LAS VEGAS – Speaking to a gathering of African-American journalists in this city of casinos and conventions Friday, Sen. Barack Obama bet a stack of chips on an opening quip derived from an old stereotype.

Appearing before 2,000 people in the ballroom of Bally’s Las Vegas hotel and casino, the Democratic presidential hopeful apologized for being late.

“But you guys have been asking if I’m black enough,” he added, flashing a sly smile. The remark brought squeals of delight from audience members who remembered when blacks were derided for lacking a sense of time, as well as younger people who had heard the story of that slander from their parents’ memories of the bad old days.

Obama met with humor a question that members of the National Association of Black Journalists have been asking during their convention. Many were obviously delighted he met the issue square on.

“I’m glad he said that,” said Taqudya Kennedy, an intern at public radio in Chicago. A student at Columbia College, she leapt to her feet at the end of the session. “Why have we been worrying so?” she asked.

Much of the audience joined Kennedy in giving the junior senator from Illinois a standing ovation at the end of his speech. His remarks repeatedly drew applause and his one-liners got laughs.

Obama seemed to have chosen his Las Vegas appearance to confront an anomaly of his campaign: He has enjoyed rock-star popularity among the general public, which has allowed him to raise enormous political contributions, especially for a first-term senator running for president.

Yet some black Americans have been more reserved about Obama. He alluded to that, noting some may be suspicious of his Harvard education.

Obama attributed his dilemma to the mixed feelings of a group long on the outside that senses its political fortunes might be turning.

“It’s fear,” he said. “We don’t want to be too excited by the prospect and then be let down.”

He asked, “Why not give it a chance?” a question that might become a campaign theme.

He posed the same question about what he sees as the present stalemate of the American political system. Obama cited the example of Pauline Beck, a home-health care worker in Oakland who earns barely enough to feed her family, and with whom the senator recently spent time.

“Ms. Beck has been forgotten,” Obama said, echoing a theme of Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal administration, 70 years ago.

Both his proposal for “changing the political map” and for supporting his candidacy struck a chord with his audience.

“He was fabulous,” said Kimberly Easton, a television journalist in Pittsburgh. “Why not give it a chance.”

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AP-NY-08-10-07 2022EDT