Oprah Winfrey is a talk show host, a national icon, and now a political cheerleader. As Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama fired up a Manchester crowd yesterday, Winfrey sat behind him, thrusting her fists into the air and shouting, "Yes! Yes!"

In front of an audience of 8,500 at the Verizon Wireless Arena, Winfrey extolled the Illinois senator as "a politician with an ear for eloquence and tongue for the unvarnished truth." The cheering crowd greeted Obama, his wife, Michelle Obama, and Winfrey with a sea of blue Obama '08 signs. Earlier in the day, Obama and Winfrey faced an audience of 29,000 in South Carolina.

"I love Oprah!" exclaimed Debbie Bolduc, a Republican from Manchester.

Even New Hampshire Gov. John Lynch, whose wife, Susan Lynch, endorsed Sen. Hillary Clinton, got into the spirit, calling Winfrey an inspiration and praising Obama for his service.

"I admire so much the fact that after college he went back to Chicago and dedicated himself to helping others," Lynch told the crowd. "I admire that after law school, when he could have gone to Wall Street, he dedicated his life to making a positive difference.

After an introduction by Michelle Obama, Winfrey took the stage to calls of "We love you Oprah."

"I can feel that you are ready for a change," Winfrey said, emphasizing Obama's campaign theme. "That's the reason I have, for the first time in my life, stepped out of my TV box and stood up for a candidate who I believe can change America."

Winfrey praised Obama's character and what she said was his ability to unify the country. "I know for sure he's going to lead

with compassion and conviction," she said, then echoed words Obama often uses on the campaign trail: "He understands with all our races, ethnicities, colors, languages, religions, diversities . . . he can bring us all together. . . . Not the red states and the blue states and the left and the right, but as the United States of America."

Winfrey said she rarely hosts politicians on her show. "My show is only one hour, and I don't have the skill to penetrate the veil of political rhetoric," she said. "But when you listen to Barack Obama, you don't have to cut through anything."

Winfrey called Obama the one candidate who can talk about racial and ethnic diversity. "He's not afraid to talk about what race means to this country; he understands it," she said. She quoted the Bible, calling Obama a man who "loves mercy and does justice."

And the woman who can single-handedly promote books to the best-seller list concluded by quoting a question from The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pitman: "Is he the one?" Winfrey's enthusiastic answer: "Yes, I believe he's the one!"

As Obama ran on stage to U2's "City of Blinding Lights," he hugged his wife and Winfrey.

"You know you have a good show when I'm the third best speaker," he said. Obama recalled the first time he appeared on her show, when an adviser told him, "If Oprah said kill all the husbands, blood would be running in the streets."

As Obama settled into a rousing version of his stump speech, contrasting what he calls a climate of fear with the "politics of hope," Winfrey sat behind him, cheering and gesturing. When he talked about the difficulties America faces, Winfrey clasped her hands and nodded. As Obama exclaimed, "I want to center the entire nation around a higher purpose, a higher destiny," the crowd broke into cheers of "O-ba-ma" and Winfrey raised her palms and moved her shoulders to the beat. When Obama said "the days of Washington lobbyists setting the agenda are over," Winfrey pantomimed cutting her throat. As he listed the rights he believes Americans should have - a job that pays a living wage, a family that doesn't go bankrupt during illness - Winfrey pointed her finger in the air and screamed, "Yes, yes."

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