MANCHESTER – Barack Obama's opening monologue last night was so quippy and relaxed, he might consider the late-night talk show circuit if this political thing doesn't pan out.

"Good-looking crowd," Obama said, scanning the faces of more than 500 people seated inside a Radisson Hotel ballroom.

After hugging longtime city Democrat Tom Donovan, who introduced him, and asking the crowd to "give it up" for Congresswoman Carol Shea-Porter, Obama offered actual shout-outs to his volunteer organizers Laura, Toby, Eric and Nolan.

He invited applause for a man in the audience wearing a Santa suit with a "Stop Global Warming" sign, who he hoped "would deliver a sustainable planet for Christmas," and evoked a roaring response when he reminded undecided voters that there should be comfort in knowing George W. Bush will not be on the ballot.

"And the name of my cousin, Dick Cheney, will not be on the ballot," Obama said, getting the laughs he knew he would for that genealogical tidbit, which was revealed a few months ago by Lynne Cheney -- wife of his eighth cousin -- during an interview.

So he milked it.

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"That was really embarrassing when that came out. You hope to hear you're related to someone like George Washington or Willie Mays. Dick Cheney? What a letdown," Obama said, with the timing of a seasoned comedian.

From there, Obama shifted into serious candidate mode, urging voters when they go to the polls on Jan. 8 to cast a vote for him because he will bring about change.

"Be led not by polls but by principles; not by calculations but conviction," Obama said.

While there was plenty of election rhetoric and platform highlights to go around, the audience responded most when he pledged not to sell out his Presidency to special interests and politics as usual.

"When I hear other candidates say 'vote for me because I know how to work the system,' I have to remind them the system is not working for the American people," Obama said. "We don't need someone who can play the game better. We need to end the game playing."

He borrowed words from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have A Dream" speech when he explained why he wants to be President.

"I am not running in this race to fulfill some long-held ambition, or because I think it's owed to me, or that it's my time," Obama said. "It's what Dr. King called 'the fierce urgency of now.'"

He said he didn't want to wake up in four years to find the country mired in the same partisan struggles that have, for the last seven years, stratified its citizens and left them without health care benefits, access to higher education or hope for the future.

Obama fielded a few questions, including one from Etana Jacobi of Hooksett, a senior at West High School.

"What have you done to earn my first vote?," she asked, giving Obama a chance to run through his resume, from his years as a public servant and civil rights lawyer, to university law professor, welfare reformer and political peacemaker.

It is his message of hope as much as his resume that has swayed Jack Rothman of Merrimack, who said he settled on Obama a few weeks ago.

"I see him as what a real leader should be," Rothman said. "He will be a real uniter, not just in words. I was around when Kennedy was president. When Obama speaks, it's the same kind of energy he brings."