Photo by Ron Cassie On the heels of drawing crowds of 100,000 in St. Louis and 75,000 in Kansas City, Barack Obama's campaign came to Loudoun County, Va., last week.

For the first time in her life, Byrd volunteered for a presidential candidate this election season. A part-time health care worker, she has spent her free mornings waving signs for the Democratic presidential nominee at busy intersections, drumming up enthusiasm for the 47-year-old senator from Illinois.

Byrd called a friend to go to the rally, but the friend wasn't feeling well. So, she phoned the Democratic Party headquarters in Frederick , looking for someone to tag along with. An hour later she was driving down U.S. 15 toward Ida Lee Park with Tracey Kaplan, 35, and Kaplan's mom, Jody Chesley, 62.

Kaplan, who took her 5-year-old daughter, Arianna, to Ohio in February to canvass door-to-door in the snow for Obama, borrowed a friend's expensive camera to capture the occasion. She and Byrd were determined to get a place in the front row and meet Obama.

The gates were scheduled to open at 3 p.m. for the 5:30 rally. The trio arrived at 12:30 and got in a line that had started at 7:30 a.m. They hoped to shake Obama's hand when he stepped from the podium and greeted supporters after his speech.

"We are right at the railing, just off to the right," Kaplan said by cell phone hours before the rally's scheduled start. Chesley, who didn't think she could stand all day, took a seat in front of the media bleachers.

Between 10,000 and 14,000 people were expected; the Associated Press later estimated the crowd at 35,000.

The last time she was inspired by a presidential candidate, Byrd said, she was a teenager. On Nov. 14, 1963, she saw President John F. Kennedy dedicate the opening of the Delaware Turnpike.

Others from Frederick also made the drive. Jim and Julie Sewitzke brought their kids. Danielle, 14, who attends Gov. Thomas Johnson High School, and Andrea, 12, a Monocacy Middle School student, were as excited as their mom and stepdad who are reading Obama's two books, "Dreams from My Father" and "The Audacity of Hope."

"Everybody is talking about the election at school," Danielle said.

Waiting in line, Byrd, Kaplan and Chesley met someone who waited even longer than they for the candidate -- 101-year-old Charles Clark, of Loudoun County.

Clark, an African-American and former bus driver, told Chesley he is a man of great religious faith. He said he believes Obama to be heaven-sent and a man whose time had come.

"When my wife died 20 years ago, the two of us had no idea that something like this would ever happen," Clark said. "But I know she's looking down and she's happy today."

Former Virginia Gov. Mark Warner, a candidate for the U.S. Senate, and current Gov. Tim Kaine, introduced Obama, who bounded on stage with the energy and verve of a rock star.

"We love you Barack!" "We love you Barack!" young females shouted from the audience.

"Excuse me, for all you in the back who can't hear me, there are just some ladies here who are misbehaving," Obama said with a smile.

Vying to be the first Democratic presidential candidate to win Virginia since Lyndon Johnson in 1964, Obama admired the rowdy crowd.

"Look at this. Look at this," he said.

Obama poked gently at the McCain camp, including vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin, who has made comments about the "real America" and McCain adviser Nancy Pfotenhauer, who described the southern part of the state as the "real Virginia."

"Some folks may not think so, but this looks like the real Virginia to me ... And y'all look like Virginians," Obama joked.

He mentioned the urgency of the remaining days before the election and Colin Powell's recent endorsement before heading into his stump speech.

"I want to put in a middle class tax cut that will help 95 percent of working families É I want to cut Joe the Plumber's taxes. John McCain, he's fighting for Joe the Hedge Fund manager, Joe the CEO."

He laid out specific economic, energy, environmental and health care plans, but it was Obama's theme of battling for the middle class, his message of unity and renewing the nation's moral standing in the world that won over Byrd, Kaplan and Chesley.

"I love that the demographics of his volunteers and supporters are so representative of our nation's population É young people, old people, all races and backgrounds É it's inspiring," Kaplan said.

For Chesley, Obama's campaign is connected to the idealism of the Civil Rights era.

"I'm here because I got interested in politics through my dad, Murton Peer (who died in 2000), who was a big supporter of black and civil rights in the 1960s," Chesley said. "My whole family, with my dad, went to the March on Washington in 1963."

Obama declined several times to affirm that he was ahead in the presidential race, saying, "I'm superstitious," and, "I don't count my chickens before they're hatched." However, Byrd had no such qualms after seeing the candidate face-to-face and feeling his firm grip.

"He was so sincere, thanking every single person for coming," Byrd said. "He kept saying, 'Thank-you, thank-you, thank-you.

"I think I just shook hands with the next President of the United States."