Retired IR Cam Juncal raises the Boilermaker blimp on a busy street corner before the Obama-Clinton debate April 17.
PHILADELPHIA, APRIL 18 — Just four days before the key Pennsylvania primary elections, Senator Barack Obama addressed a crowd of 35,000 supporters — the largest rally in his campaign’s history — at Independence Mall. The gathering overlooked Independence Hall, where America’s founding fathers met to sign the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution.
The site’s significance was not lost on Sen. Obama. He declared that Americans again need to declare their independence — this time from a political system that has lost touch with them and does not represent their interests.
“In four days, you get the chance to help bring about the change that we need right now,” he said. “Here in the city and the state that gave birth to our democracy, we can declare our independence from the politics that has shut us out, and let us down, and told us to settle.
“We can declare our independence from the politics that’s put the oil companies and the drug companies and the insurance companies in charge of the decisions that impact our lives and our children’s lives.”
Among the 35,000 supporters were Boilermakers who came to hear the senator speak. Two of those members, both from Local 19 (Philadelphia), who work at the Aker shipyards, were Damon West, a plumber, and Fred Dockens, an outfitter. West and Dockens stood in line for an hour just to get to the security gate and then stood shoulder-to-shoulder with a packed and excited crowd for several more hours before Obama took the stage amidst an explosion of cheering, chanting, and applause.
Boilermakers have been active across Pennsylvania but have concentrated in recent days in Philadelphia. On April 17, a Boilermaker contingent rallied just outside the National Independence Center, where Sens. Obama and Clinton squared off in what may have been their final debate. The Boilermaker blimp has advertised the union’s endorsement of Obama on busy street corners along Independence Mall. Local 19 Vice President Fred Chamberlain has coordinated much of that activity and has been assisted by the Boilermakers Government Affairs Department.
Several Philadelphia television stations interviewed Chamberlain and questioned him about Obama’s recent surge in Pennsylvania polls. Obama has continued to shave off points from Clinton’s lead, which just three weeks ago stood at 14 percent.
“I told them [the television correspondents] that Obama speaks from the heart,” Chamberlain said. “When people hear him, they believe him. He’s not going to let his administration be run by big business.”
Paid for by the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers Campaign Assistance Fund, [phone: (703) 560-1493] and is not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee.
