President Campaigns In Iowa
President Obama called upon about 2,000 people at Cornell College in Mount Vernon, Iowa to vote for him and back his campaign as the November 6th election nears.
Obama appeared energized Wednesday as he spoke to the crowd. He also met with about 800 others in an adjacent overflow area.
The Democrat repeated many of the criticisms of Republican nominee Mitt Romney that came up in Tuesday night's debate, but he also made several points that seemed tailored to a largely student audience. That included parts of Obama's health care law that lets young adults remain on their parents' health insurance and the president's move to reduce student loan costs.
It was Obama's ninth trip to Iowa this year and the first time a sitting president has visited Cornell College.
Retired Iowa lawmaker Ro Foege has lived in Mount Vernon for decades and he's never seen anything like the scene before the president's visit.
Foege watched as thousands of Obama supporters, Cornell College students and voters of all ages waited outside a gymnasium for the president. Foege said he couldn't remember anything "bigger or more important" for the city of 4,500 people.
College students camped out overnight to make sure they got good seats and made T-shirts to commemorate the visit. Obama volunteers handed out stickers and absentee ballot applications. Downtown shops put pictures of the president in their windows.
Mitt Romney supporters gathered outside Memorial Park to protest Obama's visit. They stood next to a tractor painted red and blue and emblazoned with "Romney-Ryan 2012" slogans.
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