Supporters line up for tickets to Obama speech in Cedar Rapids

CEDAR RAPIDS - More than 100 people lined up at the doors of President Barack Obama's local campaign headquarters Saturday morning for a chance to see him speak at Kirkwood Community College this week.

Obama campaign volunteers began doling out the free tickets around 11:30 a.m., half an hour before the doors to the event were scheduled to open. Supporters had begun waiting in line several hours before the tickets became available.

The president will be in town late Tuesday morning, marking the ninth time either he, Vice President Joe Biden or first lady Michelle Obama will have been in Iowa since January.

Peggy Whitworth of Cedar Rapids, a campaign volunteer, said even though Obama has been to Iowa so many times, there's still an “incredible number of people” who haven't had the opportunity to see him. She called the long line outside the headquarters “tangible evidence of the support the president has.”

Mina Arbore, a Cedar Rapids resident, began approaching the door for the tickets after waiting in line for about an hour. She said the wait was worth it, noting that Iowa is a swing state in this election and she's “very anxious to have Obama re-elected.”

As the line got longer and the day got hotter, volunteers began to pass out water to those waiting for tickets. Some were seeking up to 10 tickets for family members, while others grabbed two tickets so a spouse could see the president, too.

Cedar Rapids resident Tim Hampton said he's a “big fan” of Obama. Last month's Supreme Court decision to uphold the individual mandate portion of the president's health care plan, he said, shows the need for Obama to pick the successors to any justices who decide to retire in the next four years.

Hampton also stressed the importance of the economy in Obama's re-election.

“I want him to get credit for the economy he's turned around,” said Hampton, who began waiting in line for tickets at 10:30 a.m. “It didn't take place in his first term, but it will in his second.”

But even supporters acknowledged Obama's work is not complete. Whitworth said the economy will undoubtedly be the most important issue of the campaign, and no one thinks it's coming back quickly enough.

“I hope he'll address the economic issues (in his speech on Tuesday),” she said. “He'll basically be talking about his vision for the future.”