Published: April 12, 2008 12:03 am         

‘I love Barack Obama:’ Crowd ecstatic about campaign visit

TERRE HAUTE — Two long lines of people stretched along the northwest side of Terre Haute North Vigo High School on Friday during a late afternoon of brilliant sun and wicked wind, waiting for Sen. Barack Obama.

Smiles and excited chatter rippled through the lines as supporters gripped well-worn and brand new copies of Sen. Obama’s books.

Vendors called out, selling T-shirts and buttons featuring the Democratic presidential candidate.

Ticketholders began arriving at the gym entrance before 3 p.m. for Obama’s scheduled town hall meeting, to begin at 8:15 p.m., part of his Road to Change bus tour.

One of the first in line was Michelle Pershing and her family of Terre Haute.

Pershing, a nurse at Union Hospital and Providence Medical Center, said she arrived at the school at 3:30 p.m.

“I love Barack Obama,” Pershing said with a grin. “He’s very refreshing for the country, new leadership, new ideas.”

Pershing clutched a paperback copy of Obama’s autobiography, “Dreams From My Father,” hoping for an autograph, she said.

“It’s a wonderful book; he tells about his family, and just like every American, we are all a mixture of many peoples, and it makes us united,” she said. “We need to look at that more instead of pointing out in each other our differences.”

Another Obama supporter, Jeff Wallace of Marshall, Ill., carried his hardback copy of “The Audacity of Hope.”

Wallace, who works at Pfizer, calls himself “an avid supporter” of Obama.

“There aren’t many opportunities where you might get to see the next president of the United States and be this close,” Wallace said.

Richard and Laverne Lawson of Terre Haute braved the winds to come out for the event, which Laverne Lawson said was “totally awesome.” Richard Lawson, who is retired, said he had not seen anything so big in Terre Haute “since Larry Bird was here!”

Laverne Lawson said she has been following the Obama campaign “since the beginning … I like what he stands for, and I think he’s going to make a terrific change…”

Not everyone who stood in line waiting to hear the senator speak was a supporter.

Brian Green, a Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology student from Cleveland said, “I’m really here just for the spectacle; I’ve never been to something like this before in my life.”

Green said although he plans to vote in Ohio for Sen. John McCain, he wouldn’t mind shaking Obama’s hand.

“Why not?” Green said. “He’s a very powerful speaker, he respects all opinions, he’s a good man.”

Green’s companions, fellow Rose-Hulman students Leven Brown of Washington, D.C., and Chandra Lesniak of Kansas, both are supporters of Obama.

“I was really excited to hear that he was coming here,” Lesniak said. “I missed two classes to get tickets yesterday,” she said, quickly adding, “I told my professors; they’re super excited I’m coming.”

Along with Green, Lesniak and Brown, Terre Haute North grad and Indiana State University student Leah Hervey waited in line.

“I’m ecstatic for the spectacle,” Hervey said with a grin.

Hervey, a 2004 graduate of North, added, “I think it’s cool, because I’ll mention to my kids that I saw President Obama — hopefully he’s going to be president!”

Deb Kelly can be reached at (812) 231-4254 or deb.kelly@tribstar.com.