From the Albuquerque Journal:

Sen. Barack Obama, sitting down with about 30 working women in Albuquerque on Monday to talk about their challenges, heard an earful: They don’t make as much money as men, they can’t afford health insurance and it’s hard to juggle two jobs, not to mention also going to school.

Obama, on his presidential campaign’s so-called economic tour, told them he understands the plight of working women — he was raised by one and is married to one — and if elected president will work to change the country’s culture of expecting more from women and paying them less.

“We know that too many American daughters grow up facing barriers to their dreams, barriers that their male counterparts don’t have to deal with. The system is stacked against women,” the Democrat from Illinois said.

He spoke for about an hour, holding a cordless microphone in a casual gathering in the Flying Star restaurant chain’s warehouse with stacks of cans and bags of coffee beans as backdrops.

… The women gathered around Obama in Albuquerque … wanted answers about why Pell grants seem to be shrinking, about how to get access to affordable health care and how to break out of the working class by founding their own small businesses.

… Responding to a question from Satellite Coffee barista Simona Muniz, who said she also works cleaning houses and is trying to earn a college degree in education, Obama said he would expand Pell grants to lower-income students. He said he would also offer programs to help make college more affordable — a $4,000 income tax credit for college students who agree to do national or community service and free college tuition to students who commit to teach in schools in underserved communities.

Muniz, who came into the gathering supporting Obama, left even more impressed.

“I was really excited about his answers,” she said. “That’s a good man. What else can I say?”

From the Los Angeles Times:

Opening a Southwest campaign swing here at a baked-goods business, Illinois Sen. Obama criticized Arizona Sen. McCain for opposing a bill that would make it easier for women to sue for pay discrimination. "He suggested that the reason women don’t have equal pay isn’t discrimination on the job, it’s because they need more education and training," Obama told a few dozen women at the baking center of the Flying Star Cafe chain on Route 66. "Now that was wrong."

… The bill would essentially reverse a Supreme Court ruling last year that limited the amount of time a person can wait before filing a pay discrimination claim.

"I can’t think of any problem that’s more important than making sure that women are getting a square deal on the job," Obama said. "It’s a matter of equality. It’s a matter of fairness."

Obama, who today will campaign in Las Vegas and then raise money in Los Angeles, also called for expanding federal family and medical leave protections. He proposed extending the law to give workers time off to care for elderly parents, to attend children’s school activities, or to recover from rape or domestic violence. And he would require employers to allow workers seven paid sick days a year.

… Obama spoke to several dozen women at Flying Star Cafe after touring the kitchen, surveying mounds of butter used to make croissants and pies.

"Is this all low-fat?" the grinning candidate asked. No one responded.

From the Santa Fe New Mexican:

Usually, Sen. Barack Obama just answers the questions that audience members ask him at town hall meetings around the country.

But when Albuquerque resident Carrie Hummel told him during an event here Monday that she hasn’t been to a doctor in 10 years, he gently scolded her.

"That’s not good," he said during a stop at the headquarters of the Flying Star Cafe near downtown, where he spoke to about 35 women, all employees of the local chain.

Even though Hummel works two jobs, saves where she can and has her boyfriend ride a bike to use less gas, she cannot afford the health insurance her employer offers.

Hummel, 28, is just the person Obama say he wants to help.

"Health care puts such a burden on families," he said after Hummel asked what he would do to help someone like her. "Even if you’ve got health insurance, you’ve seen your co-pays and deductibles and premiums keep going up. And if you don’t have health care, you feel like you are always one illness or one accident way from bankruptcy," Obama said.

"We’ve got to reverse that."

From the Washington Post:

As Hillary Rodham Clinton prepared to return to life in the Senate and announced that she will campaign with Sen. Barack Obama in New Hampshire on Friday, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee began reaching out to female voters who had formed the backbone of Clinton’s support in the primary season.

The Obama-Clinton event will take place in the town of Unity, in the southwest corner of a swing state that Obama hopes to carry in November. The symbolism goes beyond the town’s name, as Clinton and Obama each won 107 votes there in the January primary.

… A day before returning to vote in the Senate, Clinton sent her supporters an e-mail on Monday with a videotaped statement …. Saying it was the beginning of the "next chapter of this historic journey," she recapped recent events. "We’ve blazed new trails, broken old barriers and transformed the political process forever," a smiling Clinton said, speaking directly into the camera with a vase of yellow roses in the background. "Together we made history, and I will continue to work toward our common goal of building an America that respects and embraces the potential of every last one of us. This goal is shared by our Democratic Party nominee, Senator Barack Obama, and I look forward to campaigning with him across this great country of ours."

From the Huffington Post:

The Obama campaign likewise has yet to open a state office or hire paid staff [in Arizona]. But Obama grassroots supporters are not waiting. Volunteers are mobilizing ahead of staff operations. In the last two weeks, they have organized fundraisers, voter registration events, canvassing, and phone banking across the state, and they are now beginning to collaborate with local candidates.

… Last Saturday Obama supporters teamed up with Democratic congressional candidate Bob Lord as part of the Obama campaign’s national Vote for Change program. They registered new voters in McCain’s home district, which Lord is running to represent.

… On Wednesday, more than 60 Obama volunteers gathered with local Democratic candidates at a coffee house in Mesa, Arizona, one of the country’s most conservative cities, to get organized for the general election.

A couple of locals organized the event using the social networking software on the Obama website. The aim, they said, was to marshal Clinton supporters, Independents, and even Republicans for local ground operations. They also wanted to introduce local down-ticket candidates who could benefit from the exposure of a coordinated campaign and who, once in office, would support the policies being advanced by Obama.

… More than half a dozen local Democratic leaders spoke to the crowd about volunteer opportunities with the national, state and local campaigns and about the campaigns’ coordinated efforts. Elizabeth Brown of the GemDems (Greater Eastern Maricopa County Democrats) talked about volunteer efforts and coordinated Democratic ground operations in conservative Eastern Maricopa County, where changing demographics are dramatically altering the political landscape.

A representative from the Harry Mitchell re-election campaign explained the value of the coordinated efforts. Each candidate, he said, brings in a number of voters and, working together, the larger pool of volunteers can cover more ground, knock on more doors, ring more phones, and link support up and down the ballot. It is a symbiotic relationship, he said. The celebrity of popular national candidates brings focus and energy to the state and local campaigns; and the state and local candidates provide support to enact shared policies. The value of collaboration cannot be overstated.

… "If you had told me one year ago that I would attend, much less organize, a political event, I never would have believed it," said one of the organizers. She asked for a show of hands. "How many have you have never attended a political event before?" Roughly one third of the crowd raised their hands. Yet, soon, the first-timers and the former-Clinton supporters alike were enthusiastically voicing the Obama grassroots rally chant: "Fired up! Ready to go!"