Two weeks ago on a Monday morning, John McCain's camp released a statement that he would be in town. My college is the largest university in Missouri – which is quite the swing state – so it was no surprise that he would come by for a campaign stop. I was anticipating a huge deal, but there was only a small amount of media buzz, and when his plane landed, he was greeted by a crowd of 20, and he continued on to an invite-only lunch at a BBQ restaurant, completely sidestepping the campus and vibrant downtown.

Then this past week, Obama's campaign announced he would be coming to campus. Newspapers speculated about it daily, flyers covered the bulletin boards, and students buzzed about it on Facebook. His plane wasn't set to land until 9:30 p.m. last night, but people were already lined up at noon. Early in the afternoon, I headed to the library only to find mtvU crews, sets and cameras surrounding the entrance for their Road Trip tour. So much for studying

Thousands of people were in line swirling around the quad, and by the time the "doors" opened at 7:30 the crowd was estimated to be 40,000 — in a town with a population under a million. Several Missouri politicians spoke before Obama hit the stage, and the crowd maintained a very high level of enthusiasm even when one senator compared filling out the ballot with taking the SAT ("You have to choose the right answer, and the right answer is Democrat!"). I was watching it from the comfort of my own laptop (although it was on the local news station and CNN, too) but even from the screen, the excitement from the crowd and Obama was thrilling. He talked for more than 30 minutes, hitting all of the big topics, and then hung around to shake hands with the crowd, some of whom had been waiting for close to nine hours.

The visit brought a bit of confusion to the campus: why would Obama take the time to visit our university while McCain stopped in the city but didn't acknowledge the student body? And how will it affect the election, at least in our part of the country? I guess we'll wait and see. As Obama said last night, "Five days!"

(Obama image from our friends at WeeWorld)

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Obama art and more youth for Obama – this time from Weekly Reader's poll.

Categorized under: Campus

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