Several hundred Anchorage residents -- mostly women -- bundled up against Saturday morning's chill and gathered downtown in support of their preferred choice for president, Democrat Barack Obama.

The Obama supporters wore red, white and blue, joked around and tried to stay warm while eight organizers with megaphones marched them around on the frozen grass of the Delaney Park Strip.

First, the crowd morphed into the shape of an American flag. Then, the official Obama campaign logo.

The rally wasn't organized by the official Obama campaign. Its ringleader, instead, was Geran Tarr, a local women's and children's rights advocate. She said Alaska women have a special role in this presidential election because Sen. Obama's Republican opponent, Sen. John McCain, picked Alaska's governor, Sarah Palin, as his running mate.

Tarr sent out a mass e-mail invite. Word of the rally spread by grapevine, she said, estimating about 500 people attended.

Women in Homer, Kenai, Fairbanks, Juneau and Ketchikan also are contributing pro-Obama video clips, Tarr said. The end product will be a short pro-Obama video that will be put online, she said.

Pro-Palin Alaskans are also organizing this weekend. A pro-Palin family event, Super Sarah Sunday, is scheduled today from 12:30-4 p.m. at the Kincaid Outdoor Center.

OBAMA FANS

Wearing a red snowsuit and traipsing after her mom at Saturday's rally, 2-year-old Hannah Katchen asked, "Where's Obama, mama?"

They found him -- sort of.

They came upon John Hoffman of Anchorage, who stood on the park strip holding up a life-size cardboard Obama cutout. They joined the flock of women around Hoffman who wanted to get their pictures taken with it.

"Everybody's glad to see him," Hoffman said, joking that the real Obama is not "two-dimensional."

Hannah Katchen stood next to "Obama" while the group oohed and ahhed. "She's a big Obama fan," said her mom, Sarah Katchen, who got a photo of the toddler giving "Obama" a hug.

Hoffman said he hasn't seen this much enthusiasm about a Democratic candidate since 1960 when John F. Kennedy was running for president.

The last pro-Obama rally in Anchorage, in early October, was organized by his Alaska campaign headquarters. It attracted an estimated 1,500 people.