Presidential hopeful Obama campaigns in Tampa

By PHIL DAVIS

Associated Press Writer

April 15. 2007 5:21PM

Presidential hopeful Barack Obama strode on stage Sunday for a fundraising event hours after a series of powerful thunderstorms raked the city.

"We were feeling a little worried," Obama told a crowd of about 2,000 who waited in strong, blustery winds to hear him speak outside the Cuban Club in Tampa's historic Ybor City. "The sun is shining on me, that's what's going on."

Dr. Julie Sudduth drove more than 60 miles with her husband and 3-month-old son and paid $100 to hear firsthand Obama's stance on health care and the war in Iraq. Sudduth, 33, a family practice physician from Inverness, said she would do the same for other Democrats.

"I'm happy about it," she said of the Democratic contest. "Everybody seems to understand there needs to be a change. But it's not clear yet who can do that best."

The Illinois Sen. stuck to familiar themes in his first public Tampa campaign appearance - ending the war in Iraq and spending more on health care, education and alternative energy.

"At each and every juncture in American history, ordinary folks said, 'We don't care about the world as

it is, we imagine the world as it might be. We want to write a new chapter,'" Obama told the crowd. "That is the moment that we are in right now."

Obama criticized President George W. Bush for a "tough luck, you're on your own" attitude toward average Americans on topics ranging from health care to jobs.

As he did Saturday in front of a crowd of about 20,000 in Atlanta, Obama drew the loudest cheers when he spoke of bring the troops home from Iraq.

"There is one thing we still have a chance of getting right in this war," Obama said. "And that is when our men and women come home, they shouldn't have to be begging for their disability payments. When they come, we should be treating them with the honor and dignity they deserve."