Obama Rally In St. Louis Draws 100,000 (VIDEO, SLIDESHOW)

Barack Obama drew a crowd of 100,000 at a rally near the Gateway Arch in St. Louis on Saturday, the AP reports. McCain spent the day campaigning in North Carolina.

The focus on the stump Saturday for both Obama and McCain continued to be taxes, and the candidates traded sharp criticisms of each other's plans.

More from the AP:

McCain, trailing in the polls, fired the first volley, likening his rival to the socialist leaders of Europe and saying he wanted to "convert the IRS into a giant welfare agency, redistributing massive amounts of wealth at the direction of politicians in Washington."

McCain added, "Raising taxes on some in order to give checks to others is not a tax cut; it's just another government giveaway."

Obama responded a few hours later in appearance before an enormous crowd, saying his Republican rival "wants to cut taxes for the same people who have already been making out like bandits, in some cases literally."

"John McCain is so out of touch with the struggles you are facing that he must be the first politician in history to call a tax cut for working people 'welfare,'" Obama said.

The Wall Street Journal has more details:

Barack Obama attracted 100,000 people at a Saturday rally here, his biggest crowd ever at a U.S. event.

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The crowd assembled under the Gateway Arch on a sunny Saturday afternoon to hear Obama speak about taxes and slam the Republicans on economic issues.

Lt. Samuel Dotson of the St. Louis Police Department confirmed the number of attendees piled into the grassy lawn by the Mississippi River.

To be sure, big crowds don't always signal a big turnout on Election Day. But Obama's ability to draw his largest audience yet in a typically red state that just weeks ago looked out of reach, could signal a changing electoral map.

For months Missouri polls put Obama as much as ten percentage points behind Republican John McCain. It was widely believed that McCain's pick of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin as his running mate would have won over the state's conservatives and boosted his chances there. So far, that hasn't happened.

A Rasmussen poll released on Friday shows Obama leading in Missouri 52% to 46% for McCain.

Comments

[brownforall]

Im gonna vote early too! Somebody on here posted where machines wear switching votes in WV!

http://governmentdirt.com/who_built_sarahs_halfmillion_dollar_house_another_palin_scandal_on_the_way

I wonder if what happened to Stevens happens to Palin?

[zizi]

Wow!!!
Obama raised $150 million during the month of September. I just received the email from the Obama campaign. There were over 630,000 new donors bringing the total to 3.1 million donors. The average donation was $86. This is simply amazing. unbelievable.!!!!

[keepacoolhead]

Vote early if you can. That way you can also find out if there are potentially any problems like I did the other day when all of a sudden my voter registration I've had for years showed the wrong birthdate!!!

VOTE EARLY.

[brownforall]

If they can get Te d St evens then they should g et Palin!
http://governmentdirt.com/who_built_sarahs_halfmillion_dollar_house_another_palin_scandal_on_the_way

[brownforall]

Iv been waiting on that video!

If they can get Ted Stevens then they should get Palin!
http://governmentdirt.com/who_built_sarahs_halfmillion_dollar_house_another_palin_scandal_on_the_way

[aussiechick]

Did any watch "Joe the Plumber" on Huckabee on Faux Noise??

[likeicare]

No. I have a weak stomach.

[Wuzzup]

As Saying goes "A picture is really worth a 1000 words" or in this case 100,000 words. However i am not comfortable with the tightening in the Polls. It seems JMc had a post-debate bump. Obama can still win but it's going to be a Horse race.

[likeicare]

John Insane's "bump" is more like a zit -- it's only there b/c of the daily infusion of racist and commie-under-every-rock rhetoric/dirt coming from the neo-nazis running the campaign.

Obama will take the election. How do I know this?

BBC News interviewed a white couple in WV, the other night, and they said they were voting for Obama b/c McSame hadn't addressed their economic concerns. They live in a trailer home and look just like the NRA/KKK-types who show up at Rethuglican rallies, too.

The times, they are a-changin'.

[Mogamboguru]

Nice try, Wuzzup. But it's not.

Go to http://www.fivethirtyeight.com and learn the truth.

Obama will win - come H.e.l.l or high water.

[brownforall]

http://governmentdirt.com/who_built_sarahs_halfmillion_dollar_house_another_palin_scandal_on_the_way

[DaOne]

Now that's a rally!

[Whinger]

WoW! One hundred thousand Pro-Americans putting the country first, something to behold!

[DCinFrance]

I want to believe that we, as a people, as a nation, have finally awoken from a long, deep sleep. Are we really ready to say ENOUGH! and come together as one? One hundred thousand people seem to think so in St.Louis.

[T-Bear]

I AM OVERWHELMED WITH HOPE---Could this really be happening? We are sooo close; inspite of hatred, inspite of divisiveness; inspite of war-mongering. We, the people, are still saying, "YES. WE.CAN!"

[rich misty]

Between now and election day you are going to encounter a lot of people:

Grocery store clerk
Gas station clerk
Mailman
Bank teller
The guy at the 7-11
The counter worker at MickeyD's

Smile and greet them, then nicely ask them for an Obama vote

If you can donate, the most effective place to put your money now is on knife edge races in the Senate. More info on those races here:

http://election.princeton.edu/2008/10/14/get-on-the-bus/

As of October 18, 8:00PM EDT: Obama: 367 McCain: 171 Meta-margin: Obama +6.6%

[Achim]

I wonder whether it`s going to be labelled an "anti-American" event by the Palin camp.

[Mogamboguru]

Who's "Palin"?

[totalliberal]

One of those woman on SNL. (I think.)

[Hedonist88]

She be the one who's been pallin' around with the Anti-American Alaskan Independence Party.

That's who.

[Avembe]

you know what, this must be....a made up photo...this can't be real......this is impossible................
well guyz if this photo is really real, i predict this:
Obama will win!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This IS POWER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Mark01]

We still have a lot of work to do...

[BlackHawkDown]

Check this out and Give OneReason that you support Barack Obama

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dIqZeQ_Kpj8

[lmvd3]

This is real...we were there and it was a breathtaking crowd.