Gloria Craven, a former Pillowtex worker who lost her job when the company went bankrupt in 2003, introduced Sen. Barack Obama to the crowd gathered at his Raleigh 'town hall' campaign stop Tuesday.

Craven talked about the unrealistic promises made to mill workers who lost their jobs. Offers of college and training for new careers did not represent real opportunities for older employees who grew up expecting to spend their entire working lives in mills and could barely read and write, she said.

Craven attended community college with help from a federal program that helps workers who lose their jobs because of increased imports. She said she graduated in May 2006, but cannot work as a respiratory therapist because of health problems related to her years standing on concrete floors.

"We need someone who will not send our jobs overseas anymore," Craven said told the crowd. "We've been heading in the wrong direction. My hope is he'll be the one to turn it all around."

She and her husband, Jacob, live on his Social Security benefits and their two monthly pensions of $111 and $104.

People who pay close attention to campaign ads might have recognized the 56-year-old Eden resident. She has appeared in ads for U.S. Rep. Brad Miller and U.S. Senate candidate Kay Hagan.

She wasn't prepared for a call to introduce Obama, though. Craven said when someone from Raleigh called her Sunday night, she didn't know who it was and hung up.

They called back. Craven got another call a noon Monday with the message that Obama wanted to hear her story.

Craven spent a few minutes with Obama before introducing him. She said he talked mostly to her grandson, Zane Hazzard, 11, about his upcoming year at school.

Barack Obama used his visit to Raleigh this evening to highlight his solutions to the country's ailing economy.

Obama urged the audience at the N.C. State Fairgrounds to reject John McCain's economic stratagies, which Obama described as an extension of President Bush's policies, reports Lynn Bonner.

"There's something wrong in the direction that we're heading in right now," Obama said.

Obama was introduced to the crowd of about 2,000 by Gloria Craven, a former millworker from Eden who lost her job when Pillowtex went bankrupt.

Obama said the United States needs to develop alternative fuels that will relieve the country's dependency on foreign oil and create jobs in North Carolina and across the country.

During the event's "town hall" format, Obama was asked about parenting in the African-American community.

Obama responded that to reduce the number of African-American men in jails and prison, the country needs to make sure that its criminal justice system is fair.

But he also said that "parents have to parent."

"Government can't do it all," he said.

UNITE HERE endorsed Richard Moore today.

At a press conference in his Raleigh headquarters, the state chapter of the labor group announced its endorsement of the Democratic gubernatorial candidate.

UNITE HERE was formed recently by the merger of Unite and the Union of Hotel and Restaurant Employees. It formerly represented workers from the closed Pillowtex factory in Kannapolis.

"We have decided in this election to endorse Richard Moore wholeheartedly," said Southern Regional Director Harris Raynor. He praised Moore's "intelligence expertise" in business and capital as treasurer.

The union belongs to the AFL-CIO coalition of labor groups. After the state chapter decided not to endorse either Moore or Democratic rival Beverly Perdue, its membership was open to make its own endorsements.

Raynor said it will ask Moore to speak to workplaces and will send its workers door-to-door for him.

Two senators who broke party lines on the budget cited their local economy.

Sen. John Snow, a Murphy Democrat, said he could not support the budget written by his fellow party members because it gave counties the option of levying a transfer tax on real estate sales.

Snow said that home builders and Realtors are supporting the economy of his mountain district right now because of second-homes, retirees and new families. He pledged in his 2004 campaign that he would not support impact fees or transfer taxes.

"More than anything else, it was just a matter of keeping my word," he said.

Sen. Fletcher Hartsell, a Concord Republican, said he supported the Democrat-crafted budget because it included funding for a new research center in Kannapolis.

He said that his district has been hit hard by the closure of the Pillowtex plant in 2003 and the loss of jobs at a Philip Morris plant earlier this year. He thinks the research center, which will focus on biotechnology, will help turn things around.

"In my judgment, it is an essential aspect of the redevelopment of the local economy," he said.