By Colin McEwen
Record-Courier staff writer
AKRON -- Presidential hopeful, Sen. Barack Obama, finally made it back to Northeastern Ohio.
With ever-growing momentum, more than 5,000 people attended the packed John S. Knight Center in downtown Akron to hear the Democratic candidate's message of change Saturday night.
He began by apologizing for being more than an hour late to his first stop on the "Keeping the Promise" bus tour.
With an eager crowd, which included Congressman Tim Ryan, Obama laid out the reasons he would make the better candidate in the March 4 Ohio primary against his opponent, Sen. Hillary Clinton.
"I am not running because of a lifelong ambition," he said. "I am running because of something Dr. Martin Luther King called the 'fierce urgency of now.'"
Speaking over boisterous cheers, Obama covered a wide range of topics in his hour-long speech, from the local economy to the ongoing war in Iraq, which he said he voted against from its onset.
Appealing to Northeastern Ohio's working class, Obama said he would give tax breaks to the middle class and repeal tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans. He also said he disagrees with the fundamentals of the North American Free Trade Agreement, which he believes send much-needed jobs to other countries. If elected, Obama also said he would raise the minimum wage each year to meet inflation.
"People are struggling to get by," he said. "People in Ohio understand, because people have been struggling here for a long time."
Obama said his ideas represent change, and the American people want to see the country "headed in a different direction."
"I'm here to report to Akron, that everywhere I go, people are looking for something new," he said. "They are ready to write a new chapter in American history."
Obama pointed out that his opponent has attacked him because of a lack of experience -- an attribute he finds positive.
"We can tell the lobbyists and the fat-cats in Washington that their days of setting the agenda are over," he said. "We don't want to keep people who do the same things and expect a different result."
After the speech, the "Keeping the Promise" tour bus loaded up again, and left for Cleveland.
The tour also includes stops this weekend in Toledo, Cincinnati and Dayton.