Kyle Bell

The Forbe’s blog Trailwatch made note of Barack Obama’s South Bend visit:

Washington High School in South Bend, Ind., brags about its state championship girls basketball team. A banner across the gym reads “Pride of the West Side.” Wednesday night a boisterous crowd filled the Washington High gym, but they were there for politics, not basketball. It was the kickoff rally for Sen. Barack Obama’s three-day Indiana bus tour that ends on Saturday at Ball State University in Muncie.

A local minister led a prayer and then the crowd joined in the Pledge of Allegiance. John McCormick of The Chicago Tribune, who has been covering the Obama campaign since it started more than a year ago, told me that those were relatively new additions to the standard Obama rally, becoming common after the public criticism of Obama’s pastor.

A few hours earlier, John had joined our table at Trio, a popular South Bend restaurant. I was with Anand Ramanujan, the chief technical officer of Real Clear Politics, and Don Wycliff, a former Tribune writer who now teaches journalism at Notre Dame.

A group of Obama supporters gathered in a Trio back room, including former Rep. Tim Roemer of South Bend, an early Obama backer, and Mayor Stephen Luecke of South Bend, who had been neutral in the presidential primary until Wednesday.

At the gym, Roemer warmed up the crowd and introduced Luecke, who won more cheers and applause when he took to the small stage in the middle of the floor and went public with his endorsement.

The Senator’s arrival brought forth even louder roars of approval. One section erupted with cheers when Obama asked if there were any Notre Dame students in the crowd. Obama joked about the late hour and said that when he was in college, “sometimes I’d wake up about this time.”

CBS 2 Chicago was also in town:

The Indiana primary is less than a month away and voters there will have a major voice in selecting the Democratic nominee for president.

CBS 2 Chief Correspondent Jay Levine reports Sen. Barack Obama is in South Bend, Ind., hoping to drum up support.

The energy from the crowd Wednesday night may well have helped energize Obama, who at that point was likely running on fumes after a very full day of campaigning.

He spoke about investing in America and in American workers, among other things.

Obama was greeted by some who’d been waiting for as long as seven hours, while he was making several stops in Pennsylvania. The Keystone State’s primary is two weeks before Indiana’s.

And while Obama’s given Clinton a head start here, the most recent poll indicates he may actually be ahead in Indiana.

Reuters, CBS, Fox News, ABC News and the New York Times all covered the South Bend visit.