Live streaming video from Obama's YouTube channel (c-span says the event starts at 1:15PM EST):
I'll be live blogging this event...
As of yesterday, Nate Silver gave Obama a 63% chance of winning Iowa and ranked Iowa third on his return on investment index (i.e. the "relative likelihood that an individual voter would determine the Electoral College winner".)
Early voting in Iowa is open from Sept. 27–Nov. 5.
In Iowa, if you're not registered to vote (deadline October 27th), you can register at the polls on Election Day, November 6th.
Tomorrow, Springsteen will play Iowa University Iowa State University.
If you're in Iowa, Obama has a nifty tool to help you write a letter to the editor of your local paper.
UPDATES:
Still waiting.... looks like the event starts at 12:15 PM CT / 1:15PM EST
In the meantime, from the AP:
Retired Iowa lawmaker Ro Foege has lived in Mount Vernon for decades, and he's never seen anything like the scene before President Barack Obama's visit.
Foege watched as thousands of Obama supporters, Cornell College students and voters of all ages waited outside a gymnasium for the president Wednesday morning. Foege says he can't remember anything "bigger or more important" for the city of 4,500 people.
And more from the
AP:
Obama will be the first sitting president to visit Cornell College in its 159-year-history when he holds a rally at a sports complex. The 1,200-student college is in Mount Vernon, 15 miles east of Cedar Rapids.
[snip]
The Obama campaign is hoping many of them will vote afterward at an early voting location set up on campus.
12:10PM
First speech by a female student. Hits Romney for refusing to support equal pay and instead talking about binders full of women [laughter]. Hits on the 47%. Asks people to vote today [cheers].
10:17 AM PT: Obama: "I'm asking for your vote" [cheers]
10:19 AM PT: "As many of you know, we had our second debate last night. I'm still trying to figure out how get a hang of this thing" [laughter]
"It's a one point plan. Folks at the very top can play by their own set of rules"...they can invest in a company, bankrupt it, fire the workers and send the jobs overseas. "It's the same philosophy that we saw in the previous Administration"
10:22 AM PT: You know of the New Deal, a square deal...
"Mitt Romney's trying to sell you a sketchy deal"
10:25 AM PT: talks about Obamacare a bit, DADT, saving the autoindustry, student loans, and the recovering economy
10:27 AM PT: talks about promoting wind, solar, long-lasting batteries and developing new technology in the US
10:28 AM PT: 7,000 jobs in Iowa dependent on wind energy.
10:32 AM PT: they should get equal pay for equal work. That should be a simple question to answer... I want my daughters paid just like somebody else's sons for the same work... I certainly don't think politicians should control the healthcare you get.
10:43 AM PT: and his speech is over.