Obamamania sweeps the Capital Hill -Law makers rush to star

[General Duke]

Obamamania sweeps the Hill

By RYAN GRIM | 5/8/08 1:25 PM EST Text Size:

Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.)

Photo: AP

 

Rep. Robert A. Brady (D-Pa.) was driving toward Washington on Thursday morning when he got a call from Barack Obama. Brady asked Obama where he was, and the man fast approaching ‘presumptive nominee’ status told him he was in the Senate.

 

Brady had an idea: Obama should pop on over to the House chamber and say hello. And that’s just what the Illinois senator did.

 

When he walked onto the floor, said Brady, Obama made straight for the Pennsylvania corner. “See, Bob,” he said. “I listen to you sometimes.”

 

“You got to listen to me all the time,” Brady, an uncommitted superdelegate, said he joked in response.

 

Brady’s casual suggestion turned into quite a scene, as Obamamania — fueled by Tuesday night’s results in Indiana and North Carolina — descended onto the floor of the House in full force.

 

As Obama made his way slowly through the House mob, reporters piled up outside the nearest door to the House floor, craning their necks to get a look. Security guards pressed through the media crowd, repeatedly asking the Fourth Estate to keep a lane open for lawmakers.

 

Supporters and opponents alike maneuvered to get face time, whether it was 73-year-old Rep. James L. Oberstar (D-Minn.) patiently waiting his turn or Rep. Alcee L. Hastings (D-Fla.), a Clinton supporter, giving Obama a big hug.

 

Rep. Yvette Clarke (D-N.Y.) had the man autograph today's copy of the NY Daily News. (Cover: "It's his Party.") Reps. Charles B. Rangel (D-N.Y.), a Clinton backer, and Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.) gave him bear hugs on the floor, as well.

 

Even Republicans were star-struck. Rep. Illeana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) said she was escorting a group of elementary school students onto the House floor when Obama made his entrance.

 

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Ros-Lehtinen said the children noticed the presidential hopeful and screamed, “It’s Barack Obama!” in unison. The congresswoman then led the students across the aisle and over to Obama, who chatted briefly with the three students.

 

“The kids were very excited,” said Ros-Lehtinen. “Like rock star excited.”

 

Rep. John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.), an Obama supporter, said that a number of Republicans crossed the aisle to congratulate him. “One told me that if he wins, he looks forward to working with him,” said Conyers, who would not give the member’s name. “I’ve worked with [the congressman] before on some things, but that still surprised me.”

 

Conyers suggested that Obama’s primary opponent needs to repeat the cross-chamber journey. “Hillary’s got to come now,” he said.

 

Twice, it looked like Obama was about to leave the chamber, but he got pulled back in by superdelegates — both committed and uncommitted.

 

Obama himself, apparently mindful of his shadow, bowed before House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.).

 

Obama’s core constituency — young voters — was fully represented, too, though most of the pages in the chamber won’t be voting until 2012. But they made their opinion clear.

 

Obama posed for photos with giddy pages on the staircase leading up to the House gallery. The normally staid and deferential pages, who walk the halls quietly on their best behavior, returned the favor, giving Obama a rousing ovation. Security guards reprimanded reporters and tourists for snapping photos with their phones — something that is strictly forbidden in many parts of the chamber unless you are a credentialed photographer — but to little avail.

 

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) arrived after Obama and said she was not sure who had invited him. "I don't know if he was invited by members," Pelosi said. The visit to the speaker’s chamber, however, didn’t sway her from her officially uncommitted position, she said. "Me, I like combat," Pelosi said. "The best training for campaigning is campaigning."

 

Not all Republicans, though, were thrilled to see him. As he crossed the aisle to meet Obama, Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.), shook his head. “Lord no,” he said. “Lord no.”

 

And Obamamania can have consequences for one's day job. The Senate voted a few minutes after Obama’s victory lap through the House, but Obama was nowhere to be found. He skipped a Senate roll call vote on a budget point of order on a flood insurance bill.

 

John Bresnahan, Martin Kady II, Patrick O’Connor, Amie Parnes and Daniel W. Reilly contributed to this story.

[General Duke]

 

Sen. Barack Obama stepped into a swarm of superdelegates this morning when he visited the House of Representatives in the middle of a vote. Obama stayed on the floor for almost half an hour visiting with both Democrats and Republicans who looked completely star struck.

Even Speaker Nancy Pelosi

left her weekly press briefing and made a beeline for the House floor to say hello. And the Capitol Hill press corps surrounded the House Chamber to catch him on his way out and fire questions about such an unusual move for a presidential candidate, even if he is a senator.

[General Duke]

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[General Duke]

Obama Works the House

By David M. Herszenhorn

 

Barack Obama on Thursday. (Photo: Doug Mills/The New York Times)In the great hunt for superdelegates, there’s no better place to look than the floor of the House, and Senator Barack Obama dove right into a sea of them on Thursday morning, shaking hands, clapping backs, doling out hugs and even doing a little curtsy before Representative John M. Spratt Jr. of South Carolina, the chairman of the Budget Committee.

Mr. Obama, who worked the chamber for more than 45 minutes, and even got some handshakes from Republicans, insisted that he just stopped by to say hello, to update his supporters and answer questions for any Democrats who might remain undecided.

“What do you think, I was going after superdelegates?” Mr. Obama joked after leaving the chamber.

But after his commanding victory over Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton in North Carolina, and his strong showing in Indiana, Mr. Obama’s triumphant visit to the House floor had all the buzz and excitement of a victory lap.

While Mrs. Clinton has met with superdelegates away from the Capitol since Tuesdays results, a sign of her struggle among Democratic party leaders, Mr. Obama returned with all the subtlety of a rock star.

He started out, shortly before 11 a.m. in the corner of the room with the Pennsylvania delegation including Representative John P. Murtha, of Pennsylvania who has endorsed Mrs. Clinton.

He then moved down the aisle swarmed by well-wishers, through the throng of lawmakers who were milling about for votes on housing legislation. All the while, he was flanked by Representative Steven R. Rothman of New Jersey, who seemed to be serving as bodyguard and ambassador for Mr. Obama who spring-boarded into the Senate without ever serving in the House.

Among the crowd was Mr. Spratt, now in his 13th term, who met on Wednesday with Mrs. Clinton at the Democratic National Committee headquarters and told her that he would remain uncommitted because his state had voted overwhelmingly for Mr. Obama.

Standing before Mr. Spratt, Mr. Obama dropped to a bended knee, in what seemed to be some sort of genuflection.

Mr. Obama made his way into the well of the chamber, at one point stopping by Representative Yvette Clarke of Brooklyn, who showed him a copy of New York Daily News, which on Thursday