On Thursday, Feb 7, 2008 the Presidential Circus came to town. For Omaha, Nebraska this was a circus not seen since Bobby Kennedy in 1968. Having never been to one of these types of circuses, my wife and I decided to go and see Barack Obama’s version.

I should warn you in advance—I don’t watch the circus the way most people do. Being the management professional I am, I watch for how the show is put on as much as watching the show itself. If I don’t like what’s going on in the active rings, then I watch how the crew tears down and resets the inactive ring for the next act. It’s all in keeping with my admiration for the most valuable skill I got from my military training—the backwards planning process.

The first view of the circus came as we exited the freeway to get to Omaha’s Civic Center auditorium. Understand that we arrived about 2:45, the doors were to open at 3:30 and Obama was supposed to speak about 4:30 after entertainment provided by a local Omaha band gone national.

We ran headlong into a vehicular and pedestrian traffic jam. The cops were already there directing traffic. So were the anti-abortion advocates with their large signs and exhortations to the people standing in line. They even had a truck with full scale pictures of aborted fetuses driving around.

The line of people started at the Auditorium’s front door, went all the down the steps to the sidewalk and then split going around either side of the building. By the time we parked and joined the line, we were on the back side of the auditorium. There we were subjected to people selling buttons and other Obama gear. We were also subjected to more anti-abortionists. One called attention to his aborted fetus sign by repeating, “This is what health care looks like under Obama.” To which someone around me replied, “This is what health care looks like in Iraq.”

The doors did indeed open at 3:30 and the line moved swiftly. We went in and found seats, but a lot of people preferred to stand in front of the stage. The organization was good with police, fire and EMT personnel, as well as ushers in good numbers.

Music was being played on the public address system. I was curious as to what music a candidate would play to appeal to a large and diverse crowd to keep it from becoming restive. What I heard was a blend of old and new, rock n’ roll, country, disco and Motown soul and featuring artists like Elvis Presley, Sara Evans, and Stevie Wonder. We were also appreciative that the volume the music played at allowed people to talk to one another without shouting.

After some delay (I presume Obama was late getting to Omaha) we were treated to the local band’s performance, talks by local dignitaries and an introduction of Obama by Iowa Governor Chet Culver. The focus of these early talks (and the reason Obama made the effort to come to Omaha) was the Democratic Caucus being held Saturday, February 9. This is a first ever for Nebraska and Nebraskans are ecstatic to have a voice early in the process.

For those who criticize the Democratic Party’s nomination process in comparison to the Republicans, I offer this. Republicans now have a front runner. For them, they must have a feeling somewhat akin to a child on Christmas morning who has torn through all their wrapped packages and now there are no longer packages to open.

For Democrats, the longer the process goes on and the more people who are allowed to have a voice in the final outcome, the more the process takes on the appeal of a Saturday morning movie serial series and the more interest is generated in the candidates. For Democrats, I don’t think this is a divisive process. It is an invigorating one.

One hint of that came in Obama’s speech. Obama gave his standard speech, which you can hear a lot of by subscribing to his web site and watching the videos. (I recommend voters subscribe to several of the candidates who interest them and contrast what each have to say. Of course, with Romney’s suspension yesterday, voters are down to 4 active sites that matter.) The hint came by virtue of the loudest applause Obama got. His biggest reaction came from noting that neither George W. Bush nor Dick Cheney would be on the ballot in November. This said to me that Democrats are determined not to see another Republican start a new term in the White House in January, 2009.

As I have said here in this forum many times, I believe Democrats best chance of achieving that goal is to nominate Obama.

As to Obama’s speech, I saw several characteristics of how he makes his points that I think add to his appeal. First, Obama defines himself and his positions well. He will state a precept he believes in. Then he defends that precept and precludes being criticized for that precept by giving an example of the limits he will apply to that precept. For example, on education (I’m paraphrasing here) he states his belief in testing as a necessary measure of learning and achievement. At the same time, Obama asserts that education should be more than just teaching the achievement test. Education should cause people to use the basic educational skills with subjects like music, literature, poetry and the like.

Second, he takes the opportunity to address his critics. One of the keys to successful selling is this. If you know you’re going to get an objection, then bring up that objection yourself and answer it on your terms before your buyer has a chance to bring it up. Doing so enhances your credibility (most of us realize that none of us is perfect) and lowers resistance to actually making the sale.

Third, while sitting and waiting for him to appear, I had an opportunity to re-read parts of The Audacity of Hope. I was struck again by how close his perspectives on National Defense are to my own. I would still like to see some refinements, but he is much closer than the other candidates. I was particularly struck by his commentary on the polar arguments of the extreme right and extreme left in this area and how both those arguments lack appeal to the centrist voter. I will have my own commentary on that soon.

If I have a criticism, it is a criticism of a weakness I see in every political candidate at every level. There is a certain type of undecided voter whose indecision has nothing to do with the standard demographics of gender, ethnic or socio-economic group. None of these candidates address that type of undecided voter’s needs. The candidate who does discover the key to those voters may well put themselves over the top.