogged by incendiary comments by his former pastor, and locked in a back-and-forth with Hillary Rodham Clinton over gas taxes, Obama had lost some of his swagger and veered away from the message that brought him this far - change.

Voters noticed it, too. One supporter told him he should smile more. Others wondered whether he was tired or not eating enough. A few said he did not sound like himself.

"We may have gotten a little too wrapped up in doing really big rallies a couple of months ago and we got a little wrapped up in the tit for tat and the Washington-style politics," said Jen Psaki, a campaign spokeswoman. "Over the course of the last week, he has really gone back to his roots."

In Indiana and North Carolina, Obama went small and personal. He talked about his grandfather's military service, his mother's struggles, the father who left. And with an advance Secret Service detail as the only proof that something big was afoot, Obama dropped by people's houses, shot hoops and strolled suburban sidewalks.

For the candidate who had developed a mode of communication through speeches and symbolism that moved millions to the polls, it was an attempt to reach people where they live. He went door to door for votes, with his younger daughter Sasha clinging to his leg.

At a picnic in Fort Wayne, Ind., that drew 4,700, Sasha, 6, told the crowd "Vote for Daddy," as Malia, 9, stood next to her.

But through it all, the candidate who has won across red and blue states, on both coasts and in the middle, still spends an awful lot of time convincing voters he can win the White House.

Take Diana Allen, 39, of Cary, N.C., whose question to Obama yesterday was simple: "Explain how you can win."

Obama's answer, in effect, was don't worry, it'll be fine. "If you look at it, we are still fundamentally tied with John McCain," he said, despite the rough patch of news.

"So don't buy into this electability argument - go with who you think best represents your vision of where America needs to go. If you do that, I am absolutely confident that that person will win," Obama said.

Today's results could show whether Obama bears any lingering taint from the pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright - particularly among the white working-class voters who have eluded him. A handful of Indiana voters said that Wright would negatively affect Obama - if not in their perceptions of him, then certainly among others.

"I think Wright is really hurting Obama; I can't imagine him being a pastor and preaching in that manner," said Jane Lathrop, a nurse who lives in Indianapolis and is still undecided.

"I think they're probably making too much of it," said Lathrop, who is white. "I'm sure Obama doesn't think like that. But I wonder why did he stay in that church for 20 years?"