The crowd of several hundred people is set for President Obama’s town hall meeting at Lorain County Community College. By 11am, a small crowd of prostesters gathered across the street from the campus, holding signs that read “Stop spending my grandkid’s money” and “Obama lies”. The crowd attending the town hall, including local steelworker union members are upbeat about the Presiden’ts visit. But they hope Mr. Obama will promise to create jobs here.

I ran into Nick Kowalczyk, a Lorain native and assistant writing professor at Ithaca College. He’s writing a book about his hometown. Kowalczyk says today’s visit is a bold move for the President, following this week’s Massachusetts Senate vote. On top of that Kowalczyk feels that at least in Lorain County, Obama’s message of hope is now lost.