For Obama, support from a kindred political spirit

When Governor Deval Patrick sent an e-mail to supporters last week announcing his endorsement of Senator Barack Obama of Illinois for president, he got 2,000 messages back offering help.

"That's what he needs," Patrick said in an interview yesterday. "That's what we want to help him bring to New Hampshire. That's what we want to try to inspire in Iowa and elsewhere by example."

That inspiration began last night as Patrick presided over a massive rally for Obama on Boston Common. The event was the culmination of a long courtship of Patrick's endorsement by both Obama, a close friend and kindred political spirit, and Senator Hillary Clinton of New York, whom Patrick knew even before he worked for her husband's administration.

At the rally, which Obama's campaign said drew 9,500 people, Patrick offered a forceful argument for Obama, casting the presidential election as one of historic proportions in which merely a change in party would be insufficient.

"We need a leader who is ready to call in our times for our service, and our sacrifice," Patrick said. "You see, this election is not just about who we want. It's about who we are. I want a president who understands that. I want Barack Obama."

The rally was the latest in a series of huge campaign events for Obama around the country, and it was something of a role reversal for the two men: In the heat of last year's governor's race, Obama headlined several large events for Patrick in Boston.

"I am grateful to Deval, because not only has he stood by me through thick and through thin, but also because he is somebody who has consistently stood for the kinds of politics that I believe in and you believe in and America believes in - the kind of politics that begins with the grass roots," Obama said.

Last night's event underscored the potential value of Patrick's support. Before Patrick and Obama spoke, field workers on Obama's campaign were recruiting people from the crowd to canvass in New Hampshire, even as early as this weekend. And in a measure of Obama's organizational strength, his Boston-area supporters have been receiving text messages, e-mails, and personal phone calls over the past several days urging them to come to the rally.

"I like his energy, I like his lack of being jaded," said Rebecca Devaney, a 28-year-old from Haverhill who works at a media company and says she is still deciding whom to support.

In the interview, Patrick said he sees parallels between Obama's candidacy and his own run for governor. Both he and Obama, Patrick said, faced conventional wisdom that said they could not win.

Patrick said that his specific role in Obama's campaign had not been defined, but that he would campaign as aggressively as he could. He said he recognized, however, that he could not help at the expense of his role as governor.

"I've got a job to do, and I and the rest of the Commonwealth, I think, are sensitive to my paying attention to that job first and foremost," he said.

Patrick insisted that backing Obama was not a choice against Clinton, whose husband tapped him in the 1990s to lead the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division.

"I love her. I think she's great. I think she's run a terrific campaign," Patrick said. "If she's the nominee, I'll work my - I'll work hard for her, and proudly."

He continued, "The decision is not without complexity. But the times are so unique. The challenges are so big."

Just as members of the "Greatest Generation" responded to epic challenges, Patrick said, so, too, must the next president.

"They responded to a call for service and sacrifice, and I think the depth and complexity of our challenges demands that again," he said. "And I think Barack is uniquely capable of making that claim."

Patrick also said it made little sense for Obama to go after Clinton more aggressively, as some supporters and analysts have said he needs to do.

"There's no point bloodying each other up," he said. "Part of the appeal of his campaign and his candidacy is that he is a different kind of candidate and not making all the conventional moves and following all the conventional advice."

Scott Helman can be reached at shelman@globe.com.