Despite the competing Hog tailgate, a crowd of maybe a thousand or more gathered on the front lawn of the Capitol this afternoon for a rally for the coming Democratic sweep of Arkansas statewide races. (UPDATE: Dems, citing Capitol police [but, hey, they work for Charlie], put the crowd at 3,000 or more. Could be. We counted 50 across for at least 15 or 20 rows in front of the speakers’ platform and there were hundreds behind the lectern.)

They were drawn by the rising Democratic star Barack Obama, whose message of intellect, hope and new directions left Mike Beebe in an unenviable cleanup speaker’s postion. (Many bolted for cars after Obama spoke.) The Illinois senator quoted King in urging the crowd to bend that long arc of the moral universe to justice by voting and motivating others.

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Sign us up. He’s good. He sounds like nobody’s No. 2. He’ll put any Democrat I can think of to shame as a speaker. He spoke of wages and health care and energy policy and being a diplomatic player in the world — all resonant issues, all policies on which the current administration has failed.

On the home front, it was a happy occasion for Democratic boss Jason Willett, who introduced top officials with plenty of red meat rhetoric, most welcomed lustily, such as when he said Arkansas would be a “Hutchinson-free zone” come Nov. 8. (Unless you don’t count those of the state legislative variety.) But even some solid Dems shook their heads at his introduction of Ginger Beebe and his promise she’d return “class” to the Governor’s Mansion again after “Jethrine.”  Bad form to name-call a politician’s wife. Leave that to the columnists.

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Given the beating he took early on for his management of the party, the coming victories undoubtedly have Willett feeling his oats. He predicted to me that the Democrats would hold their current legislative seats and might even pick up a couple.

Former Gov. Jim Guy Tucker was on hand along with a slew of candidates. Bill Halter, the candidate perhaps most in danger on the slate, went a bit over long in his remarks. Others kept it blessedly brief and punchy. Rep. Vic Snyder brought his newborn son Penn to the microphone for his brief remarks. Sen. Mark Pryor warmly introduced Obama, who returned the favor by saying Pryor might be majority leader some day. That kind of endorsement couldn’t hurt should Pryor face a future challenge from outgoing Gov. Mike Huckabee, as some in the crowd predicted Saturday.

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