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http://www.newsmax.com/insidecover/obama_basketball_challenge/2008/04/02/85012.html
Obama to Play Ball in Indiana
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
INDIANAPOLIS -- Barack Obama will play three-on-three with a former Indiana
University basketball star and four students, tapping the state's rich
basketball tradition to help get out the vote for next month's primary.
An 18-year-old high school student who registers 20 people to vote will
choose two students to help challenge the Democratic presidential candidate
on the court, said Kevin Griffis, a spokesman for Obama's campaign in
Indiana. If the winning student decides not to play, he or she can choose
all three players.
Obama's team will include Calbert Cheaney, a former NBA player and NCAA
basketball player of the year, and a college student who registers 30 new
voters.
"We just were looking for a way to engage young people," Griffis said.
"There simply is no better state to do this sort of thing than Indiana,
where basketball is important to so many communities across the state."
Obama was a member of Hawaii's championship high school basketball team in
1979; the Illinois senator grew up on the island state. A recent YouTube
video clip shows him casually sinking a three-point shot at a school gym in
South Carolina during a visit to promote his education policies.
Cheaney, an Evansville, Ind., native who played for Indiana University and
most recently was with the NBA's Golden State Warriors, said he has
supported Obama from the "get-go."
"I'm just one of those guys that think he could be the man to change
everything for the better," Cheaney said.
The game would be held at the winning 18-year-old's high school on a date to
be determined, and likely be played according to standard three-on-three
rules, in which the first team to reach 11 points wins, Obama's campaign
said.
The contest is the latest effort by Obama and rival Sen. Hillary Rodham
Clinton to reach out to voters before Indiana's primary May 6, where 72
delegates are at stake. A Rushville woman won a dinner with Obama in an
online donor initiative, and two Indiana women were chosen to follow Clinton
for a day during a swing through the state last week.
Obama to Play Ball in Indiana
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
INDIANAPOLIS -- Barack Obama will play three-on-three with a former Indiana
University basketball star and four students, tapping the state's rich
basketball tradition to help get out the vote for next month's primary.
An 18-year-old high school student who registers 20 people to vote will
choose two students to help challenge the Democratic presidential candidate
on the court, said Kevin Griffis, a spokesman for Obama's campaign in
Indiana. If the winning student decides not to play, he or she can choose
all three players.
Obama's team will include Calbert Cheaney, a former NBA player and NCAA
basketball player of the year, and a college student who registers 30 new
voters.
"We just were looking for a way to engage young people," Griffis said.
"There simply is no better state to do this sort of thing than Indiana,
where basketball is important to so many communities across the state."
Obama was a member of Hawaii's championship high school basketball team in
1979; the Illinois senator grew up on the island state. A recent YouTube
video clip shows him casually sinking a three-point shot at a school gym in
South Carolina during a visit to promote his education policies.
Cheaney, an Evansville, Ind., native who played for Indiana University and
most recently was with the NBA's Golden State Warriors, said he has
supported Obama from the "get-go."
"I'm just one of those guys that think he could be the man to change
everything for the better," Cheaney said.
The game would be held at the winning 18-year-old's high school on a date to
be determined, and likely be played according to standard three-on-three
rules, in which the first team to reach 11 points wins, Obama's campaign
said.
The contest is the latest effort by Obama and rival Sen. Hillary Rodham
Clinton to reach out to voters before Indiana's primary May 6, where 72
delegates are at stake. A Rushville woman won a dinner with Obama in an
online donor initiative, and two Indiana women were chosen to follow Clinton
for a day during a swing through the state last week.