Biden whips up Lima crowd

LIMA - A crowd of several hundred people slow to warm in a chilly Lima Senior High School roared into gear this evening for Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Biden.

A subdued crowd came back to life at 6:25 p.m., as he entered to Bruce Springsteen's "The Rising" and chants of "Yes We Can."

"Not only we can, we will," Biden said.

Biden's wife, Jill Biden, started the evening when she took the stage at 6:18 p.m. to U2's "Beautiful Day," asking if any educators were in the crowd. She received some cheers.

"In four days, Ohio will help elect Barack Obama and Joe Biden," Jill Biden said. "We need your help. This is the most important election in our lifetimes."

Biden also put the election in local voters' hands.

"The bottom line, this election is about you," Biden said. "Not about Barack and me. Now, with four days left to go, it's up to you. With an early vote in Ohio, I mean right now, is the time to choose."

Joe Biden also complimented the facilities at Lima Senior.

"One of the first schools Jill taught at had the same mascot. Go Spartans!" he said. "What a great facility. This is a beautiful, beautiful school."

After Vietnam veteran and former Allen County Democratic Party chairman Gary Frueh led the pledge, the national anthem sung by the Spartan Four and a prayer offered by Lima resident Dorothy Lovell, staffers handed out "Change We Need" signs in anticipation of an apparently on-time Biden.

The Lima Senior High School gymnasium had slowly filled up this afternoon with a few hundred Democratic supporters eager to see a member of their ticket make a stop in Republican-leaning Allen County.

A line of people had gathered when doors opened at 4 p.m., listening to the Lima Senior band and willing to wait at least two hours before Democratic vice presidential candidate Sen. Joe Biden speaks.

Supporter Mildred Towsey said she was excited to see a member of the ticket in an election that was already historic in nature.

"I'm 70, so I've been around a while," Towsey said. "After eight years of Bush, this is such a refreshing team, such a great change for the United States and the world. Tuesday about midnight we're going to have the change we've all been waiting for. They'll make a big difference - not right away because it's such a mess to clean up. You know, you can't clean your house in a single day."

In the last days of the election with comfortable leads in national and battleground state polls, the Barack Obama campaign is pushing hard in states won by President Bush in 2004. Biden begins his day Saturday in Indiana and then makes stops later in Marion and Bowling Green. Obama campaigns in Columbus, Cleveland and Cincinnati on Sunday, while Biden spends the day across Florida.

Biden spoke earlier in the day in Kettering, poking fun at opponents John McCain and Sarah Palin.

Biden said McCain and running mate Sarah Palin are offering no new ideas on the economy, calling them Bush's "economic sidekicks."

"I know it's Halloween, but John McCain dressed as an agent of change just doesn't fit," Biden said.

Biden painted McCain as being tied to Bush and the past, while Biden said he and Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama can help usher in an era of progress and new ideas.

This makes the fifth major political figure to use the high school. Superintendent Karel Oxley said her staff has become old pros at handling the needs of national candidates and major figures.

"We're pleased we can host such huge political events and demonstrate the wonderful facility this community provided for us," Oxley said of the building that opened in 2004.

The Associated Press contributed to this story. This story was first posted at 5:07 p.m. and updated at 6:11 p.m., 6:25 p.m. and 6:35 p.m.