By Denise Ross

More than a dozen could-be Barack Obama faithful gathered Saturday afternoon at the Rapid City Public Library to partake in the senator’s nationwide webcast. Technology, cruel mistress that she is, decided she wasn’t in the mood.

At Rapid City’s end, the webcast was choppy and, well, unwatchable. But that didn’t detract from the sense that there’s a reason Hillary’s worried about this guy. While the technical glitches were addressed, event organizers played Obama’s campaign DVD.

The crowd waits while the A/V issues get addressed. The kid in the foreground with the backwards cap (who I know from around town as Kyler - sorry I don’t have his last name) stressed when I asked about party affiliation that he’s no Democrat. “I’m an independent,” he said in a tone that cannot translate in print.

Longtime and high profile SD Dem Bill Walsh is firmly onboard the Obama bandwagon.

Walsh met Obama recently in Denver and was won over.

“He’s a cross between George McGovern’s stateliness and Bobby Kennedy’s self-effacing humor,” Walsh said.

Walsh, who has had more than a passing acquaintance with both McGovern and Kennedy, ought to know that intangible quality of potential greatness when he sees it. (After watching Obama’s DVD and parts of his webcast, I might add the charisma of Ronald Reagan to Walsh’s list.)

Walsh praised Obama’s world travels, including the Far East and Africa, and even, the former Catholic priest said, his “Muslim roots.” (Obama’s DVD made it abundantly clear that he is now a Christian.)

“We’re sort of looked upon as the ugly Americans,” Walsh said. “He can change that.”

The webcast seemed to be working fine on the Mac, which wasn’t the computer that was hooked up to the projector. (Mac users, celebrate your superiority now.)

It looked like all systems go right up until the webcast began.

Here’s a bit of what I did get from the webcast, as Obama addressed an Iowa crowd:

The nation is caught up in “a war that should never have been authorized.”

“People are disconnected from their government.”

Special interests are too powerful. Take, for example, that “drug lobbyists are writing bills and telling us (Congress) what’s possible.”

I haven’t read his book, but it’s a safe bet that those themes are expanded upon there.

SD Sen. Tom Katus, D-Rapid City, attended, too. When both Walsh and I asked him if he was glad to be done with his first legislative session, he said yes, but I could tell he didn’t really mean it. I think he loves it.

Speaking of George McGovern, his grandson Matt McGovern also was in attendance.

Here’s my analysis.

Obama has an impressive resume, and if you think it’s limited to his two-year stint in the US Senate, go snatch your homework from your dog’s jowls. Any Harvard Law grad who opts for community organizing on Chicago’s southside has street cred that Hillary will never be able to match. John McCain’s time as a prisoner of war obviously out-does community organizing on the intense experience chart, and, yeah, John Edwards worked college summers at dirty jobs. But I can’t think of any other candidate with that down-at-street-level authenticity of grassroots political action in their background.

There’s more to Obama’s resume, which you can find elsewhere, but my point is that the rap that he lacks experience - read that Beltway experience - won’t stick with the average voter. He’s got plenty of real-life experience and accomplishments.

What his wife calls “his message of hope” is delivered in clear, concise and the-opposite-of-condescending language and hits the bulls eye of what most Americans dislike about the political system. He talks about a “failure of leadership” and “the smallness or our politics.” That he’s attracting independents like Kyler speaks to the success of that message; that he’s already got a Dem like Bill Walsh on board speaks to his facility with the modern political machinery.

And he’s got quite an inclusive donation pitch: “It’s important for you to own a piece of this campaign.” That’s almost as good as NPR.

I predict Obama’s total package will simply be more appealing to voters than will Hillary’s. I don’t know about Edwards.

As the ‘08 pack of presidential hopefuls keeps sorting itself out, I look for Obama to stay at or near the front of the pack. His biggest problem might be overexposure.

NOTE: I read a notice of this Obama meeting in the paper. Send me a note at denise@hoghouseblog.com if you’re interested in coverage of other local campaign events, presidential or otherwise.

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