Senator Barack Obama and his family spent the Fourth of July in Butte, Montana, a state the senator hopes to win in November despite its history of turning red in presidential elections (while the state has two Democratic U.S. Senators, it has preferred the Democratic candidate just twice in 50 years).

Yesterday Obama told reporters, “I’m a firm believer that 90% of success is showing up, and Democrats haven’t been showing up in these places.” His presence in Montana might be working - just yesterday a Rasmussen poll showed Obama with 48% of the Montana vote, over McCain’s 43% - above the margin of error.

The Obamas spent the night at a Holiday Inn Express in Butte, and then headed downtown to watch a the city’s Independence Day parade. As the Obama family walked into the middle of one of the parade’s major intersections, the crowd sang Happy Birthday to Malia Obama, who celebrated her 10th birthday today. When the senator took the microphone to greet parade goers, he thanked them for the song and joked, “I finally told her the truth that all the fireworks and stuff are not just for her.”

Obama took a few minutes to address the assembled crowd before the parade began to wish Butte a happy Fourth of July. “On this day, when we celebrate this great nation of ours, it’s worth reminding ourselves that what makes this country great is not the size of our military or the size of our economy or the big buildings that we have. What makes it great is its people, and all of you are part of what I celebrate when I think about America,” he said.

The candidate and his family then took a seat in the bleachers, surrounded by Montanans (and his Secret Service entourage, of course) and watched in a good hour and a half of the parade where local groups waved as they passed on floats, cars, and by foot. When a flatbed inched by carrying a big sign reading, “Republicans Support Family Business” and people carrying McCain signs, the crowd replied by chanting, “Obama! Obama! Obama!” The candidate himself smiled and waved.

Noting that it was the first time he as a candidate had watched and not marched in a parade, Obama explained with a laugh, “The problem is that if we started walking, Secret Service was gonna have to have everybody put their hands up the whole parade route and we decided that wasn’t gonna be much fun for everybody.”

Later the campaign hosted a picnic for about 1500 in a field with the snowcapped Highland Mountains in the distance. Obama urged the crowd to declare our independence from special interests, our dependency on foreign oil, an under-serving school system, and from Bush’s foreign policy. “Yes we will lead militarily and we will hunt down terrorists, but we will also lead in caring for the environment and making sure that we’re stopping global warming; we’re also going to lead in creating the new technologies that ensure energy independence; we’re also going to lead in helping other countries create the kinds of education systems that give them opportunity; we’re also going to lead in upholding human rights and civil rights, and that’s why it’s right that we restore habeas corpus and we close Guantanamo. We send a message to the world that we stand for something here even when we’re threatened, even when it’s hard,” he said.

With flags billowing in the background, the candidate, whose patriotism has been challenged during the course of his 17 month-long candidacy told voters, “I know that there is no other country on earth where I could be standing before you, as somebody who could potentially be the next president of the United States of America.”

Barack Obama visited Crow Agency in Montana today, home of the Crow Nation tribe, where he was warmly received by several thousand Native Americans from across the region. The Democratic frontrunner was even adopted by the tribe and given a Native American name - Awe Kooda bilaxpak Kuuxshsish, which translates to “One who helps people throughout the land.”

Along with the honor, Obama received honorary parents, Sonny and Mary Black Eagle, who escorted Obama to the stage. While he chose not to pronounce his given name, he did note his parents’ surname. “I like my new name Barack Black Eagle. I mean that’s a good name,” he said. The tribe adopts dignitaries who have visited the reservation, including the state’s governor and U.S. Senator Jon Tester

Obama called the quick 12-minute speech one of the most important of his campaign and promised to appoint an American Indian policy advisor, host an annual summit on Native American issues, end a century of mistrust between the government and Native Americans, and honor treaties.”I understand the tragic history between the United States and tribal nations. Our government has not always been honest or truthful in our dealings and that’s history that we have to acknowledge if we are going to move forward in a fair and honest way,” he said.

The candidate also identified with the Native Americans. “I know what it’s like to not always have been respected or to have been ignored and I know what it’s like to struggle and that’s how I think many of you understand what’s happened here on the reservation, that that a lot of times you have been forgotten just like African-Americans have been forgotten or other groups in this country have been forgotten and because I have that experience. I want you to know that I will never forget you,” he confided.

“We will never be able to undo the wrongs that were committed against Native Americans, but what we can do is make sure that we have a president who’s committed to doing what’s right with Native Americans, being a full partners, respecting, honoring, working with you. That’s the commitment that I’m making to you and since now I’m a member of the family, you know that I won’t break my commitment,” he said as the crowd cheered.

Barack Obama hit his 48th state today with campaign stops in Montana (this is a personal count for Obama and does not reflect the number of states where he’s campaigned).

“This is some pretty country,” Obama observed. “I think I need to learn fly fishing. Get some waders, go out there, clear my head. We may have to come back to Missoula. There’s no doubt about it,” he said to about 8,000 people at the University of Montana at Missoula.

Both Democrats are campaigning in “Big Sky Country” today, and both Obama and Senator Clinton will speak at tonight’s Mansfield-Metcalf dinner in Butte. The candidates are fighting for each of the state’s 16 pledged delegates, up for grabs in the state’s primary on June 3rd. Montana, a rural red state with a largely caucasian populace, is the kind of state where Barack Obama has done well in past primaries, where his ability to appeal to Independent voters has played well in similar states.

“I didn’t know if it was going to work – me coming out here – black guy, funny name, you know, big ears,” he said with a smile. “What we knew was if we were going to be able to compete, it would have to be a grassroots movement that people would have to get organized and make it happen, and that’s what’s happened, that’s why we’ve won twice as many states as the other candidate in this race,” he said, referencing Senator Clinton, who has done well in more traditional Democratic states like California and New York and in states where there is a large working class population like Ohio.

Even though both candidates are duking it out for delegates in what has become a long primary for the Democrats, Obama predicted the party will unify prior to the Democratic convention in August.

“Listen, I admire Sen. Clinton – she is a tenacious candidate, she is a terrific senator and so we are gonna be unified by the time we get to Denver in August. We will be unified,” he said. “My difference with Sen Clinton is not on policy for the most part, it’s that I don’t think she understands how profoundly we have to change Washington in order to bring about the changes that need to happen,” he observed. But even Clinton, Obama said, is better than McCain.

“Whatever differences I have with Senator Clinton, they pale in comparison with the differences I have with John McCain,” Obama said to cheers. “He wants to continue this war in Iraq maybe for another 100 years; he wants to perpetuate the same tax breaks for the wealthy that he himself called irresponsible when George Bush first passed them.”