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NEWS >POLITICS > OBAMA RAISING SUPPORT FROM THE DEAD
OBAMA RAISING SUPPORT FROM THE DEAD
Feb 19 2008
Chicago, IL – Barack Obama has definitely been on a roll. From the earliest days of his campaign it looked like things were going to go this way.
People were turning out by the thousands to hear him speak. The crowds growing, their enthusiasm unbound. Now, with him well and truly on the national stage, the entire country seems to have caught Obama fever. With every primary, the momentum seems to build in exponential leaps as he moves towards what seems to be more and more inevitable every day.
Perhaps the most fascinating part of this campaign is how he is drawing support from people of all different backgrounds, different genders, and different races. It seems somehow fitting that a black man in America would be the one to unite all those disparate parties.
Many comparisons have been made to another unifier from the past, John F. Kennedy. Kennedy like Obama was also a minority who was able to overcome his background to bring a new hope to an entire country. It should not be forgotten that the Irish Catholics have had a very rough history in the United States; Kennedy’s election to President was seen as an affront to the decidedly non-Catholic, non-Irish establishment. His ability to overcome those obstacles, much the same as Obama has, is exactly what gave people such hope for the future. Obama embodies that spirit. Through him, perhaps, a new America can be born. An America of tolerance and idealism; an America for the future.
Obama’s seemingly unstoppable surge in popularity seems to have no bounds. So much so that he is gaining support from an unusual, and to date, completely unexploited populace. The dead.
Obama ’08 placards, buttons, and posters are showing up at graveyards all over the country, adding an entirely new dimension to this tight and very important race.
“Every night I close up the cemetery doors, and every day when I come into work, there are more and more headstones with Obama all over them,” said Cyrus Gamble, caretaker at the Windy Pines cemetery just outside Chicago
While one might assume that this is simply a result of enthusiastic Obama fans decorating the graves of their loved ones, that assumption would be wrong. The stories from Maine to Florida, from Texas to Washington, are all the same; spontaneous showings of support for Obama in all of the nation’s cemeteries.
“Every day we are gaining more and more support from all over the country,” said a spokeperson for the campaign. “Barack is drawing people from all walks of life, it’s only sensible that we are now tapping into this long and forgotten populace. This grass roots effort is symbolic of the Barack’s ability to bring together people all across the United States.”
The one issue with this support though, is one of practicality. The dead, of course, can’t vote. 
“I don’t believe it is explicitly against the law for a dead person to vote. Meaning, I don’t believe there is a law on the books that explicitly forbids it,” said D.C. based analyst Geoffrey Harding. “To my knowledge it’s never come up before so nobody has ever looked into creating a law concerning it. Maybe things really are changing. I don’t know. It is going to be quite a task to register all those voters though. This election might bring about all kinds of new headaches. Forget hanging chads, this could be tricky.”
Whatever may come as result of this new voter base, one thing is clear. Barack Obama is truly bringing the country together like no one before him, and as time passes, his ability to gain new supporters seems endless.
It should be noted that there are a small number of cemeteries sporting limited support for Al Gore. It is unknown if this support is a result of defiance, or perceived personal affinity with the former Presidential candidate.
Edward Bastil, Political Correspondent
NEWS >POLITICS > OBAMA RAISING SUPPORT FROM THE DEAD
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