Yesterday in La Crosse

Barack Obama arrives in La Crosse, 10 years ago

Published

6 years ago

October 10, 2018

“How’s it goin’, La Crosse?” That’s how presidential candidate Barack Obama greeted an outdoor audience between the Holiday Inn and the La Crosse Center on October 1st of 2008. Obama’s wife Michelle had campaigned in La Crosse earlier that year. The Illinois Democrat spent the night in La Crosse during the middle of Oktoberfest, and said to the crowd that he was sorry he missed it, only to be told that the festival had several more days to run. Obama spoke about wars, jobs, and Wall Street. It was his last campaign stop in Wisconsin before the 2008 election, more than a month later, but he still won the state. Obama did return to La Crosse after becoming president. He spoke in July of 2015 at UW-L, and talked about not being able to stick around for Riverfest. Obama’s campaign visit happened in 2008, yesterday in La Crosse.

Related Topics:barack obama holiday Inn oktoberfest

Brad Williams

A native of Prairie du Chien, Brad graduated from UW - La Crosse and has worked in radio news for more than 30 years, mostly in the La Crosse area. He regularly covers local courts and city and county government. Brad produces the features "Yesterday in La Crosse" and "What's Buried on Brad's Desk." He also writes the website "Triviazoids," which finds odd connections between events that happen on a certain date, and he writes and performs with the local comedy group Heart of La Crosse. Brad been featured on several national TV programs because of his memory skills.