A line of people about three blocks long waited Saturday morning in eager anticipation for a chance to see Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama speak at Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology Monday.
"I didn't know there were this many Democrats in Lancaster!" someone in line shouted.
More than 1,000 people braved a chilly morning outside the Obama for America headquarters, 240 Harrisburg Ave., to get tickets for Obama's town-hall meeting which will be held at the John Barley Multi-Purpose Activity Center at Thaddeus Stevens at 10 a.m. Monday.
According to campaign volunteers, about 1,000 tickets were available to the public Saturday, all of which had been distributed by early afternoon.
Ticket-seekers heard renditions of the National Anthem echo through the chilly air all morning from nearby Clipper Magazine Stadium, where tryouts for singers were held for the upcoming baseball season. Temperatures hovered in the mid-30s.
Cold temperatures and chilly winds didn't deter anyone.
For Jack Spiese, 78, of Columbia, Obama's candidacy has become a cause to champion.
"I came because I thought I would never have anything I could ever believe in again," Spiese said, "but I believe in Obama.
"I haven't felt this way since JFK."
According to campaign volunteers, the audience will be allowed to ask the candidate questions during the meeting Monday.
Spiese hopes to ask Obama what his most formative experience was as a young man.
Around noon, campaign volunteers informed people still waiting in line that the campaign was out of tickets and that they would put names on a waiting list.
Lancaster Mayor Rick Gray, a pledged Obama delegate and member of the candidate's state advisory team, said he offered the campaign use of Clipper Magazine Stadium, which seats up to 6,000.
"We could have filled it easy," Gray said. "I think we could have put 10,000 people in the stadium, no problem."
But campaign volunteers said Obama wanted a smaller venue where he could interact with the audience.
The line for tickets snaked from the campaign headquarters down Harrisburg Pike toward Mulberry Street and ended near the James Street and Water Street intersection at its apex around 9 a.m.
People camped out in front of the headquarters as early as 3 a.m. Saturday morning, said Traci Guynup, of Lancaster, who got in line at 9 a.m. and waited three hours for a ticket.
Obama campaign volunteers didn't get into the office until about 4 a.m., said Carol Hunt, a campaign worker from Strasburg who is also running as a state convention delegate for Obama.
Hunt said about 40 to 50 people had already lined up by that time.
"It was building and building," she said.
Obama will swing through Lancaster as part of his "Road to Change" bus tour. Today, he will be in State College and Harrisburg. Tuesday, Obama will stop in Wilkes-Barre and Scranton, and end his trip in Philadelphia on Wednesday.
Despite the high levels of enthusiasm for Obama on Saturday, the Illinois senator still lags in statewide polls to his Democratic rival, Sen. Hillary Clinton. The latest Rasmussen telephone poll put Clinton ahead of Obama, 49 percent to 39 percent. The two are battling to win Pennsylvania's state primary, which will be held April 22.
Gray said not to trust the polls.
"I think there's going to be a shock here," he said. "I think it's going to be as big a shock as it was for us in New Hampshire."
Polls leading up to the Jan. 8 New Hampshire primary indicated Obama was the front-runner, but Clinton won the state by about 7,500 votes.
Gray said that the sheer excitement and enthusiasm for his candidate simply wasn't being taken into account by national polls.
Indeed, Hunt was excited — Monday will be her first time seeing Obama in person.
"This is where the fun begins," she said. "He's finally coming."
Paul Franz is a Sunday News staff writer. Contact him at pfranz@lnpnews.com or at 295-5063. 
