Corey Noles, staff writer for The Daily Statesman and Editor of The North Stoddard Countian, is the author of a regular baseball/St. Louis Cardinals column and also uses his blog to sound off on various happenings in sports. He also operates a weekly baseball mailbag column.

Obama in Cape Tuesday...any questions?

Posted Monday, May 12, 2008, at 5:47 PM

I will be attending the Barack Obama Economic Town Hall meeting in Cape Tuesday afternoon and thought I would take an opportunity to try to get some of you involved.

It's still unknown whether there will be a short press conference or if my interview request will be accepted, but in the event that it is...do you have any questions?

Make them reasonable please and only about real issues affecting us at home. That was the basis I submitted my request on, and I would like to stick with it because these kinds of interviews aren't always easy to get.

I will take the list with me and see what I can do about getting them answered.

If there is anyone who would rather not post their questions here, feel free to e-mail them to me at cnoles@dailystatesman.com

Once again, whether I will have the opportunity to ask any is still up in the air, but if I can, I would like them to be the direct concerns of our readers instead of strictly what I, as a reporter think to ask.

Thanks for reading and I look forward to your response.

Comments

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Corey, you know everyone wants to know what he expects to be able to do get gas prices down, but I want to hear specifics. Exactly what can be done and what will he do? If something can be done,why does he think it isn't being done now?

-- Posted by I.B. Le Truth on Mon, May 12, 2008, at 9:12 PM

Corey Noles' response:
Nice question, Truth. Thanks for the input. That is certainly the topic on everyone's lips right now.
I.B.'s question goes hand in hand with the question of oil company profits. The companies say their profits are so high because they're such big companies. That may be, but if the percentage of profit has risen phenominally over the last few years, that doesn't have anything to do with company size.

It's not likely that Obama wants to irritate the Big Guys, but he'll have to keep an eye on them. Is he willing to do that?

-- Posted by goat lady on Tue, May 13, 2008, at 7:04 AM
I still can't understand why they're calling this a town meeting if the town isn't invited! Cape doesn't get a lot of notables visiting, so when they do they need to be visible.

My question was about the gas prices, and of course, where does he stand with the farm bill? As a Republican, I'm about ready to get upset with McCain's view of the farm bill!

-- Posted by lovebooks on Tue, May 13, 2008, at 8:30 AM

Corey Noles' response:
Thanks! The Farm Bill was something I hadn't remembered until you mentioned it.

About the event, while I first heard invite only, apparently the majority of the people will be the employees of Thorngate, Ltd.. It's my understanding that's why it's not open. So, apparently, it won't be just Democrat party invitees. Besides, why preach to the choir?
Corey, how about asking him if he's going to be real with us? I know that's simple, yet it can cover a great deal of topics, but we have had everything sugar-coated for us before. I want to know what's REALLY going on in the economy, and others aspects...not have someone be afraid to speak the word recession, among others. How can we prepare if we don't know what's REALLY going on???

-- Posted by mrsdolphin on Tue, May 13, 2008, at 10:23 AM
Well, it's too late to ask a question for him now, but I think it would help his campaign and image if he'd visit some of the small towns here in Missouri. I'm not satisfied with either party, and I disagree with many of Obama's views, but I think we'd be honored to have him visit our county after he gets the Demo nomination.

-- Posted by swift on Tue, May 13, 2008, at 2:58 PM
Well, it's too late to ask a question for him now, but I think it would help his campaign and image if he'd visit some of the small towns here in Missouri. I'm not satisfied with either party, and I disagree with many of Obama's views, but I think we'd be honored to have him visit our county after he gets the Demo nomination.

-- Posted by swift on Tue, May 13, 2008, at 2:58 PM
I just saw the coverage of his appearance on KFVS and was mightily disappointed. All we heard was the KFVS crew and some long-winded fellow at Thorngate (didn't show his face). I didn't want to hear Kathy Sweeney summarize what he said - I wanted to hear it from him.

I guess the Obama people must have set the rules for the news crew to follow, and the rules must have specified no audio and hardly any video!

-- Posted by goat lady on Tue, May 13, 2008, at 6:22 PM

Corey Noles' response:
Well, I should have a lot more than that. I took well over 100 pictures and virtually every question posted here was answered before I ever got near him.

I did get just a minute for a question immediately after it ended, but there will be a full story in tomorrow's edition of The Daily Statesman.

A couple things I will say. Of the 10 or so questions he took, 2 came from Dexter residents Ron Yersak and former Senator Jerry Howard. From where I stood, the questions didn't see scripted, so I was fairly impressed. Also, instead of the fluffy answers we've seen so far, he gave detailed plans for educations jobs and several other things.

More to come tomorrow because I have to organize all of this tonight haha.

As always, thanks for following my blog.
Corey, did you feint?

-- Posted by I.B. Le Truth on Tue, May 13, 2008, at 11:30 PM
"Faint," I.B.... "Feint" means to make a move one way and then go the opposite - like on the BB court.

Sorry, the English teacher in me sometimes can't stay still...

Love ya, anyway!

-- Posted by goat lady on Wed, May 14, 2008, at 8:47 AM
Now GL, maybe I.B. said exactly what he meant. It could be that Corey did have to feint just to be able to get in a question. Either way, it's good to see I.B.

-- Posted by Ducky on Wed, May 14, 2008, at 12:17 PM
I've got a feeling he's not going to visit rural Missouri. I bet goat lady's right when she says the Obama team has its own rules for the media reporters. I don't trust these elitist intellectuals such as Obama very well.

-- Posted by swift on Wed, May 14, 2008, at 3:11 PM
Ok GL, faint. If I had wrote what I was really thinking you couldn't have corrected it because I am sure you never heard that kind of language. So Corey, you didn't answer, did you (faint)?

I heard ole BO say on TV the other night that he was going to spend a lot of time in Missouri and win it during the general election.

-- Posted by I.B. Le Truth on Wed, May 14, 2008, at 8:44 PM

Corey Noles' response:
I responded to this yesterday, but for some reason it looks like it didn't post. I'll try again.

No, I didn't faint, however, I did get a glimpse of how excited people get about simply being near him.

Inside the event I didn't notice anything,but afterwards outside when I went to get some more shots he walked over to us and shook some hands. Some simply smiled and were very cordial and some screamed repeatedly. Even after he was gone. It wasn't the circus I had expected to see, though.

The real circus was inside and that was the media coverage. There were probably 30 or more tv crews. I won't even take a guess at newspaper and radio coverage, but to say that it was in the triple digits. People with laptops were everywhere uploading stories as he spoke For me that was really cool. I visited with a photographer from The Washington Post named Jahib and a couple guys from NHK. NHK is to Japan what the Associated Press is to us. The funny thing is, they told me that it was a pretty small press crew compared to other campaign stops they had made.

I must say that I am glad to see a candidate visit Southeast Missouri regardless of whether we all agree with everything he has to say. The fact ism we live in a part of the state (country) that is always neglected during Presidential campaigns. I would be really surprised if anyone else came to the region, but you never know. He did say that he would be back in Southeast Missouri during the election, so we'll just see.
He, he! We love our I.B., don't we, Ducky?? He doesn't fool us: He's too much of a gentleman to use bad language!

-- Posted by goat lady on Wed, May 14, 2008, at 10:07 PM
I can't spell right because I am mad that I know that I am being hoodwinked by all three individuals and there is nothing I can do about it. I will eventually have to vote for one.

-- Posted by I.B. Le Truth on Thu, May 15, 2008, at 12:03 AM
It certainly is a dilemma, I admit. Yesterday I was with my sister-in-law in a nearby city, and she actually insisted that one of the candidates was the Anti-Christ! She was serious.

At the risk of sounding like Marge Simpson, "Oh, my!"

-- Posted by goat lady on Thu, May 15, 2008, at 6:09 PM
GL, the question is which one?

-- Posted by I.B. Le Truth on Fri, May 16, 2008, at 12:51 AM
Well, I know which one SHE thinks is, but I'm sure everyone has a different idea.

-- Posted by goat lady on Fri, May 16, 2008, at 7:11 AM
Corey, thanks for the update: I just scrolled back up and saw it.

-- Posted by goat lady on Fri, May 16, 2008, at 7:14 AM
GL, I've encountered a number of people who firmly believe the male Democratic candidate is a Manchurian Candidate.

Corey's notation that Barack Obama's appearance was a corporate sponsored event raises a much too ignored question, which is to what degree are each of the candidates beholden to the influential people and organizations behind the scenes that are indispensable to their candidacy? In reality we will not know the answer to that question for any of the candidates, so it is impossible to really know who and what you are voting for -- until after he or she takes office.

-- Posted by FJGuy on Fri, May 16, 2008, at 12:44 PM
FJ Guy? By then it will be to late. Our activities here and everywhere else will be stopped when the Democrat is President. Just look at CA. The PEOPLE voted and passed a decision and the Liberal COURTS overturned. That is NOT government BY the people, it is goverment TO the people. We have few liberties left now and it is only going to get worse.

-- Posted by D.W.B. on Fri, May 16, 2008, at 1:50 PM
Yes, DWB! Actually we are a nation run by judicial fiat. Judges can overturn anything the people pass. This is judicial activism! Obama, if elected, will appoint liberal judges. Congress, The Democratic Congress will vote for everyone of them.

-- Posted by swift on Fri, May 16, 2008, at 3:07 PM
Okay, swift, we give up! Would you like to explain "judicial fiat"?

-- Posted by goat lady on Thu, May 22, 2008, at 6:32 AM
You know, I don't believe in same sexxx marriage but the judges took none of my liberties away by overturning a law that probably really is unconstitutional in California. I guess they gave some liberties to some people.

-- Posted by I.B. Le Truth on Thu, May 22, 2008, at 9:00 PM

Corey Noles' response:
That's an interesting take I haven't heard yet. The California court did not take any liberties from us, but did give new liberties to some people.

Soooo, is it not hypocritical to want a smaller government that stays out of your business with a court system that defends your liberties...or...do you think that doesn't apply to everyone?

That's not directed at you specifically, Truth, I'm just curious to see how other people take to that idea.
Good point, I.B. Besides, I hate to be in the minority, but why on earth should I care if two people of the same sex want to get married? It seems like much ado about nothing to me.

-- Posted by goat lady on Thu, May 22, 2008, at 9:30 PM
The courts actually caused a problem. No more excuses, it isn't against the law anymore. There is going to be some arguments now.

Corey I can't really understand your question, but what I think the court said was if you don't want same sex marriage fix your constitution.

-- Posted by I.B. Le Truth on Fri, May 23, 2008, at 9:34 PM

Corey Noles' response:
That's an interesting question, too then. If that was the court's intent, will people rush out and do it now before a constitutional amendment? Would they be able to later nullify those marriages after the fact? I read the other day that Ellen Degeneres is planning to marry soon, so I'm curious to see how this all pans out.
I heard her say that the other day. It appears to me to be a State by State issue. I don't think Missouri law or constitution would allow the marriage to be recognized. At this time, the marriage would not be recognized as a legal marriage by the federal government. Some very interesting situations could arise because of this. Since it is not recognized by the State of Missouri could a person who has a same sex marriage in CA come here and have a legal marriage to a person of the opposite sex. No matter what this is going to be interesting.

-- Posted by I.B. Le Truth on Sat, May 24, 2008, at 9:39 PM

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