The table is set for Obama

He tours tossup states, works on big speech, arrives in Denver today

Sara Burnettand David Montero, Rocky Mountain News

Published August 27, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.

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Photo by Chris Schneider / The Rocky

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama waves to a supporter as he arrives at his hotel Tuesday in Billings, Mont. Obama plans to campaign in Billings today before traveling to Denver to accept the nomination.

Barack Obama will arrive in Denver this afternoon with a tour of battleground states behind him, the Democratic National Convention under full steam and the drama over a roll-call vote for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton still potentially unfolding.

The Illinois senator has spent the past few days traveling to Wisconsin, Iowa, Missouri and Montana.

He is expected to arrive in Denver in time to catch the prime-time speech by his vice presidential pick, Delaware Sen. Joe Biden, although it isn't known whether Obama will show up at the Pepsi Center or watch on television.

Obama has kept a light public schedule this week, trying not to distract from the DNC and giving himself time to work on the crucial speech he'll deliver Thursday night at Invesco Field at Mile High.

Obama kept details of the speech under wraps, but said it will be "more workman-like" than the Grammy-winning keynote address he delivered at the 2004 DNC.

"This speech is different," Obama said. "I'm not aiming for a lot of high rhetoric; I'm much more concerned with communicating how I intend to help middle-class families live their lives."

He was in Missouri on Tuesday talking to workers in a hangar that services planes for American Airlines and has seen its work force slashed. He then flew to Montana, the last stop on a "battleground states tour."

His campaign focused on the economy in Denver on Tuesday, sending Michelle Obama around the city, along with the newly minted vice presidential hopeful.

After a Delaware delegate breakfast in Littleton, Biden made a surprise appearance with Michelle Obama at the Colfax Events Center, where he praised her speech of the night before that was designed to introduce herself and her husband to America.

"I heard last night the most remarkable speech," he told the crowd of about 300 gathered for a roundtable focused on working women. "There are eloquent speeches, and Michelle's was eloquent. There are speeches that are profound in the things they say and what they communicate. But the mark of a truly incredible speech is when it's able to change the perception of a nation about not only an individual but about circumstance."

The roundtable was co-hosted by four female governors, including Gov. Janet Napolitano of Arizona, who got off a quip about John McCain not remembering how many homes he owned.

"Most of us in Arizona only have one house," she said. "I live in a condo."

Michelle Obama told the crowd her husband would have universal health care in place by the end of his first term.

And on a day where everything seemed to revolve around Hillary Clinton's moves, at least one observer questioned whether the comment was an attempt to remind people that Clinton failed in her attempt to revolutionize health care during Bill Clinton's administration.

Michelle Obama told the crowd that lack of a universal health care plan and an education system that was crumbling were "costing us billions and billions of dollars." She said those are "investments we can't afford to miss out on."

Michelle Obama had a joint appearance with Hillary Clinton at an EMILY's List function in the afternoon, just hours before the New York senator took the stage of the Pepsi Center to deliver a speech that Democrats hope will unify the party by the time Barack Obama's plane lands in Colorado today.

But for some, there really wasn't anything Clinton could say to change their minds and who promised to cast a protest vote for the Republican.

"The process wasn't fair. There was caucus fraud," said Trisha Creedon. "(Obama) didn't win fair and square."

Creedon personifies the problem for Democrats. As a resident of a swing state - Nevada - Creedon said she was going to vote for McCain.

The Obama campaign and Clinton representatives have been discussing the details of how the vote will be handled tonight. While Clinton's name is expected to be placed in nomination, Obama could secure the nomination by acclamation or through a shortened roll call.

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