"He is like a key. He's going to unlock a door . . ."

Jody Klein of Centralia, Wash., about two hours-drive south of Seattle, was near tears as she recounted her Obama experience. At age 20, she'll vote in a presidential election for the first time.

"There's just this amazing excitement that's here," she said. "When he was talking about hope, it actually almost made me cry. Like it really made sense, like, for the first, like, whoa … how important a time this is for us. It was really exciting."

[...]

Seattleite Wendy Malabuyo, a 31-year-old engineer, said she couldn't name any specific accomplishments that qualified Obama to be president but pointed to his career of "serving the underserved" in Chicago after graduation from Harvard.

"He inspires me. I can't even say. … He gives me so much hope," Malabuyo said. "It makes me feel like something will actually change. So I'm speechless. I love him. I love everything he stands for. I love everything that he can bring to this country. And we just need to get him there."

John Cruce, 64, who worked for 30 years at the State Department in Washington, D.C., managing records, said he hasn't seen a political leader like Obama come along since President Kennedy. [...]

Asked what the senator has accomplished that makes him fit to become president, Cruce said: "Well, I think the biggest thing is he is like a key. He's going to unlock a door that's going to allow us now to pass and finally be able to do some things we would like to do. There are not going to be as many barriers as there have in the past."

Obama Rocks Seattle World Net Daily November 9, 2008.