Sen. Barack Obama's praises sung by Ben Affleck and celebrities

By Stone Martindale Oct 29, 2006, 20:08 GMT

LOS ANGELES -- Senator Barack Obama visited Los Angeles on Friday, showing why he has become a hot prospect for the beleaguered Democratic party to have a real run for the White House.

Obama addressed a crowd of more than 800 at the California African-American Museum on Friday.  Then actor Ben Affleck joined him to promote a state proposition at a news conference at the University of Southern California.

The Illinois Democrat delivered a speech in shirt sleeves at a campus rally with trailing Democratic gubernatorial candidate Phil Angelides, and up and comer statesman Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa of Los Angeles.

Obama is the son of a black father from Kenya and a white mother from Kansas, worlds and cultures apart, who electrified the 2004 Democratic National Convention in Boston as a speaker, and won his Senate race and in two short years catapulted from junior senator to Oprah approved presidential candidate and Time magazine's cover story.

Some think Obama's hat in the presidential ring may be too soon. "He needs some more seasoning, then there'll be time to run for president," said Quincy Beaver, 84, president of the Martin Luther King Jr. Democratic Club.

Student throngs besieged Obama on the USC campus, wearing Democratic buttons. They snapped photos of him and Affleck as they appeared to speak on behalf of California Proposition 87, the Clean Alternative Energy Act.

Obama reminded the audience that the proposition is opposed by oil companies. And he spoke of the overdependence on foreign oil. "We're sending $800 million a day to some of the most hostile nations and effectively funding both sides in the war on terror."

"It was nice to have Ben Affleck there," said Alexander Shams, a 16-year-old freshman, "but Barack Obama was the star."