BOULDER — 12:20 p.m. – Michelle Obama ended her talk urging the students to get to work.
“Let’s start working, because we’re going to need you,” she said. “We’re going to need your prayers, we’re going to need your work. We’re going to need you to pray, we’re going to need you to work. And then after you work, pray a little more. And then after you’ve prayed, keep working.”
12:13 p.m. – Michelle Obama gets to the heart of her rally, talking about voter registration.
“This is a swing state – and we want some swinging to go on right here,” she said. She then talked about George W. Bush’s slim margin of victory in Colorado in 2004.
“With 170,000 students alone, we can make the difference,” she said. “What we’re asking right here on the CU campus, register right now. We have a goal of registering 4,100 students on this campus. We are half way there. I am asking you – personally – let’s get that goal.”
12:10 p.m. – The largest cheers so far came when Michelle Obama addressed the war in Iraq.
“There is only one candidate has a clear timetable to withdraw troops from Iraq responsibly,” she said. “And take the $10 billion we are spending every month in Iraq and spending it here.”
11:50 a.m. – On stage in front of several hundred Barack Obama supporters, Michelle Obama told a rally at CU that her husband understands working families and the struggles they face.
She said the issues facing the country “are not just politics, it’s personal.”
The crowd cheered when she said Obama was building his economic plans around the working class.
“There’s only one candidate who is talking about that,” she said. “There is only one candidate who is talking about health care,” and there’s only one candidate who is talking about “a comprehensive education progre
Jared Polis, the Democratic nominee in the Second Congressional District, came onto the stage to urge everyone to vote – and vote early.
“The youth vote will make the difference this election,” he said, receiving loud cheers. “Let’s bring change from CU to D.C.”
Maggie Fox, wife of Congressman and U.S. senate candidate Mark Udall, called her husband a “true son of the West” and reminded people that “registering isn’t voting.” She called on everyone in the crowd to not only vote for the Democrat at the top of the ticket but those all the way down.
Hundreds of middle-aged couples sporting tie-dyeds and Khakis, senior citizens clad in baseball hats and a sprinkling of college students wearing jeans and T-shirts are starting to flood into Farrand Field on the University of Colorado campus to see Michelle Obama. The wife of Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama is expected to start speaking at noon, but the line to get into the event is still winding down and around the bike path that cuts through the campus.
Though students on bikes and skateboards zig-zag around the field on their way to class, it appears few of them are actually attending the event.
Obama’s presidential campaign is focusing on voter registration in Colorado this week as the deadline to register approaches.
Monday is the deadline for Coloradans to register to vote for the Nov. 4 general election.
This Saturday, the campaign is bringing Hollywood stars to the state. Actors Eva Longoria of “Desperate Housewives,” Kal Penn of “House” and the “Harold and Kumar” films, and Adam Rodriguez of “CSI: Miami,” are scheduled to speak to students on Saturday at Auraria Campus in Denver, Northern Colorado in Greeley and Colorado State in Fort Collins.
