Obama celebrates July Fourth in Montana

BUTTE, Mont., July 4 (UPI) -- Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama celebrated July Fourth in Butte, Mont., with a parade and picnic.

Obama, accompanied by his wife, daughters and other relatives, was in a state that is generally Republican territory. Lyndon Johnson and Bill Clinton are the only Democratic presidential nominees to win Montana in the past 60 years.

About 1,500 people turned out to see Obama, The Washington Post reported.

"Are we going to seize this moment?" Obama asked a crowd. "Are we going to declare our independence from special interests, the oil companies and the gas companies that are preventing us from creating the kind of energy policy that will save our environment, and free ourselves from dependence on foreign oil by investing on solar and wind and biodiesel? That's the kind of independence we need to declare today."

Many in the crowd got up before dawn to drive to Butte and began lining up hours early. Obama joked about being unable to march in the parade, saying the Secret Service told him everyone on the parade route would have had to put up their hands if he did.