In Front of 'Adulatory' Crowd Obama Remains Cautious About S.C. Win

COLUMBIA, S.C. – Barack Obama raised the specter of his defeat in New Hampshire during his final pre-election speech to supporters here last night.

Obama finds himself, as he did in the Granite State, with a significant lead in the polls heading into Election Day. But a repeat of his traumatic loss in New Hampshire would deal his candidacy a potentially fatal blow.

Speaking to a capacity crowd at the Koger Center for the Arts shortly after 11 p.m. last night, Obama recalled that "everybody was so excited" after his win in the Iowa caucuses.

"I think people started thinking, 'This is not hard.' But you know that the status quo doesn't give up that easily…The status quo resists," he said.

One manifestation of that resistance, Obama said, was the smear leveled against him in anonymous emails suggesting that he is secretly a Muslim. After emphasizing his lengthy membership of the Christian church in Chicago where and wife Michelle were married ("We sit in church and we pray"), Obama added that the issue was not merely one of accuracy.

"They are insulting a religion," he said. "They are trying to feed on fear. It's the same old okey-doke, the same bamboozlement. They are trying to hoodwink you."

Obama added, "That's what Washington does when the status quo is threatened." As he has before, the phrasing implicated Hillary Clinton as part of this status quo, if not part of the actual smear.

And there is no evidence that the Clinton campaign has any involvement in false messages suggesting Obama is Muslim. But a few moments later, when the candidate launched into a familiar riff proclaiming "No Bush! No Cheney!," a young African-American woman in the back of the hall shouted out, "No Hillary!"

Obama seemed energized throughout the speech and the atmosphere in the hall was nothing less than adulatory. But the increasingly embattled tone that has entered into the campaign in the past week or so was also in evidence.

Obama promised to end "the toxic politics that we've become accustomed to" – a fairly clear jab at the Clintons -- and added that his candidacy was predicated on the idea that people were ready for "straight talk and honesty and truth" rather than "spin and P.R."

Michelle Obama, who, with former South Carolina governor Jim Hodges, introduced the candidate, sounded a similar theme. She asserted that her husband "stands for so much more than just winning."

(In turn, Obama later described her as "the best wife any man could ever have.")

The applause and cheering for Obama was at times almost deafening in the 2,400 person-capacity venue. And the audience often broke into his speech, most memorably when he spoke about "the odds of me standing here today." He noted that he did not come from wealth and added, "I didn't have a famous name."

"You do now!" came a loud voice from the crowd, prompting chants of "O-bam-a! O-bam-a!" and one of several standing ovations.

Emerging from the auditorium, 28-year-old middle school teacher Monique Flowers said the event was "awesome."

She added, "I am so happy to be a part of such a historic event. You know when some image flashes up on T.V. and your parents say they were there? Well, when I get married and have kids, I am going to be able to tell them I was there for this."

Flowers said she had seen Obama in person several times before. She had no problem with hearing what is, in effect, the same speech over and over.

"It's like a singer," she said. "You can hear a good singer sing the same song, but they'll do it a little different and every time you'll get something new out of it."

Two new polls out this morning, from Zogby and SurveyUSA, give Obama a lead of 15 and 13 points, respectively. After New Hampshire, though, his campaign is taking nothing for granted.