A member of presidential candidate Barack Obama’s campaign staff appeared before a crowd of several thousand supporters in Boston Common on Tuesday night clad in his Red Sox finest. Governor Deval Patrick also linked the Illinois senator’s political bid, which he officially endorsed this week, to the Boston baseball team, noting that “around here, we know how to come from behind and win. And that’s what we’re doing here tonight.”

As for the man of the event, Obama offered congratulations to those in the heart of Red Sox Nation and acknowledged that he, too, is a Sox-lover. But his chosen team, he said, is of the White, Chicago kind. Lest he lose any potential votes by the admission, he explained that his loyalty lies with a team through wins and loses, year after year.

The remark served as a nimble knock on the political candidates that have been donning Red Sox caps in recent days – Republican presidential candidate Rudy Guiliani most recently – while endeavoring to solidify Obama’s stance as a politician hoping to recreate Washington politics. Obama told his audience Tuesday that he would not be content with a political party change in 2008.

“Change begins by getting rid of George Bush, but change doesn’t end there,” Obama said. “We are going to have to do more than change parties. We are going to have to change our politics. We can’t be satisfied with a politics that says it’s smart to divide a nation – we’ll just activate our base and not worry about the other side. We have to create a new kind of politics that represents each and every one of you.”

Tuesday’s Boston Common rally came after Patrick announced that he was throwing his support behind Obama, with whom he campaigned for Massachusetts governor in 2006. The announcement came after speculation over whether Patrick would endorse the Illinois Senator or fellow Democratic candidate and New York Senator Hilary Clinton, whom Patrick knew before then-President Bill Clinton selected him to lead the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Department in the 1990s.

Patrick acknowledged his affiliations with both candidates on Tuesday during his introduction remarks, but said that he felt a need to set aside personal considerations and ties. The Massachusetts governor told supporters that the 2008 election cycle should not be about the candidates, it should be about the constituents.

“We need a leader who is ready to call in our times for our service, and our sacrifice. You see, this election is not just about who we want,” Patrick said. “It’s about who we are. I want a president who understands that. I want Barack Obama.”

Patrick’s Obama endorsement rally came the same day his predecessor, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, stated during a South Carolina campaign appearance that Obama was urging terrorist unification in Iraq.

“Actually, just look at what Osam — Barack Obama — said just yesterday. Barack Obama, calling on radicals, jihadists of all different types, to come together in Iraq. That is the battlefield,” Romney said, according to reports from the Associated Press. “It’s almost as if the Democratic contenders for president are living in fantasyland. Their idea for jihad is to retreat, and their idea for the economy is to also retreat. And in my view, both efforts are wrongheaded.”

An audio recording believed to feature the voice of Osama bin Laden was aired on Al-Jazeera television on Monday, and the recording called for insurgents to rally together in Iraq. A Romney spokesman told the AP on Tuesday that Romney had intended to use bin Laden’s name instead of that belonging to the Democratic candidate.