A Show-Me Saturday night

(AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- "It's Saturday night, right?" As in, what are all of you doing here?

But Michelle Obama knew the answer to her question. They were here on a high school football field in Springfield last night -- 35,000 to 40,000 people, according to a school official's count -- hoping to propel her husband to victory in Missouri on Tuesday. That's a lot of people given the area's Republican inclinations; President Bush won more than 62 percent of the vote in surrounding Greene County in 2004.

"Look at this," he said, making a play on Missouri's nickname, the Show-Me State. "You're showing me something tonight. You're showing the nation something tonight here in Missouri."

Obama's campaign believes Missouri is on that growing list of states it thinks it can flip to blue this year, and last night he sought to cater specifically to natives. A giant Missouri flag hung where an American flag usually does. Senator Claire McCaskill, who warmed up the crowd, made sure to say that Obama would protect Second Amendment rights, a big deal down here in southern Missouri. And Obama decided to make himself at home by pronouncing Missouri like some locals do (MIZZ-UR-AH).

He asked everyone to bring friends, family, and coworkers to the polls.

"It's going to come down to who wants it more," he said. "I need you to be my ambassadors. I need you to make the case. I need you to close the deal."

Obama also repeated a line that has been a source of puzzlement among the reporters traveling with him. Arguing that John McCain knows he can't win if he talks about the economy, Obama said, "That's why McCain is spending these last weeks calling me every name but a child of God."

It's possible this is another instance of Obama borrowing a pithy line from his pal Deval Patrick, the Massachusetts governor, who used to say the same thing when he was under attack in his 2006 gubernatorial bid. Here's Patrick in a Sept. 7, 2006 primary debate: "By the time this is over, I will be called everything but a child of God. It's happening already in the primary, for goodness sake. That is part of the politics as usual and frankly, that is why so many people check out."