SALEM - At Barack Obama's second stop in his Oregon campaign journey, the senator from Illinois opened the town hall-style meeting with his "fierce urgency of now" message.

"We cannot wait," he said, referring to ending the war in Iraq, combating global warming and investing in America's youth.

Obama addressed a crowd of about 3,400 Friday afternoon at the Salem Armory Auditorium.

He said Americans have never paid more for gas or college and that health care costs for Americans have gone up more the 78 percent since George W. Bush took office.

The message of hope coupled with action hit home for at least one mid-valley resident.

Sonya Reichwein, a DMV worker from Albany, came to Salem Friday along with about 200 Service Employees International Union members.

Reichwein, the SEIU local 503 vice president, said she had decided to support Obama after seeing him speak last fall.

She attended the union's political conference in Washington, D.C., and listened to Obama's current opponent for the Democratic presidential nomination, Sen. Hillary Clinton, as well as former Sen. John Edwards, Sen. Chris Dodd and Gov. Bill Richardson.

Richardson, who announced his endorsement of Obama at the senator's Memorial Coliseum stop earlier in the day Friday, did not appear during the Salem rally.

Reichwein said before the program began Friday that Obama is a powerful speaker and she wanted to hear what he had to say.

"He just seems to be in touch with what's important, with reality," she said.

The things that are important to Reichwein, 40, include health care for all Americans and lower interest rates.

"I'm a state employee, so we have good health care," she said. "Without that, I don't see how they make things work."

She said her mother takes a medication that costs $300 a month.

"If they weren't retired military, I don't know what they would do," she said of her parents.

Reichwein said she believes Obama is the best candidate for working families.

"When I heard Hillary Clinton, and when I heard John Edwards, they were talking about what they could do for us. He was talking about what we can do together. It was much more personal."

Obama also appeared in Corvallis and Eugene Friday and planned to be in Medford today.

He and Hillary Clinton are the main presidential hopefuls on the ballot in the Oregon primary. Ballots will come out about May 3, and the last day to vote will be May 20.