EAU CLAIRE, Wis. If he does say so himself, Senator Barack Obama delivers a fine political speech.
Dont be fooled by this talk about speeches versus solutions, Mr. Obama told a crowd of Wisconsin voters. Its true, I give a good speech. What do I do? Nothing wrong with that.
To that confident strain of self-assessment, the audience roared with approval.
A shrug of the shoulders and a few deadpanned retorts, some of which stop just shy of mocking his rival, is the latest approach Mr. Obama has taken to respond to Senator Hillary Rodham Clintons criticism that his words offer more poetry than substance.
Yet as he traveled across Wisconsin last week, Mr. Obama seemed to have let loose a little more of his inner-wonk, which his strategists had once urged him to keep on the shelf.
Even as he was dismissing Mrs. Clintons criticism, he appeared to be taking it at least mildly to heart a suggestion that as a line of attack, she might be on to something.
Suddenly, he was injecting a few more specifics into his campaign speeches. Giant rallies that had sustained his candidacy through a coast-to-coast series of contests on Feb. 5, notable for their rhetorical flourishes and big applause lines, were supplemented with policy speeches and town-hall-style meetings, complete with the question-and-answer sessions he abandoned as he roared out of Iowa and into New Hampshire. (In hindsight, he conceded as he reviewed a defeat to Mrs. Clinton, that was a mistake.)
By every indication, this was not a random change in the Obama style. The senator decided to clue in his audience to the shift on a recent morning in Janesville, Wis., where he presented an economic proposal to create seven million jobs over the next decade.
Today, I want to take it down a notch, said Mr. Obama, of Illinois, standing on the floor of a General Motors plant. This is going to be a speech that is a little more detailed. Its going to be a little bit longer, with not too many applause lines.
After raising more money, winning more states and garnering more votes than Mrs. Clinton, Mr. Obama has demonstrated a new air of certainty. But advisers said despite his questionable flares of confidence acknowledging to audiences, for example, that he believed he did in fact give a good speech he was mindful of being too sure of himself at this unfinished moment in the Democratic nomination fight. And clearly the criticisms by Mrs. Clinton and, not incidentally, by Senator John McCain of Arizona, the presumptive Republican nominee that Mr. Obama is a candidate with more flash than substance are being taken as something of a warning shot.
Before Mrs. Clinton arrived Saturday evening in Wisconsin, appearing at the same state Democratic Party dinner in Milwaukee as Mr. Obama, she spent days criticizing her rival while campaigning in Ohio, where the primary is March 4. In city after city, she warned voters about politicians who offered oratory steeped with big promises but ultimately did not deliver.
Speeches dont put food on the table, said Mrs. Clinton, of New York. Speeches dont fill up your tank, or fill your prescription, or do anything about that stack of bills that keeps you up at night.
The long-distance message My opponent gives speeches; I offer solutions clearly was heard here in Wisconsin. Barely hours after Mrs. Clinton introduced the line in Ohio, Mr. Obama had woven the words into his speech as a new punch line. (By contrast, he did not acknowledge the criticism from Mr. McCain, who said Mr. Obamas speeches had been singularly lacking in specifics.)
Here in Eau Claire on Saturday, as Mr. Obama spoke to more than 3,000 people, he devoted several minutes to addressing Mrs. Clintons criticism. The response, advisers said, was designed to crystallize support among those who had already made up their minds in the race and were choosing Mr. Obama.
Why else would a candidate repeat the attack lines used against him? Except, of course, it allowed him to address the criticism at campaign stops in Oshkosh, Green Bay and Eau Claire.
Part of what I think Senator Clinton doesnt seem to understand, Mr. Obama said, is that the way you get things done is not just having a bunch of bullet points and position papers. Every candidate has them.
Representative David R. Obey, Democrat of Wisconsin, is chairman of the House Appropriations Committee and respected on Capitol Hill as being among the small share of lawmakers intricately familiar with the federal budget. Mr. Obey said he was more than comfortable with Mr. Obamas grasp of substance.
If I werent, I wouldnt have endorsed him, Mr. Obey said Saturday. You cant make much headway on substance until you have somebody who can break through the rancorous atmosphere, build new alliances and cut through old barriers.
Still, even as Mr. Obama dismissed the criticism, there were adjustments under way in his strategy to maintain his advantages in Wisconsin.
After taking Valentines Day off the campaign trail, Mr. Obama also had intended to stay at home in Chicago on Sunday. With the prospect of the race tightening here, he suddenly added a campaign stop to his itinerary. He was heading to a town-hall-style meeting in Kaukauna, located in the Fox River Valley, a politically crucial area rich with Democratic and independent voters.
He was scheduled to deliver a speech. And take questions from voters.
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Isn't this interesting?
Hillary should have fun campaigning in all of those "insignificant" states - more than half the nation, by the time it's over...22 and counting right now - come November, don't you think?
