clipped from: abcnews.go.com   

In Wilmington, N.C., this afternoon, fighting the perception pushed by his opponents that he's an elitist, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., steered clear of his rock-star reception and soaring oratory about changing the world, and told his personal tale in a modest town hall meeting

"I was raised by a single mom ... she had me when she was a teenager," he said, sharing details about his grandfather, a World War II veteran who went to college on the GI Bill, and about his humble early years with his mother.

It is part of a new phase of the Obama campaign to re-introduce himself as someone who doesn't just understand the working class, but is of it.

"Barack Obama's great strength has always been that he seems like he is above politics. It turns out that, lately, maybe he has been a little too above politics," Democratic strategist Steve McMahon said.