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  Obama begins courting disenchanted Republicans
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Parent(s) Race 
ContributorThe Sunset Provision 
Last EditedThe Sunset Provision  Jan 30, 2008 11:05pm
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CategoryNews
MediaNewspaper - Kansas City Star
News DateThursday, January 31, 2008 05:00:00 AM UTC0:0
DescriptionSpeeding west on the winds of his South Carolina rout and the endorsement of Democratic powerhouse Sen. Ted Kennedy, Barack Obama on Tuesday began courting white, rural, and disenchanted Republican voters to propel him beyond next week's 22-state primary blitz.

At the same time, he kept an eye on the East with an ad that launches Wednesday in New York featuring the daughter of slain President John F. Kennedy, to whom Ted Kennedy compares him.

"People always tell me how my father inspired them," Caroline Kennedy says. "I feel that same excitement now."

Highlighting his heritage as the son of a white, Midwestern mother as well as a black, Kenyan father, Obama's first stop was El Dorado, Kan., hometown of his grandfather.

"We're among friends here. We're family," Obama joked, prompting cheers from 2,000 supporters, most of them white, packing a college gymnasium.

Polishing his American-pie image was Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius. Fresh from delivering the Democratic rebuttal to the State of the Union message, she endorsed Obama as a man of "Midwestern values."

Obama said his unusual heritage explains "why I can stand here and talk about how this country is more than a collection of red states and blue states. My story could only happen in the United States."

His underdog strategy for Super Tuesday is equally unusual. In contrast to Hillary Clinton, who is focusing on a few large-delegate states including New York and California, "We are trying to do as well as we can in each and every state ... building our strength in small towns and rural areas," said campaign manager David Plouffe. Obama has done well in such areas.

A key to small-delegate states will be independents and moderate, disenchanted Republicans, Plouffe said. Missouri and Kansas, where Sebelius won with non-Democratic votes, are among 16 states with Feb. 5 contests in which voters can switch parties on the spot.

Yet Obama is not ignoring urban areas (he stumped before a racial
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