The latest attack on Barack Obama from his main rival, Hillary Clinton, is that he is all talk - and talk doesn’t necessarily produce results. He may be able to deliver a good speech, but speeches don’t put food on the table. Obama has responded to this latest criticism in recent speeches, but at tonight’s Wisconsin State Democratic Founder’s Day Dinner, he reacted more forcefully and with greater passion than he has to date.

“The most important thing we can do right now is to reengage the American people in the process of governance. To get them excited and interested again in what works and what can work in our government, to make politics cool again and important again and relevant again. Don’t tell me words don’t matter,” he said, voice rising.

To hammer it home, Obama then evoked some of the most memorable lines from our nation’s greatest speeches to make the point that words can, in fact, matter and make a difference. “‘I have a dream!’ Just words. ‘We hold these truths to be self evident that all me are created equal.’ Just words. ‘We have nothing to fear but fear itself.’ Just words. Just speeches,” he said.

“It’s true that speeches don’t solve all problems, but what is also true is if we cannot inspire the country to believe again, then it doesn’t matter how many policies and plans we have, and that is why I am running for president of the United States of America, and that is why we just won 8 elections straight, because the American people want to believe in change again. Don’t tell me words don’t matter!”

It’s unclear if the candidate thinks his words are on par with those above spoken by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Abraham Lincoln, and FDR, but yesterday at a rally in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, Obama did agree that his oratory skills are above average.

“It’s true I give a good speech. What can I do? Nothing wrong with that,” he admitted. “But understand the reason why the ability to motivate people and inspire people is important because the problems we face right now are not technical…..The question is who can bring Democrats, Independents, and Republicans into a working majority to bring about change. That’s what I offer that [Senator Clinton] can’t do.”

The Obama is set to hold a conference call in the next few minutes to discuss what it sees as at least a partial victory here in Nevada - they are claiming that while Hillary won 12 delegates, Senator Obama won 13. In an email advising the conference call, the campaign quotes Clinton Communications Director Howard Wolfson from a 1/16/08 Washington Post story, during which Wolfson said, “This is a race for delegates. It is not a battle for individual states. As David knows, we are well past the time when any state will have a disproportionate influence on the nominating process.”

Here is the statement sent by the Obama campaign to reporters on the Nevada caucus.

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Statement from Barack Obama:

“We’re proud of the campaign we ran in Nevada. We came from over twenty-five points behind to win more national convention delegates than Hillary Clinton because we performed well all across the state, including rural areas where Democrats have traditionally struggled. The reason is because tens of thousands of Nevadans came out to say that they’re tired of business-as-usual in Washington and ready for a President who can bring this country together, take on the lobbyists and special interests, and end the politics of saying and doing whatever it takes to win an election. It is the kind of politics that feeds our cynicism and distracts us from taking on the real challenges facing America – an economy that’s left working families struggling, a broken health care system, and a war in Iraq that must end.

“We ran an honest, uplifting campaign in Nevada that focused on the real problems Americans are facing, a campaign that appealed to people’s hopes instead of their fears. That’s the campaign we’ll take to South Carolina and across America in the weeks to come, and that’s how we will truly bring about the change this country is hungry for.”

Statement from Obama campaign manager David Plouffe

“We currently have reports of over 200 separate incidents of trouble at caucus sites, including doors being closed up to thirty minutes early, registration forms running out so people were turned away, and ID being requested and checked in a non-uniform fashion. This is in addition to the Clinton campaign’s efforts to confuse voters and call into question the at-large caucus sites which clearly had an affect on turnout at these locations. These kinds of Clinton campaign tactics were part of an entire week’s worth of false, divisive, attacks designed to mislead caucus-goers and discredit the caucus itself.

“We will investigate all of these thoroughly and would encourage anyone who had concern about actions at the caucus sites to call (866) 675-2008.”