As the candidate travels worldwide, efforts in Florida start with family visits, door-to-door canvassing, campaign office openings, and Hispanic radio ads, but still no Black media outreach.

COMPILED FROM WIRE AND STAFF REPORTS

Sen. Barack Obama’s efforts in Florida started off aggressively with a July 19 statewide canvass where supporters knocked on doors in more than 100 communities across the state. “Our statewide canvass kickoff will bring Barack Obama’s message of change straight to the doors of thousands of Floridians. We are all eager to turn the page on the failed politics as usual and bring a new direction to America,” Florida campaign manager Steve Schale said in a statement. “We are building a profound grassroots movement with volunteers who will work tirelessly until November to make certain we elect a president who can look out for all Americans, who will end the war in Iraq, strengthen our schools and turn around our economy.”

Campaign offices are scheduled to open this week in Gainesville and in Fort Lauderdale’s Black community. Michelle Obama appeared at a sold-out fundraiser and other events in Miami, Fort Myers and Orlando. Obama’s sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng, spoke to Tampa women about how her brother intends to improve their lives.

Still no Black media buys
TV advertising continues on a national level. On Tuesday, the campaign released a Spanish language radio ad entitled “Bootstraps.”

“Some people have power and connections. But most of us have to make our own way through life,” the radio ad says in Spanish. “He grew up without a father… Through student loans and hard work, he graduated from college. Obama never forgot his roots… And despite the political pressure, Obama has stood with us for immigration reform and spoke out for our veterans. It’s time we had a president who understands we all deserve a chance to make our own way.”

An e-mail to the Florida campaign requesting whether Black media outreach had begun was unanswered as of the Florida Courier’s press time. A survey of Black-owned radio stations around the state did not indicate that any Obama radio ads were set to air.

Obama travels
On Tuesday, Obama adopted much of the pageantry of a leader on the world stage as he completed an official visit of war zones and met up in Amman, Jordan with the large media entourage waiting to accompany him on a tour of foreign capitals.

He dined with King Abdullah of Jordan at his palace and was chauffeured to his departing plane by the king himself, who drove Obama up to the jet’s stairs in his Mercedes 600. The day’s events provided the campaign imagery of a candidate appearing poised and confident in the international arena, with no major gaffes to further a story line of inexperience. He arrived at a military airfield in Jordan after a four-day visit to Iraq and Afg

hanistan, carrying a black helmet and a flak jacket.

He arrived Tuesday night in Jerusalem and was scheduled for a round of meetings with Israeli and Palestinian leaders Wednesday, the Florida Courier’s press time.

Obama has sought to provide reassurance of his support for Israel. But he had to backtrack from comments before a Jewish lobbying group in June supporting an “undivided” Jerusalem, which many interpreted as closing off Palestinian aspirations for a capital in Arabdominated East Jerusalem. He later clarified his position to oppose physical barriers such as walls separating the city’s neighborhoods.

Obama said that a president could not “snap his fingers” and bring peace to the Middle East. But, he said, “What I think can change is the ability of ... a United States president to be actively engaged with the peace process, and to be concerned and recognize the legitimate difficulties that the Palestinian people are experiencing right now.”

‘Success’ in Iraq?
After a two-day visit to Iraq, Obama acknowledged progress in the country over the past year but was unwilling to declare that the Bush administration troop surge he opposed has been a success.

“I believe that the situation in Iraq is more secure than it was a year and a half ago. I think that the definition of success depends on how you look at it,” Obama said.

Obama stressed that Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al- Maliki and even the Bush administration have in recent days moved closer to his signature policy on Iraq calling for a timeline for withdrawal of U.S. combat troops within 16 months after Obama would take office. Maliki said Monday that he favored a goal of removing U.S. combat troops by 2010, within a few months of the date Obama has proposed.

Obama also said that he backs leaving a residual force in Iraq to help train military personnel, provide security for U.S. interests and thwart terrorist threats. The residual force might total up to 50,000 troops, his campaign advisers have told reporters. Obama also said the “situation in Afghanistan is perilous and urgent” and that “we should not wait any longer” to provide additional troops there.

Anti-war activists split
Obama’s plan to build up U.S. forces in Afghanistan while keeping troops in Iraq has triggered a deep rift among anti-war activists.

Barbra Bearden, spokeswoman for Peace Action, called Obama’s comments about Afghanistan “a bit disheartening.” Ian Thompson, lead organizer in Los Angeles for Act Now to Stop War & End Racism, an antiwar group, found Obama’s Afghanistan position similar to that of President Bush and presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain.

“What this shows is that Barack Obamadoes notreally represent any policy shift,” he said. “We’ve seen the results of these military actions. We create a power vacuum and try to create a government. We did that in Iraq, and now we’re talking about using the same failed strategy again in Afghanistan.”

Mike Dorning/Chicago Tribune and David Lightman/ McClatchy Newspapers/ MCT contributed to this report.