Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Barack Obama and his opponent, former U.S. Ambassador Alan Keyes, met for the first time Sunday morning before the annual Indian Independence Day parade began in Rogers Park.
The two, shaking hands and smiling as hundreds huddled around them on the northwest corner of Devon and Western Avenues, politely sparred on a range of issues that Keyes has concentrated on since accepting the GOP’s invitation to join the ticket a week ago.
After telling Obama he looked forward to a vigorous campaign, Keyes chastised the Hyde Park state senator for backing away from a six-debate pledge he made when Jack Ryan was the GOP nominee.
“I guarantee we’re going to debate,” Obama said. “Because you’ve been talking a lot. You’ve been talking a lot.”
“I have the very bad habit of telling the truth,” Keyes said.
Later in the discussion, Obama criticized Keyes, a conservative Christian from Maryland, for trying to impose his religious beliefs on Illinois voters on issues such as gay marriage and abortion.
Since the beginning of his campaign, Keyes has constantly attacked Obama’s record on supporting abortion rights, which Keyes opposes.
“His entire premise is that people that don’t share his convictions are bad people,” Obama said after the meeting.
As the two parted, a number of spectators followed Obama, chanting: “Tell your daddy, tell your mama! O-Ba-Ma! O-Ba-Ma!”
By the time Chicago police dispersed the crowd on the street corner–almost 30 minutes after the parade’s scheduled 11:30 a.m. start–Keyes had to leave for a national television appearance on CNN, Keyes spokesman Bill Pascoe said.
Afterward, Obama reiterated that a reduced number of debates would inform voters on each candidate’s stance on various issues.
“We’re going to have three debates,” Obama said decidedly, “and by the time [they’re] over, we’ll have a clear picture on where we stand.”
Minutes before meeting Obama, Keyes held court on the street corner with his wife, Jocelyn, who is Indian, by his side, recalling how the crowd at Saturday’s Bud Billiken Day Parade booed him and yelled that he should return to Maryland. Keyes said he had proved there was nowhere in the state he would not go to face Obama.
Saying some spectators at the Bud Billiken parade behaved “in a manner that was reprehensible,” Keyes said, “even when we disagree, we are courteous.”
Obama arrived moments later.
“I’m here to say hello to my opponent,” Obama said to a spectator as he approached Keyes.
“Let’s go say hello.”
As the parade progressed down Devon toward California Avenue, Obama crisscrossed the street, greeting spectators with officials from the Federation of Indian Associations, who organized the event.
But when famed Indian film star Sanjay Dutt joined Obama, dozens of Indian and Pakistani fans spilled onto Devon, halting the procession for several minutes as security cleared the street.
“People are kind of overwhelmed meeting the politicians and the movie stars,” said Babu Patel, head of parade security.
Ashwin Kamath, 27, a project manager with the Chicago Board of Trade who immigrated to the U.S. last year with his wife, Renuka, 26, said the commotion Keyes and Obama caused at the parade was overwhelming.
“It’s become more of a political rally than an independence rally,” he said.
