barack obama comes to college park

above: A number of Maryland legislators, including Montgomery County Executive-elect Ike Leggett and County Councilwoman Marilyn Praisner (towards the left) showed up for Ben Cardin's rally at the University of Maryland this morning.

"I've met Michael Steele. I've shaken his hand. He's got that 'local news anchor' feel . . . seems like an affable guy. I'll even bet he likes puppies, but that's not what this election's about." - Senator Barack Obama

In a show of support that he's likely repeating across the country, Sen. Barack Obama came down to the University of Maryland in College Park today to speak at a rally for Senate candidate Ben Cardin. While most of the vitriol by the speakers - Barbara Mikulski, Kweisi Mfume, Cardin and Obama, and Paul Sarbanes - was directed at President Bush, quite a few jabs were taken at Michael Steele's now-infamous "puppy" ad. The Post has more on how the Democrats are criticizing it.

It was an inspiring rally. Despite the swell of support around Ben Cardin, it feels like Mfume's still smarting from his loss in the primaries earlier this month. Nonetheless, it was all smiles and promises of universal health care as Obama, the man everyone says could be president one day, worked the crowd of a couple hundred students and faculty.

This is the second visit from a political luminary this week. On Monday, Hillary Clinton spoke at the conference center on campus to a packed, slightly tipsy crowd. I did not go because I couldn't shell out $75 for a student ticket (think of how many concerts at the 9:30 Club you could see for that much!) but I'm sure it was quite a scene. Despite the early hour of this morning's rally (being in college, 9 a.m. remains an un-Godly hour), the crowd was more than riled up by the end. I was this close to slipping into Terp Football Game mode and yelling "Buck Fush" or something similar.