Live blogging: Views on Obama from the streets of Cannon Falls

Staff Writer Mike Kaszuba live-blogs President Obama's visit to Cannon Falls.

2:29 p.m.

Inside The Old Market Street Deli, after President Obama left, a long line formed for food as the buzz over the president's visit lingered.

A strawberry malt was $4.99.

2:24 p.m.

Jenae Pagel and her five-year-old son, Landon, both of Cannon Falls, were among those chosen to meet President Obama outside The Old Market Deli in downtown Cannon Falls.

"(I said to Obama), 'Oh, my God, it's so nice to meet you. I feel like such an idiot,' " she said, wearing a broad smile after the president's motorcade left town. "I was just so nervous."

2:13 p.m.

President Obama just left the Cannon Falls deli where he stopped, and the crowd is dispersing.

1:30 p.m.

As two large buses idled outside, President Obama made a brief visit to The Old Market Deli in downtown Cannon Falls. Plainclothes security officers and several security cars blocked off the street, keeping back the large crowd.

"Must be so weird to be that famous," said one woman, who tried to catch a glimpse of the president.

1:25 p.m.

As the crowd in downtown Cannon Falls waited to see President Obama leave town, 22 people stood on an old metal firescape on Mill Street, hoping to get a better view.

President Obama's bus stopped, and a large crowd began chanting "Obama!"at the corner of Mill 4th Streets.

The crowd erupted in cheers as Obama got off the bus and went into a local deli.

1:15 p.m.

"I thought it was terrific," said Roberts, a professor at St. Olaf College.

Roberts said he was particularly impressed -- given the national political upheaval now taking place -- that the president did not resort to name calling regarding Republicans.

"I thought he handled the politics of his differences with the Republicans" well, Roberts said. "He didn't call any names."

To resort to that, said Roberts, "just lends to a hardening of the lines."

12:35 p.m.
Just outside the park where President Obama spoke, more than a dozen people gathered around a beige Honda, listening to the president's speech as it boomed from the car radio.

"I have absolutely no doubt we can get this economy going again," the group heard Obama say.

When the president finished his opening remarks, the small crowd applauded.

"He's mild mannered. I think he needs to come out harsher," Tim Bowes, a public school teacher from Red Wing, said after listening to the radio. "We're so short-sighted. We tend to forget what he accomplished in two years," said Bowes.

As he rattled off several of Obama's accomplishments, he added: "Oh, didn't he put the hit out on bin Laden (too)? So, that's awesome."

12:05 a.m.

More than a few in the crowd of several thousand began folding up their chairs and slowly heading to their cars. The crowd thinned.

A silver-haired man, dressed in a World War II Army uniform and carrying a full-sized American flag, moved slowly on the street with a sign criticizing the president's health care plan. The few in the crowd applauded.

11:41 a.m.

As he waited for President Obama, Bud Widholm of Cannon Falls stood with arms folded.

Widholm did not vote for Obama in 2008 -- did not vote for anyone for president -- but has sympathy for the embattled Democrat.

Widholm saved most of his disdain for the Tea Party. "Congress has got to go along with some programs instead of 'No-No-Nyet-Nyet,' " he said. "I'm against the Tea Party. I'm a centrist."

11:27 a.m.

Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack told the crowd that the focus of the day would be squarely on the challenges and opportunities in rural America.

"There is a service ethic that is alive in our small towns and our farms and ranches," Vilsack said. "And that's why it's important for us to also begin the process of explaining to the rest of the country the challenges that rural America has faced for some time."

Pointing to increasing farm income and record numbers of agricultural exports, Vilsack said agriculture could be a guide for the larger economy.

Other speakers before Obama could include members of Minnesota's congressional delegation. Vilsack said Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Al Franken are expected to attend, in addition to Reps. Keith Ellison and Tim Walz.

-- Eric Roper

11:19 a.m.

Carol Staples of Brooklyn Park held a small homemade sign attatched to a paint mixing stick as she waited for President Obama.

"It's My Birthday, Need To Talk To You," the sign said.

"I would talk about -- Oh-h-h, gosh," she said, momentarily tongue-tied, "(I would say), 'Quit letting foreigners into our country and (have them) take our benefits away.' "

Staples voted for Obama in 2008, and said she will volunteer for him in 2012. Lois Estrem of Kenyon sat alongside Staples and nodded in agreement.

"I think he listens less to the rich people than the other (political) party," said Estrem, who made her sign welcoming Obama out of a white shopping bag.

"It'll work," she said, smiling.

11:07 a.m.

The sign said in big block letters: "Wall Street Puppet."

The man smiled, but declined to give his name.

"I'm calling in sick to work today," he explained.

10:55 a.m.
Outside the Hi Quality Bakery and Coffee Shop, where a mushrooming crowd waited to get a glimpse of President Obama, a sign beckoned to the president: "Have a Donut!"

Another sign, two feet away, said: "Obama -- Thanks For Everything!"

At the bakery, where his grandmother works, 10-year-old Isaiah Okongo was eagerly awaiting the president. Like Obama, Okongo's mother is white and his father is from Kenya.

-- Mike Kaszuba and Shari Gross

10:49 a.m.

The scene at Hannah's Bend Park, where Obama is slated to speak, is idyllic.

Surrounded by giant trees and overlooking a lake, crowds milled about taking pictures and talking to one another at picnic tables.

Some in the crowd sat in bleachers, which were arranged next to a giant American flag. Music blared over loudspeakers: "Only in America" and "Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours."

-- Eric Roper

10:45 a.m.

Diane Logue of Cannon Falls eyed a black SUV that blew through a downtown stop sign, and automatically assumed it was part of President Obama's motorcade. She shook her head in disgust.

Unlike others lining the presumed motorcade route, she was no fan of the president's visit. Logue, a small business owner in Cannon Falls, said the president's advance team had asked local restaurants to donate food for the president's visit.

But she quickly admonished a friend, who stood alongside, when she too made disparaging remarks about Obama.

"I'm a Tea Partier," said Logue. "(But) I don't think you have to be ugly."

10:22 a.m.

As a man walked through the growing crowd in downtown Cannon Falls wearing a President Obama t-shirt and carrying a pro-Obama sign, an elderly man in dark dress shoes, blue shorts and black socks nearly up to his knees paused and told him: "Oh, I like that!"

10:15 a.m.

So she set up her folding chair along the curb, had her camera and clung to her coffee cup. Dozens, making the same guess, filled the streets around her.

"He's done a good job -- wish he had more support," said Thiem, referring to the latest public opinion polls. "I hope he'll rally."

She added: "I blame the media for a lot of the bad press. Bad news seems to be good news for people."

9:57 a.m.
Larry and Betsy Senrick of Shoreview waded Monday into a Republican rally, carrying pro-Obama signs and offering no apologies.

"I'm on Medicare -- I'm so thankful for Medicare," said Betsy Senrick.

"What are you thanking him for?" the man said to Betsy Senrick, who held a sign that read, "Obama, Thank You."

Said the man with the flag: "You guys are smoking dope."

9:54 a.m.
Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus rallied a crowd of slightly more than a hundred people early Monday in Cannon Falls, saying that President Obama was on a "Dead End Bus Tour" and that "we are in a battle for freedom in this country."

Priebus, who was briefly heckled by Obama supporters, told the crowd: "Welcome to being a battleground state, Minnesota, in 2012."

9:13 a.m.
As Cannon Falls filled with traffic and a growing crowd early Monday, there were many sights and messages.

He swept by a man who parked his own pickup truck, and began selling "Josephson's Homegrown Sweet Corn" out of the back.

9:04 a.m.

Carla Baartman arrived by bicycle at a Republican protest in Cannon Falls and, unlike other Republicans standing in the parking lot, tried to put Obama's visit in perspective.

"We're definitely Republicans, my husband and I," she said. "(But) we have to support our country, too, and respect" the president.

Baartman, a 21-year resident of Cannon Falls, said she began decorating her home on Friday with American flags. Nearby, a woman held a sign that contained a more pointed message for the president: "I Can See 2012 From My House."

The first sign that Monday was going to be no ordinary morning in Cannon Falls could be spotted early -- uniformed officers with police dogs stood atop the two-lane bridge spanning the Cannon River.

In addition, a police swat team gathered in front of the city's public safety building in advance of President Obama's visit to this town of 4,100 today.

The event is scheduled to begin at 11:45 a.m.