Photos by Jared Soares | The Roanoke Times

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama shakes hands with supporters at a rally in Bristol, Va.

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama (left) is introduced by former Virginia Governor Mark Warner (right) and Congressman Rick Boucher (center).

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama speaks at a rally in Bristol, Va.

Barack Obama supporters cheer during his speech Thursday.

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BRISTOL – Armed with a walking stick given to him by a 95-year-old Franklin County man, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama today pledged to reform the U.S. health care system before the end of his first term.

Wielding the gift from Charles Edwards Sr. of Union Hall, Obama said: “And if members of Congress don’t pass my health care bill … I’ll whomp `em.”

With U.S. Senate candidate and former Virginia governor Mark Warner and Rep. Rick Boucher nearby, Obama, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, launched his general election campaign in a midday speech and subsequent question-and-answer session in the city straddling the Virginia-Tennessee line.

Obama called the "health care crisis" one of the biggest issues he's heard about as he's campaigned across the country.

He cited examples of the stories of people he'd met on the campaign trail who have struggled to make ends meet when faced with medical problems and subsequent bills.
 
"This is election is about those people. This election is about you. It's about every one of the 47 million Americans who do not have health insurance," Obama said.

Obama said he would bring the various parties together to craft a health care plan that improved access to insurance, lowered costs for those who do have insurance and may raise taxes for the wealthy. He pledged to televise the negotiations so members of Congress could not back away from their promises to reform the system.

Obama also decried the role of health care lobbyists and political action committees in defeating previous attempts to reform the health care system, and said as the party’s nominee, he would no longer allow the Democratic National Committee to accept campaign contributions from lobbyists or PACs.

A sign reading “Affordable Health Care for All” adorned the podium from which Obama spoke before moving out to take questions from the crowd. The first questioner was Victoria Cochran, a New River Valley lawyer and member of the state board of mental health, who asked about his plans to improve mental health coverage.

But one of the most compelling moments of the appearance came when Penny Blue got the microphone to ask a question and proceeded to introduce her father, Charles Edwards Sr., and send him to the front to hand the maple walking stick to the Illinois senator. Obama thanked the elderly man and asked him several questions about the stick before referring to it briefly as a prop for his discussion of reforming health care.

Blue, an Obama representative in Franklin County who will attend the national convention later this summer in Denver, and her three sisters and brother attended the event with their father. The siblings wore T-shirts linking Obama to Martin Luther King Jr.

Boucher said Obama’s agenda for health care is “critically important” for residents in Southwest Virginia.

He called Obama the "most compelling candidate since Bobby Kennedy in 1968."

Lines started outside the Virginia High School gymnasium started forming when three Lee County women arrived at 4:30 a.m. – more than seven hours ahead of the event.

“We really wanted to have good seats,” said Megan Herring, 17.

She said they left Lee County at 2 a.m. to get to the event.

Just a little farther behind them in line were five people from Roanoke. Beth Deel, Erin Harden, Wendy Schuyler, Aimee Bostwick and her 2-year-old daughter left Roanoke at 5 a.m. to, in Deel’s words, “see the next president of the United States in person.”

James Gibbs, director of organizing for the United Mine Workers of America, said more than 300 union members came from Castlewood. The UMW office on Wednesday handed out tickets to the event; Gibbs said their allotment was gone in a little more than an hour.

“We’re going to go in together,” Gibbs said. Obama “believes in our cause, and we’re going to show him we believe in him. We’re going to work our butts off for him.”

The doors opened about 9:45 a.m., and people started filling the gymnasium. Chants rang out periodically, with Obama’s slogan “Yes we can” appearing to be a crowd favorite.

The event was preceded Wednesday with a conference call to reporters by Del. Chris Saxman, R-Staunton, and Kilgore, both members of Republican candidate John McCain’s Virginia campaign staff.

Saxman said Obama supports tax increases that would hurt small businesses. Kilgore, meanwhile, said Obama has an F rating from the National Rifle Association and that his proposed energy policies, particularly with regards to coal, “are wrong for Virginia.”

The two also repeated a McCain challenge to Obama, asking for a series of town hall meetings around the country that would feature both candidates.