It appears as though some DU students would stop at nothing to see Sen. Barack Obama speak when he visited campus last Wednesday.

Arriving early to the 9 a.m. Obama rally wasn’t an issue. With the doors opening at 8:30 a.m., the campus was abuzz with students, even before the sun rose, all vying for a good spot on the floor of Sen. Obama’s rally.

Students set their alarms early, skipped classes, and made the trek across campus to become a part of the presidential campaign. But some unlucky students had exams and midterms to attend to. For them, skipping class was no option.

“I would have skipped, but I had an exam today.” said Steven Stoker, a sophomore.

However, not even an exam could stop Steven from attending the rally. Stoker rushed out of class as soon as he finished his exam at 8:45a.m. to join the crowd. Coming from Daniels College of Business, he did not have to go far.

As he came down the sidewalk toward the Ritchie Center, Stoker was met by thousands of people waiting to see Obama.

The line stretched from Magness Arena all the way down East Asbury Avenue toward University Boulevard.

“[The line] was like a python ready to strangle the dreams of those who wanted to see change for the U.S.” Stoker said with a laugh.

Not wanting to give up, Stoker headed into the crowd to see what was going on. He heard a lot of people were not getting in. Magness Arena had reached capacity.

He also heard about the satellite viewing of Obama’s speech being shown in Hamilton Gymnasium, and even of the crowd watching a monitor set up in the lacrosse stadium.

But this still wasn’t enough for Stoker, who decided to take matters into his own hands.

Knowing some of his classmates were farther up in the line, Stoker called them up on his cell.

He found some friends who were close to the entrance on the west side of the arena and went to see if he could join them.

Not to arrive empty handed, Stoker first headed to Bruegger’s Bagels to buy a few bargaining chips.

“I knew that after standing outside in the cold for an hour or so, they would be hungry. I thought bagels might persuade them to give me a spot.” Stoker said.

And he was right, as Stoker met his friends, they readily accepted the bagels as payment for a spot in line. And Stoker was able to see Obama, after all.

“It was fantastic.” Stoker said, “Although getting in was a little unorthodox, I got to see Obama, right?”