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On Conference Call, Obama Says He Still Needs The Help Of Shut-Out Supporters

President Obama sounded a bit subdued when he called into a conference call for supporters shut-out of his acceptance speech today.

"My main message is we can't let a little thunder and lightening stop us," he said. "We're gonna have to roll with it."

Yesterday, the campaign announced that because of the threat of thunderstorms, they were moving Obama's acceptance speech from the Bank of America Stadium, which holds more than 65,000 people to the Time Warner Cable Arena, a much smaller venue.

Obama encouraged supporters to attend watch parties and told them that he still needs their support, because this is going to be a "close election."

"I really need your help guys," he said. "Nothing is more powerful than the work that you guys do. Nothing is more powerful than your voices calling for change."

As we told you yesterday, the campaign blamed the weather but Republicans claimed they made the change because they could fill the arena.

Obama took on that accusation head on.

"You've also shown there's plenty of enthusiasm," he said. That will not be the issue in this campaign, he added.

Obama's campaign manager encouraged supporters to go to watch parties, which are listed on a campaign website.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Eyder Peralta is NPR's East Africa correspondent based in Nairobi, Kenya.