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AP: Woman Obama Hugged at Town Hall Was His Volunteer

By Philip Klein on 7.2.09 @ 11:05AM

The AP is reporting that Debby Smith, the woman who President Obama hugged during yesterday's town hall meeting and promised to help after she described her difficulties getting treatment for a tumor, "is a volunteer for Organizing for America, Obama's political operation within the Democratic National Committee" who "obtained her ticket through the White House."

One can only imagine what the press would have to say if the Bush White House had done something as cynical.

To sum up, during the session, Obama received questions from an advocate of a socialized, or single-payer health care, a representative of the liberal activist group Health Care for Americans Now, a member of the Service Employees International Union who asked what she could do to help, and one of his own volunteers.

I wrote about the town hall for the main site. Thanks to Matt Vadum for pointing out the AP article in comments.