President Obama Arrives in Newton

12:28am It looks like President Obama's tour of Trinity Towers in Newton is about finished. The tour took place on the other side of the building from where we are, so we can't really see much. But some guys dressed in blue shirts with white hard hats have now entered our side of the room. And Tom Vilsack scurried past to find a seat. At last check President Obama's speech is scheduled to take place at 12:55.

I wonder if he will take questions from the media afterwards. There is a second area sectioned off to the side of the main platform where I assume someone will speak. But it's not the big of an area. So I really wonder if it's for the prez.

The president's person assistant, Reggie Love, just placed his speech on the main podium. Crews have set up TelePrompTers also. The president didn't seem to rely on the TelePrompTers this much when he campaign here. Perhaps, things have changed. Love was always by the president's side in the two years before the Iowa caucus. I remember following him to a Des Moines high school several months before the caucuses. Love told about a dozen high school men's basketball players about the importance of playing as a team. Love played basketball and football for Duke and tried to make a go of it in the NFL for a while. He was (I assume still is) a regular player on the president's basketball games.

It's now 12:40pm. I'm really hungry. I remember seeing a table that said food for "Traveling Press only". We drove here from Des Moines. Does that count?