A 1,000 demonstrators gathered at North Carolina's capitol on Saturday to support Barack Obama's proposals for universal healthcare. In one of four rallies across the state, some carried placards stating: "If it's broke, fix it", and "Insurance profits bad for my health", while ironic "Billionaires against healthcare" strode the grounds in top hats, carrying fat cigars and glasses of champagne as they mocked their enemy. Across the street stood 50 counter-protesters with signs saying "Socialism is an Obamanation", and "Revolution is brewing: 2010", and "Not ready for Obama's communist America".

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When Barack Obama delivered the speech to the Democratic party convention in 2004 that launched his national career, he began by telling his own compelling personal story: "Let's face it, my presence on this stage is pretty unlikely. My father was a foreign student, born and raised in a small village in Kenya … While studying here, my father met my mother. She was born in a town on the other side of the world, in Kansas."