The Democrats' fresh facePOSTED: 0835 GMT (1635 HKT), October 15, 2006 By Joe KleinTimeread at source: http://edition.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/10 ... l(Time.com) -- It is 9 a.m. on a fresh, sunny Saturday in Rockford, Illinois, and nearly a thousand people have gathered in the gymnasium at Rock Valley College to participate in a town meeting with their Senator, Barack Obama. It is an astonishingly large crowd for a beautiful Saturday morning, but Obama -- whose new book, "The Audacity of Hope," is excerpted in Time this week -- has become an American political phenomenon in what seems about a nanosecond, and the folks are giddy with anticipation."We know he's got the charisma," says Bertha McEwing, who has lived in Rockford for more than 50 years. "We want to know if he's got the brains."