By Norma Yuriar

Huron, Calif.  (KMPH News) - "Mr. President, turn the water on now," Fox News Host Sean Hannity said, during a live broadcast from the Central Valley.  The conservative talk show host anchored his daily program from a farm near Lemoore to highlight the valley's water crisis.

The one hour segment titled, "The Valley that Hope Forgot" drew hundreds to a fallowed tomato field of Highway 198 in Huron.  Sylvia Soto said she attended the rally in hopes President Obama was watching.  The field worker says she is on the brink of losing her job.

"Our plant is shutting down on the 23rd of October because of the crisis of the water," Soto said.

This crisis is a combination of a statewide drought and water regulations in place to protect endangered fish.

"We are not just talking about the Delta Smelt, we are also talking about Salmon, these salmon are food and provide jobs for people," Federation of Fisherman's Association Zeke Grader said.

Grader told Hannity, local farmers aren't the only ones hurting.

"You need to come up to the north coast the place where I'm from, Fort Bragg, come to Eureka and visit with the unemployed fishermen and give this some balance," Grader said.

Hannity disagreed.

"The problem is the water has been turned off because environmental wackos like you care more about the fish than they do about people," Hannity said.

Manuel Guerra, a Farmer from Kerman said he hoped the spirited debate captured the attention of President Obama.

"I hope that this helps because my brother and I do custom farming and we just lost all of our jobs," Guerra said.

Former Fresno Mayor Alan Autry said although President Obama is no a fan of the conservative talk show host, it's hard to ignore Hannity's voice when it's backed by 'real people'.

"Whether you agree with Sean Hannity or you don't, you can't argue with fact that he is a force in America," Autry said.

Autry told KMPH News he believed the live Fox News broadcast would do for the valley, what town hall protestors did for the health care debate.

"They managed to do something very dramatic and that's have folks go back to the drawing board and come up with a good, common sense health care reform, that was not going to happen until people spoke out," Autry said.

Those in the audience, attending Thursday's rally agreed.

"It's going to take something like this to really make a difference," Phillip Garcia of Firebaugh said.

"Even if Obama does not listen to , it's going to swell and it's going to grow and I feel like the message is going to get across," Natasha Hunt of Coalinga said.

http://www.kmph.com/Global/story.asp?S=11153950