RSS Feed of the blog

Contributors:

Reporter William March has covered state and national politics since 1994. Email

Reporter Mike Salinero has covered Hillsborough County government for The Tampa Tribune since 2007. Email

Reporter Lindsay Peterson has been a general assignment reporter at the Tampa Tribune since 2005, focusing on higher education since 2009. Email

TBO RNC 2012 Section

Florida Political Blogs:

• State Of Sunshine
• Pushing Rope
• Interstate4Jamming
• News Service of Florida
• FLA Politics
• Sayfie Review/

Most Recent Entries

• Memorial Day weekend deals to honor military, vets
• How come the poll results don’t match?
• Q Poll: Mack has long lead in primary, ties Nelson in general matchup
• Mack campaign retracts Fortuno endorsement quotes
• Coburn backs LeMieux, answering Mack’s Fortuno
• Q Poll: Romney has significant lead in Florida
• Storm The Swarm: SOCCENT deputy chief asks for technology to stop threat of Iranian small boats
• Nelson disses Obama on Castro daughter
• Hoyer to campaign with Ehrlich
• Mack dumbest speaker in Congress?  It’s complicated
• Guetzloe sentenced for not filing tax returns
• Mack asks feds to investigate LeMieux appointment
• Pentagon Reports Deaths of 7 Troops This Week in Support of Operation Enduring Freedom
• Mack demands investigation of LeMieux appointment
• Ross backs Mack

More

• Breaking News
• Command Post Tampa
• Fact Finders - Databay Blog
• Guestbook: Remembering The Fallen Soldiers
• Fresh Squeezed Politics
• RNC 2012: The Road to Tampa
• Political Safari

Monthly Archives

• Breaking News
• Command Post Tampa
• Fact Finders - Databay Blog
• Guestbook: Remembering The Fallen Soldiers
• Fresh Squeezed Politics
• RNC 2012: The Road to Tampa
• Political Safari

‘Fierce Urgency Of Now’ Inspired Him To Run, Obama Says

Posted May 21, 2008 by Krista Klaus

Updated May 21, 2008 at 02:27 PM

Speaking to a crowd of 15,000 at the St. Pete Times Forum, the Democratic presidential frontrunner said the time is right for his candidacy.

Sen. Barack Obama says that when he was deciding to run for president, some naysayers said he was too young. Obama told the Bay area crowd that he experienced Martin Luther King Jr.’s “fierce urgency of now” when deciding to run for the White House.

“We can’t afford to wait, Tampa. We can’t wait to bring jobs to Tampa. We cannot wait, and that’s why I’m running for president,” Obama said.

Obama started his speech by listing problems he says are plaguing the country: wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, flat wages and higher prices for consumers, a home foreclosure crisis and underpaid teachers.

“Instead of prosperity trickling down, pain is trickling up,” Obama told the cheering crowd. “We want a new chapter in American history, and we are going to do that right here in Florida, right here in Tampa.”

“I love you Barack,” someone from the crowd shouted.

“I love you back,” Obama said.