Obama Draws 18,000 At Maryland Rally

A crowd of 18,000 students and supporters packed the Comcast Center at the University of Maryland College Park yesterday.

A crowd of about 18,000 people yesterday greeted presidential hopeful Barack Obama with a thunderous enthusiasm usually reserved for rock stars and basketball games against Duke.

Those both faithful and critical seemed star-struck by the Illinois senator. Most waited for hours in the biting cold to enter Comcast. Inside the stadium, some seemed almost religious in their fervor, chanting, cheering wildly and even breaking into tears.

Ther fervor is there.