When freshman Mike Uehlein heard Obama's campaign was not stopping in Muncie on Friday, he said he was not as disappointed as other Obama supporters on campus about the rescheduled visit.
"Honestly, he has better places to be," Uehlein, a member of Ball State Students for Barack Obama and a political science major, said.
Obama's Indiana campaign office announced Wednesday night in a press release that the event in Muncie that Obama planned to attend was moved to Fort Wayne for "logistical reasons," and he will visit Muncie some time next week. According to a press release, Obama will hold a town hall meeting Friday at Wayne High School.
Without the change of location, Obama's visit to Muncie would fall on the exact date of Robert F. Kennedy's visit and Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination 40 years ago.
However, Genet Tseggai, the Obama for America Communications Director for Indiana, said she had no new information on Obama's Muncie visit, but the city was important to the Illinois senator.
"Sen. Obama is committed to fighting for every vote and every delegate across Indiana," Tseggai said. "In Muncie, Sen. Obama is looking forward to talking about his message of unity and bringing us together to create a change we can believe in."
Tom Morrison, associate vice president for human resources and state relations, said he has had "constant contact" with both campaigns about visiting Ball State and using on-campus facilities to hold a political speaking event.
Morrison said the facility choice is not about size, but instead it is about security issues associated with the buildings. The Secret Service's decision upon the location is important, Morrison said, because their main concern is security.
Despite the venue change, Morrison said it is the students' decision to attend the Fort Wayne speech.
"That is certainly their choice," Morrison said. "I know they didn't cancel the Muncie visit this week because of lack of venues. The campaign will be back next week, which will be good for the community, like any candidate coming here. We are working with the community to extend out to each campaign."
As Obama was campaigning in Pennsylvania and other locations the past three weeks, Sen. Hillary Clinton's campaign plowed through Indiana with more than 20 speaking stops throughout the state. However, with Obama's one stop in Plainfield on March 15 that preceded the Clinton events, Obama opened 17 offices throughout the state, employing more than 2,000 volunteers statewide, the communications director said.
"We created a strong grassroots campaign in Indiana, like we've done in other states," Tseggai said.
Uehlein said Clinton's early deployment in the state should not be an issue.
"You can see that in any state in primary contention it has happened the same way," Uehlein said. "Clinton gets ahead early, but once Obama starts airing television ads and begins visiting the state, his numbers go up."
With the state's 72 delegates on the line, Uehlein said Obama should talk about issues he feels are important to the state.
"By now he has talked about everything," Uehlein said. "We should hear his greatest hits."
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