Aug 25, 2008 7:25 pm US/Eastern
Michelle Obama To Take Center Stage At DNC
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) ―
It may be Barack Obama's convention, but tonight Michelle Obama takes center stage at the opening of the Democratic National Convention in Denver.
So how important is the spouse of a presidential candidate? Local folks say it's very important.
"I think it's very important because that's his right hand," says Vicky Campbell of Pittsburgh's West End.
"S
he's the potential first lady, and she's an extension of her husband, and she has a very important job," adds Lori Passafiume of Homestead.
Local delegates from this area in Denver say Mrs. Obama's speech tonight is important.
"I'm going to listen for the warmth, the family message. I know it's there -- I know she's fantastic." says Nancy Patton Mills, a Clinton delegate from Moon Township.
"She is a great lady, and she's a success story in and of herself, and I think she's going to tell the mothers of America that they can have for their daughter what her mother had in her life -- namely, a kid that didn't have a silver spoon in her mouth but ended up going to Harvard," adds Clinton delegate J. Bracken Burns, a Washington County commissioner.
A first impression of Michelle Obama is her height – 5' 11" -- her warm smile -- and her much talked-about style -- but its her candor that comes through -- like this comment at Carnegie Mellon University in April.
"There are certainly people who would tell me that I should not even dream of becoming the next first lady of the United States of America."
In an earlier interview with KDKA Political Editor Jon Delano, Mrs. Obama said her husband was used to strong women like her.
"He 's a man who was raised in a house full of very strong women, that his grounding comes from his mother -- a young, single parent who aspired to travel the world and study women's issues, a grandmother who has been the matriarch, the sole breadwinner, that he's surrounded by someone like me who is a strong woman who he supported throughout."
"She has a golden opportunity tonight to tell her story," notes Allegheny County executive Dan Onorato. "We've been hearing about her. People have been taking shots at her. People saying good things about her, but you really haven't heard her side of the story."
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