The audience was demographically diverse — a mix of races and ages, from college-age teens to senior citizens and families who brought young children.
"I haven't seen this kind of excitement since Kennedy," said Pat Coller, a local Obama campaign worker, referring to John F. Kennedy's 1960 campaign stop in Penn Square, which drew some 15,000 people. "This is truly a bottom-up campaign. This is not the normal way politics is run."