Addressing a crowd of about 1,000 people at the Grand Wayne Convention Center in Downtown Fort Wayne, Michelle Obama conveyed her message thus: Barack Obama has done all he can; now it’s time for “you” to get out and vote. She called for voting early, walking neighborhoods, working phones and helping get neighbors out to vote on November 4. She said. “We are going to need you working and praying for us.”

Michelle, wife of Democrat presidential nominee Barack Obama, asked the people in attendance: “Isn’t it time for a change? Isn’t it time for new solutions? Don’t we deserve leaders who get it? Rallying with the supporters, she added: “Barack Obama gets it. He doesn’t get it in a kind of philosophical, theoretical way. He gets it because he lived it.”

Michelle Obama sketched in features of her husband’s life that she said help him understand how ordinary people can rebound from or rise above hard times and difficult circumstances. She talked about Obama being raised by a single mother and his grandparents, and also about the student-loan debt she and Obama carried when they were younger.

A large number of voters were overwhelmed by Michelle’s speech, as she tried to make voters believe that Barack Obama understands the struggles of Americans. She also said the people of Indiana “get it” too because the loss of steel mills and factories has hurt people here.

Michelle continued to stress the importance of winning in Indiana - if Barack Obama wins all the states John Kerry won in 2004, as well as Iowa, he would need 11 more electoral votes that can come by winning Indiana.

She told the crowd: “You know something wonderful about Indiana? You are a battleground state.”

Though national polls show Obama leading Republican presidential candidate Senator John McCain by margins ranging from 9 percent to 14 percent, Michelle Obama urged those cheering her not to be complacent about the candidate’s lead. She said: “Barack Obama will be the underdog until he’s sitting in the White House.”