“Fired up! Ready to go!” shouted a crowd of about 300 Stanford students who gathered in White Plaza at noon on Friday for the campus’ latest display of Obama-fever.

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Jeff Keacher

Several hundred students gathered in White Plaza at noon on Feb. 1 to show their support for 2008 presidential hopeful Barack Obama (D-Ill.).

The hourlong rally organized by Stanford Students for Barack Obama featured a host of speakers including Steve Westly, former State Controller and co-chairman of Obama’s campaign; Law Prof. Larry Marshall; and Richard Danzig, a lawyer, former navy secretary and a current advisor to Senator Obama’s campaign. Speakers discussed their personal experiences with Obama and how he had inspired them.

Rally-goers received free “Barack the Vote” T-shirts and Stanford student organizers led campaign cheers such as “O-bama O-eight!”

Devon Swezey ‘08 kicked off the rally by telling stories about his voter turnout efforts on the frontline of the campaign trail in Iowa and Nevada.

Swezey went door-to-door in one of the poorest neighborhoods in Reno, Nev., meeting with voters who had never participated in their state’s caucus. He was especially moved when he and other Stanford students convinced a 65-year-old veteran living in a motel to caucus for the first time.

“People want to believe in this country again,” Swezey said, drawing cheers from the crowd. “Obama encourages people to be better than themselves.”

Referencing Obama’s avowed desire to bridge the divide between different political factions, Westly said the Senator is not afraid to work against the grain and eschew conventional partisan politics. He recalled sitting through one of Obama’s early campaign meetings in which the Senator chose to spend his time campaigning in a megachurch in California’s conservative Orange County rather than visiting more traditionally liberal areas of the state, such as the Bay Area.

Other speakers addressed Obama’s claim that he will provide principled leadership.

Marshall spoke of his time working with then-Senator Obama in Chicago, and said the candidate issued an indictment of the war in Iraq even before the initial Congressional vote to authorize the war.

“We looked at each other in the audience and we thought to ourselves, ‘That’s the end of his political career,’” Marshall said.

Many Stanford students cheered and waved Obama signs throughout the speeches.

Rally-goer Rebecca Perez ‘08 was enthused about Obama’s candidacy.

“He speaks with a sense of urgency to solve the issues affecting the Latino community that have long been ignored by politicians,” she said.

The event also drew students like Wes Mateo ‘08, who said he was not certain whom he would vote for in the California primaries.

“I came out today because I had never attended a political rally of any sort,” Mateo said. “I usually think anecdotes about the candidates are trite, but I think since the speakers addressed particular matters, that made an impression on me.”