Speaking to a crowd of 445 in the Plymouth County Historical Museum's gymnasium on Monday night, Illinois senator Barack Obama promised change if he were elected the next president -- change like bringing home the troops from Iraq in 16 months and tightening border security. [Click to enlarge]

Inspired by the chant of an early supporter, a 60-year-old city council woman from the tiny town of Greenwood, South Carolina, Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama asked the estimated 440 people congregated Monday night inside the Plymouth County Historical Museum's old Central Gym: "Fired up?"

The crowd replied in kind.

"Ready to go?" he asked the audience who repeated his sentiment.

"One voice can change a room!" Obama exclaimed. "One voice can change a state! One voice can change a nation! One voice can change the world!"

"Make your voices heard on Jan. 3!" was the plea that Obama made as he wound up the stump speech he gave during the Le Mars stop of his "Change We Can Believe In" campaign tour.

His stop in Plymouth County occurred a little more than three weeks away from the Iowa Caucus.

According to recent polls, Obama is slightly ahead of chief rivals Hillary Clinton and John Edwards in the Hawkeye State.

But if the Illinois senator was taking anything for granted, it was not apparent during his revival meeting-styled presentation.

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"I began my run for the presidency ten months ago," Obama informed the audience. "What has been inspirational to me has not only been the sizes of the crowds but also the makeup of the crowds. We've gotten young and old and everyone in between."

"You've got people of every racial group and every religious background," he continued. "You got Democrats and Independents and, yes, you even have some Republicans."

"I know this," Obama quipped, "because they whisper to me when I'm shaking their hands: 'Barack, I'm a Republican but I support you.'"

"I say thank you," he replied to the delight of those in attendance, "but why are you whispering?"

Obama told the supporters, political junkies, and undecided voters in the audience that the American people considered this election to be a defining moment in its history.

"Whatever happens," he said, "George W. Bush will not be on the ballot in November. The era of 'Scooter Libby' justice is over. As is the 'Brownie, You're Doing A Good Job' level of incompetence and so is the 'Karl Rove' brand of politics."

Obama then asked those crowded in the former high school gymnasium: "Alright, what are we for? You just can't be against something. What do we want?"

"We are at war," he explained. "You're working harder and harder just to keep pace. You've never paid more for health care, for college, for gas at the pump. It's getting harder to save and harder to retire."

"What DO we stand for?" Obama asked the audience.

This captured the imagination of Mark Friedrich.

The Le Mars man, along with his wife Sandy, both are committed Obama supporters.

"We first heard him speak at the Plymouth County Fairgrounds back in August," Friedrich remembered. "What struck us was that he was not your typical politician."

"He seemed genuine," echoed Sandy.

"What are we looking for?" Mark asked himself. "I guess we're looking for change."

Obama admitted that the future brings "great challenges" but also has "great opportunities."

"I'm hoping to fix not just the problems caused by George Bush," he allowed, "but also the problems that have been with us all along."

For instance: Health care reform.

According to Obama, powerful lobbyists and special interest groups have spent millions of dollars in order to keep reforms from happening.

"Their days of drowning out the voice of the American people are over," he said simply, "40 million of Americans are currently without health care. They will be by the end of my first term."

This caused Michelle Berkenpas to breathe a sigh of relief.

Attending the event with her nine-year-old son, the Kissinger Elementary School teacher and undecided voter said affordable health care was one of her chief concerns.

"As a parent," she explained, "that'll always be a big issue for me. But so is education. And so is the war."

Regarding international relations, Obama promised an end to war in Iraq "and we'll bring the troops home during the first 16 months of my administration."

A longtime opponent of the Iraqi conflict, he said "it was a war that should not have been fought."

But Obama stressed he would not pull out entirely from the region, contrasting himself with chief rival, New York Senator Hillary Clinton.

"I've had a disagreement with Senator Clinton about this," he noted. "I WILL talk to Iran. I WILL talk to Syria. They said: 'Oh no, that's naive. You can't do that.'"

"That was conventional Washington wisdom," Obama informed, shaking his head.

"I remember what John F. Kennedy once said," he continued. "'You should never negotiate out of fear. But you should never fear to negotiate.' Strong countries and strong leaders talk to their adversaries and tell them where America stands and try to resolve issues without the recourse of war. If we take that approach, our standing in the world will rise again."

Of special interest to Joseph Langel was the issue of immigration.

The Le Mars man met his girlfriend, Maren Rugsland, when both were students at the University of Sioux Falls.

"Maren's a citizen of Finland," Langel explains. "She's in this country on a student visa. Now that she's graduated, she may be kicked out of the country."

"Maren's played by the rules," he continues, "yet so many others come into this country illegally."

"It isn't fair," Langel said, shaking his head.

Obama's solution is to stop making the issue of illegal immigration "a political football."

"Both sides do it," he suggests. "We all know that."

Obama offers four answers to the problem.

Number one would be to improve border patrol and enforce the laws. Two would be clamp down on businesses "who take advantage of illegal aliens for cheap labor."

"Even if number one and number two happens," he reports, "we'll still have 12 million illegals, many with roots here and children here, in the country illegally. We've got to allow them a way to come out from the shadows."

Obama suggested the fourth answer is make those people "pay a big fine and go to the back of the line."

"There has to be some path to legalization for those people," he contends.

Obama reflects on his bid for the White House.

"I entered this race because I knew we had to change how politics is done in Washington," he explained. "Some people say they should be elected because they know how to play the game better. I suggest let's put an end to 'the game.'"

"I knew a 'conventional textbook election' just would not do," Obama continued. "Not this time and not this election."

"At our best," he said, "we are our nation that is led by principles and not by polls. What America needs is a higher purpose. And what America needs in a leader is someone in the White House who will be listening to you and fighting for every day!"